rockfish weekend No. 2

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SoCalHoops High School News

Random Rockfish Spring League Notes
& Player Observations--(March 8, 1999)

This past Saturday and Sunday was the second full weekend of action at the RSL, from 9:00 a.m. until about 9:00 p.m. And there was a ton of great basketball being played, and some sloppy play too as players started to shake off the rust from not playing daily now that the season for all of them (at least the ones who showed up at RSL) is over. Mostly it was pretty good play and some of it was spectacular. It's probably more useful to talk about individual players rather than teams because in a league like this the teams are just gelling and the guys are all just learning what they can do together. And besides that, it's a short league, and players were moved from one team to the next so let's just not discuss teams, ok?

Kevin Krose (6'-3" Sr. SG) from Burroughs HS in Burbank, made one of the most incredible shots of the weekend to win the game for his team (ok, we'll mention the team) Guy Margo's Rockfish Tiger Sharks who were playing Koolaid Perry's Inland team with Richard Cobbs (6'-5" 8th grade G) from Canyon Spings, Lawrence Carrier (6'-7" Fr. F) from Redlands HS, Jason Burrell (6'-2" So. G) and others. Krose, who is a fine shooter, and we understand fully qualified, hit this impossible, running jumper from about 40' out to win the game at the buzzer.

Also on Krose's team (see, there we go again with "team"), were Campbell Hall's Hassan Bassiri (6'-0" Jr. PG), and Jesse Foster (6'-7" Jr. F/C). Bassiri made some really nice passes, and exhibited good ball control, while Foster showed good footwork and a nice move to the basket several times. For a somewhat thin but big and agile player, he's really improving his game by leaps and bounds and both should be good solid mid-D-I prospects by the end of the summer.

Chris Bennett (6'-10" Sr. F/C) from Pasadena Marshall Fundamental was also looking good, and he's unsigned, but is still getting some interest from several schools and will make a decision shortly. He's apparently still drawing interest from UMKC, and we hear that coach Sundvold will be out in LA in the next week or two, making a swing by Rockfish and the Pump Shootouts. Chris has finally developed a set of reliable hands, but needs to focus more on competing consistently, something he's clearly capable of doing.

David Popoola (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) from Westchester was also on Margo's team and he was just everywhere, rebounding, jamming to the hoop, and playing very good defense. We think he could be one of the top junior prospects at the two guard position by the summer's end, and he has a nice shot out to about 17'.

Will Sheslow (6'-0" Fr. PG) from Montclair Prep made his first appearance after suffering a slight ankle injury for the Hammerheads on Sunday morning, and while he was a bit tentative at first against some pretty good pressure thrown at him by the Pump N Run guys, including Lou Wright (6'-6" Jr. SG) who could just be the single best natural shooter on all of the West Coast right now, Will finally settled down and moved the ball well, and showed good decision-making.

Lou Wright (6'-6" Jr. SG) from Westchester. Did we mention him? On Saturday the Pump team just hammered a much younger team and on Sunday they did it again, and Wright was largely responsible. Too bad Westchester missed in the playoffs, because "sweet Lou" is getting so much better it's ridiculous. He's got this great, high rainbow arc three point shot, the one that Wesley Stokes wishes he had; actually they both have the same shot, but Lou has got size, and his is much more reliable, way out to NBA three range, and there's a reason for that: His brother Lorenzen probably had a lot to do with Lou's shooting, as did his dad, who attends every game. Huge prospect. Big Time Player.

Jacoby Atako (6'-1" Jr. PG) from Santa Monica High, is a quick, decisive and talented point guard, who should also be on a lot of lists this summer. And at 6'-1" he's got decent enough size to satisfy most D-I programs. Very smart, saavy player with good ball control and court-awareness.

Rory O'Neil (6'-10" So. C) from Ridgecrest Burroughs HS. Mike Miller has raved about him, and we agree, he's got some major upside potential. He's young, and best of all runs the floor like a guy about 5'-10" would, very agile, and in control, and he can shoot the ball out to about 15' reliably. Decent footwork, gets position well but needs to bulk up. His dad is about 6'-10" so he'll probably get even taller.

Eskias McDaniels (6'-6" Sr. SG/SF) from Valencia HS was just bombing them in last weekend. We didn't get to see him this past weekend, but the week before he was unstoppable. We knew he was good from the times we'd seen him playing with his high school team, but in a freer environment he's really phenomenal. Great footwork and positioning for a shooter, quick, high release and very accurate out to NBA three point range. And we hear he's fully qualified. Would really help some program somewhere.

Hassan Trotter (6'-3" Sr. SG) from LA University HS was also bombing them in for the Barracudas. Hassan is athletic, runs the floor extremely well, and has excellent court vision and handles, and could also play the point without much difficulty. Did a great job for Erik Harden's Barracudas this weekend, even if they did lose their second game to the Marlins on Sunday.

Gregg Guenther (6'-9" Jr. PF/C) from Encino Crespi, has all the tools but just has to put them together to become a really top prospect. We hear that he's a football player, but obviously if he's out here at Rockfish, his first true love must be basketball. This guy weighs at least 275 and can body most people out of the paint without really thinking or trying. Needs to work on his footwork and positioning though, but we are really high on him. He's got great upside potential.

Deverion Mackey (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) from Pasadena Marshall Fundamental is a monster in the paint, and can shoot the ball with accuracy out way out beyond the three point line. He always competes, and is especially good at one-on-one isolation; with a very quick first step, can take most players to the hole and beats just about everyone. Another huge prospect. If he's a qualifier, someone to keep on your A-list.

Matt Winter (6'-3" Jr. SG) from Heritage Christian HS was also playing impressively on Saturday and Sunday, driving nicely to the hole, rebounding and defending. The nice thing about Rockfish Spring League is that it lets a player like Winter develop nicely and get some runs and coaching from Erik Harden on the Barracudas, i.e., somebody other than Mark Berokoff, his high school coach at Heritage Christian. Just kidding Mark :-). Matt has the potential to be a nice college player, good body control, quickness and excellent defense.

Kevin Stacey (6'-2" Fr. SG) from Santa Margarita, brother of Ryan Stacey (6'-7" Jr. F) both were also playing for the Barracudas, Ryan powering down inside in the paint, very effective on the boards and from close range shooting, and Kevin mostly out on the perimeter, just settling in to the level of competition, but moving the ball well, and you can tell from looking at Kevin that he's probably just about to shoot up this summer, and he's got nothing but upside potential.

Timothy Drisdom (6'-3" Fr. PG/SG) from Calvary Chapel Downey HS could, we repeat, could just be the best freshman point guard in SoCal this year, an assessment that, at this state of his young career is fraught with peril and uncertainty. Yeah, we know that Mike Miller raved about him last weekend, yes, we know that we disagreed somewhat with Mike when we were both sitting there together watching him (ok, Mike, you win, Timothy is pretty darn impressive!), but after watching him again this weekend in three games (he missed the first Marlins game on Sunday), we have to say that he's got great ball control skill, tremendous court sense and just about always knows where to be and when to be there. Timothy's got size, quickness, and we still think he looks an awful lot like Marlon Parmer (and so do a lot of other people). If Tim develops to be even half as good as most people think he will, then he'll be a high D-I prospect, no question about it.

David Gale (5'-11" Fr. PG/SG) from Sherman Oaks Buckley HS, also playing on the Marlins played well with Drisdom, moving the ball well, exhibiting good ball control, and showing not much fear driving in among a lot of much taller players. Shot the ball well Saturday, not so well on Sunday, but had some great passes, and one very nice alley-oop to Dawson. Dinos says he's a pure shooter, but it wasn't working this weekend from outside. More of a pass-first type of player anyway, he and Leroy Dawson (6'-0" Sr. PG) from Compton paired off well on Saturday against the Pump 'N Run team, with Gale and Dawson switching off guarding and guarded by Kent Dennis (6'-3" Sr. SG) from Cleveland HS and Kevin Elleby (5'-10" So PG) from Venice HS, and occasionally Branduinn Fullove (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) who occasionally wandered out to the perimeter to do his thing. While Dennis won the shooting wars, and Elleby was just a step quicker on offense, the Marlin guys defended well, and offensively Gale and Dawson blew by Dennis a couple of times.

Branduinn Fullove (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) only played with Pump 'N Run on Saturday, principally because the P&R guys only get one game in this league, which is why some of the players who will ultimately join P&R this spring and summer choose to get more experience playing for one of the Rockfish teams, which play four games per weekend, two each day. But this was about Branduinn, right? Very strong, drove well and shot the ball, not perhaps as well as Lou Wright, but has gotten so much quicker from last year, there's no comparison. Excellent defender, good size and certainly one of the top prospects in the junior class.

Eric Seiss (6'-3" Sr. SG) from Redlands HS. Did somebody say "pure shooter"? Did somebody say "fully qualified", as in has grades, core, and SAT? Good size and bulk, runs the floor very well, defends, great court vision and makes good decisions. What more can you want. It's pretty amazing that college coaches aren't jumping all over themselves to get this guy, because he's more than just the next Brandon Loyd, he's a really great shooter. He's got one of the quickest releases from just about anywhere that we've ever seen. Can hit shots falling away, leaning in, and certainly isn't afraid to put it up from waaaay outside, where he's especially deadly. Led the Rockfish Spring League in scoring last year, and will probably do it again. Mr. Consistency. Sign him up now.

Chris Monroe (6'-9" Sr. F/C) from Granite Hills also made an appearance on Saturday for the Marlins. Has great size and body strength, nice footwork, and we hear that he's also qualified. Good shooter and shotblocker, moves well without the ball and runs the floor very well. A very athletic big guy who could certainly help somebody somewhere.

Alex Jenkins (6'-6" Sr. SG/SF) from Goleta Dos Pueblos, also played with the Marlins Saturday and Sunday, and he had one of the best games of the day on Sunday when he lit it up for 27 points against Nana Gbewonyo (6'-6" Sr. F) from LA Kennedy and Earvin Johnson (6'-4" So. SG/SF) from LA Cathedral HS, both of whom are excellent defenders. Alex is sort of a "tweener" right now, a little thin for a forward, and needs to improve his ball control to be a three and has trouble driving from the wing, but he can post up on the block and spin and turn and jam the ball. And when he's inside, man can he score.

Jonathon Todd (6'-6" Fr. F), J.J.'s "little" brother, is another young freshman with tons of potential and promise. He's already a little bulkier and probably better than J.J. was at the same age, and he's got good ball and body control on the floor. Chaminade's not going to be hurting for big guys anytime soon. Of course we only saw him Sunday because on Saturday, he was down at the Pond watching his brother's Chaminade team take their second consecutive CIF Southern Section title in Division III. Big upside potential.

Thomas Shewmake (6'-8" Fr. F/C) from Cathedral Hill is another big, strong kid with just tons of potential, who we wish would remember that he's a 6'-8" inside player and not a point guard; he has this tendency to play like he's a 5'-11 or 6'-0" guard (like a lot of kids who were once 5'-11 or 6'-0" guards but are now 6'-9") way out on the perimeter which occasionally throws off the guard play, and like a lot of big guys who are just learing how big they really are, needs to get the ball on transition out to the wings and guards who can move it more quickly and effectively. Of course, when he's inside where he can be of most use, he's an excellent shot blocker and rebounder, and with his tremendous second and third efforts off the glass, can and does score. Huge potential for this guy.

Stephen Graybill (6'-0" Fr. SG/PG) from Goleta Dos Pueblos HS won't step in immediately to replace Shantay Legans, because nobody can or will, but in a year he may be a suitable successor at DP. Graybill has good size, makes excellent entry passes to the post, works inside and can drive and score. A very promising player.

We didn't get to see Belmont Shore's games this weekend, and we also missed seeing a couple of other guys on Sunday who we really wanted to get a look at, like Tito Maddox (6'-4" Sr. PG) who is playing with Dinos' Belmont Shore team, Eric Knight (6'-2" Sr. PG/SG) from Westchester, also with Belmont. We also missed seeing Russell Lakey (6'-0" Jr. PG) from Harvard-Westlake on Sunday, even though we saw the Dave Benezra-coached Orcas, who had Richard Bluette (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) who transferred from Crenshaw to Verbum Dei.

Dave also had Dustin Villepigue (6'-9" So. PF/C) from Simi Valley on the Orcas. We've heard his name pronounced various ways, but it's actually pronounced "Villa-peejay". . . it's French says mom Debbie. Dustin is one of the reasons why Simi will continue to be a power in the region even without Rafael next year. He's one of the best 6'-9" guys in his class, and there are quite a few in the sophomore class who are 6'-9" or better and really good, so that's really saying something. He's agile, quick, rebounds and is a jumping jack, dunks, runs the floor, is smart, and will get even better. Scary good.

There are a ton of other guys we saw, who we will be writing about as the RSL continues through April. See you there next weekend (of course, between the action at the State Regional Finals).