rockfish notes from 04-3

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Random Rockfish Spring League
Notes From April 3--(April 4, 1999)

We arrived at LACC yesterday at a little before noon, which meant that we had missed the 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m. games between Belmont Shore and the Swordfish and Inland v. Belmont Shore. Actually, we were a bit surprised that there was a game going on at all because we had heard from Dinos who was still in Las Vegas with some (but not all) of the Belmont Shore guys (actually only 6 or 7) playing at the Nike Las Vegas Easter Classic. And last we heard (which was Saturday night) Dinos' Belmont guys and QBL (Artesia's team minus the two seniors, Kapono and Hamilton, plus Charlie Rodriguez and Chris Hernandez from Clovis West) were going to be playing in the semifinals; and apparently they both won and will meet in the finals.. . . but that's a different story. Nevertheless, Dinos did manage to make some phone calls, and had five or six guys out at Rockfish on Saturday morning so a game did take place. We don't know anything about how it went, but at least there was a game.

And before we get to describing who played later, or any of the other stuff that occurred during the day, we think its worth reminding everyone that Steve Fisher, former Michigan Coach, recruiter of the "Fab Five" and the new coach at San Diego State told the assembled media last week when he held his first press conference, "I am thrilled to be the new basketball coach, ready to get started, knowing there will be a tremendous amount of work that needs to be done. I'm not naive to the fact that I think I can close my eyes and wave my wand and we're going to go from 4-22 to 22-4."

Why are we talking about Steve Fisher when this is really about Rockfish Spring League? Because RSL is an NCAA certified "exposure" league. It's about college coaches looking at talented basketball players, about younger players improving and getting exposure, and about older players getting scholarships.

But what about Fisher? Well, if there is another college basketball coach anywhere who worked harder than Coach Fisher yesterday or who did more to earn his pay yesterday, we want to know who it is. Fisher, newly released from his duties with the Sacramento Kings, arrived at LACC before 9:00 a.m. for the first game between Belmont Shore and the Swordfish, and left after 8:30 p.m., about midway through the final game of the evening. He sat through some good basketball, some boring stuff, and saw some players. Well, more than just "some" he saw about 150 players in the course of about 12 hours solid. Really, the man is just amazing. Joining him at various stretches in the day were Eddie Payne of Oregon State, Rusty Smith of UC Riverside, a bunch of assistant coaches from places like New Mexico, Idaho, CSUN, and about a dozen other schools, most of whom came and went, but throughout it all, there was Steve Fisher, looking, watching and learning about most of the young prospects in SoCal, at least those who were in town this weekend and not in Vegas or in Virginia at the Boo Williams Classic (which had guys like Tyson Chandler and his SCA buddies--who wouldn't have been at the RSL anyway--but others like Wesley Stokes--normally a Belmont guy--, and E.J. Harris, Lou Wright, Branduinn Fullove, and others who play for teams like TPI, Pump N Run, and others, were out in Virginia), but there was still plenty to see.

We only caught the end of what was supposed to have been the Inland v. Belmont Shore game, so we can't comment on that one. The first game we saw was BWBA v. Pump N Run, which was a very entertaining game, and one that had lots of college coaches in the house. At first it looked like it was going to be a wipeout, or maybe even a forfeit because basically everyone on the Pump N Run team (the one that plays in RSL which is sort of a combo of guys from the Pump I & II tournament teams) was either sick (Kevin Elleby, Jason Breland) or out of town (Aerick Sanders, Lou Wright, Branduinn Fullove, Kent Dennis) , and there were only three the Pump N Run Tournament team guys available to play: Montel Duhon (6'-6" Jr. SG/SF) from Venice, Steven Brown (6'-5" Jr. SG) from Venice, and David Gale (5'-11" Fr. PG) from Buckley. So Dave Goosen, the Pump coach did some scrambling, and picked up three more players: Mike Yildiz (6'-0" Jr. SG), Anthony Davis (6'-5" So. SG/SF) from Locke High School, and Rory O'Neil (6'-10" So. F/C) from Burroughs Ridgecrest. But that was it, just six guys for the Pump team, which meant plenty of playing time, but not much chance for a breather in a 40 minute stop-clock game that was like watching a track meet. Bob Gottlieb's BWBA team featured a bench that was deep and long, and it included guys like Shaun Michel (6'-2" So. PG) and brother Brett Michel (6'-6" Jr. SG/SF) from Simi Valley, Kris Maxey (6'-2" So. SG) Lake Elsinore, Ryan Wilbur (6'-4" Jr. F) from Brea Olinda, Jerrett Skrifvars (6'-5" Sr. F) from Brea Olinda, Chad Carter (6'-7" Fr. F) from Arlington, Imran Sufi (6'-0" Sr. PG) from State Division I runner-up Mater Dei, and A.J Diggs (5'-8" Jr. PG) from St. Anthony's among others. So this looked kind of like it was going to be a wipeout from the beginning. Except it wasn't. The Pump guys were more than able to hold their own against BWBA, and the game came down to the final seconds with BWBA pulling it out.

Montel Duhon was great on offense, but had trouble in the second half getting through screens in order to guard Brett Michel, who lit it up from outside for a game high 29 points; Brett also was largely responsible for keeping Anthony Davis out of the paint on defense in the second half, but in the first half, Pump led by as many as 10, and it looked like Montel Duhon, who finished with 25 points, and Davis, who finished with 21, would both be unstoppable. Duhon is a great catch-and-shoot player, with a quick release, very fast down the floor, but he needs to move more without the ball; Davis is just amazing for a sophomore; a big body, strong, quick and drives to the hole and can finish seemingly impossible shots with ease, and he's a good shot blocker, although that responsibility fell largely to Rory O'Neil who,at 6'-10" was bigger and more effective on defense rebounding than any of the BWBA guys and finished with 8 points in the game.

But the most fun we had was watching the young freshman point guard David Gale and coach Goosen drive Bob Gottlieb nuts for most of the game. Gale was able to move the ball effectively against Sufi, Diggs and Michel, making some very nice passes and drives to the basket, and finishing with 10 points in the game, 5 rebounds, and 12 assists. More than a few of those assists came off a very nice pick and roll play that Gale and Brown ran repeatedly and against which the BWBA guys seemed unable to defend, and during the first half that same play, which Goosen had them run about a dozen times in a row, resulted in about 10 points, with Brown or Davis either driving or Brown pulling up for the j from the high right side of the court. Diggs was a step quicker on defense, but the freshman had some very nice moves to the hole and defended well, showing nice quickness himself against Sufi and Michel.

BWBA managed to win the game by about 4 points, but it was one of those crazy Goosen v Gottlieb coaching battles that carried over from last weekend's "timeout" special in the Pump Shootout. In that game last week, Gottlieb's team had gone up by one point, and with about 40 seconds on the clock (a running clock), Gottlieb called a timeout, which had Goosen going a bit nuts; but when Pump N Run got the ball back, Lou Wright hit from outside, and Goosen quickly called his own timeout and Pump hung on for the win. So on Saturday a week later, there was just a bit of a small coaching rivalry going on, and throughout the first half of the game, Gottlieb, looking at the small and youngish Pump guys , was pretty well convinced his team would hammer the opposition, but when it started to look like that might not happen, and when Pump finally broke out to a lead, it was nervous time for BWBA. Goosen took full advantage of the situation, continually looking over at Gottlieb and saying things like "Hey Bob, c'mon, make us work, can't your guys play any defense. . ." Of course, Goosen was just yanking Bob's chain, and when the game was over, just as Bob had predicted, his team had won, but it wasn't an easy win, and he came away with some newfound respect for several of the Pump players, including Mike Yildiz, who scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the process.

We also understand from Yildiz that Bell-Jeff has a new post player coming in, and he's supposed to be about 6'-7" so maybe Mike can get the support that his team was lacking last season. Yildiz sort of looks like he's playing with a kind of wild abandon, but it's a very athletic and controlled abandon. He's got really long arms, and can sky for the rebounds, very impressive for a guy his size, and he pushes the ball on the break very well, about as well as anyone in the junior class. He's not the smartest player that we've seen, forcing some shots and passes that didn't need to be forced, and he doesn't have the best handle, but when he's on like he was yesterday, he can be very effective.

The 1:30 p.m. game was between BWBA and the Hammerheads, which is Mark Berokoff's team featuring Jacoby Atako (6'-1" Jr. PG), Will Sheslow (5'-11" Fr. PG), Rory O'Neil, fresh off the last game, Dustin Kaatz (6'-5" Jr. F) from Marina HS in Huntington Beach, Josaiah Johnson (6'-6" Jr. SG/SF) from Montclair Prep, Jordan Rush (6'-4" Fr. SG/SF) from Westchester (he's Kareem and JaRon's cousin), and Anthony Davis. And with a bit more support from these fishies, BWBA fell, by about 10. Atako exhibited good ball control, excellent passing and very nice moves with and without the ball; Sheslow had 6 points, moved the ball effectively and played good defense against the lightning quick Diggs.

The 3:00 pm. game was Keith Howard's Inland team v. IEBP. Inland had a bunch of young guys again, including Richard Cobbs (6'-5" 8th grade) Jason Burrell (6'-2" So. G) from Etiwanda, and some others we didn't really recognize. IEBP had most of the usual suspects, like Kenneth MgBeke, Kamron Leonard (6'-8" Sr. F/C) who was just getting and giving some pounding on the blocks by Brandon Jones, and the two of them looked like they should be pushing tackling dummies on the football field. Actually, we really like Kamron, and he's got a D-I body in search of a D-I home. We understand that Rider is looking at him, and it's possible some others will jump in soon. We watched the game with Eddie Payne of Oregon State, who is also in the market for a small forward type. Which brings us to the Joe Shipp (6'-5" Sr. F) recruiting rumor of the day: Joe is apparently being recruited hard by several Pac-10 schools including Cal and USC, but it looks like he really doesn't have much interest in OSU at this point, so we're probably going to scratch them off the list of likely suspects who might end up with Joe.

IEBP also had David Joiner (6'-6" Jr. F) from Rialto, who played well yesterday, defending, shooting ok from the outside, and in general making some things happen and it will be nice to watch his stock rise this summer. Jacqay Carlisle's recruiting seems to be stuck for now, and if he continues to play the way he did yesterday, it will probably stay on hold, because he really looked pretty low energy, sort of like a guy who'd rather be shopping at the mall than running up and down the court. Jacqay is a great player, with good size, and he was obviously having a bad day (hey, he's only 17, and it's not a job) and he's got several offers outstanding, but he's looking for the best offer out West, so he hasn't committed yet. DeMarcus Williams (6'-8" Jr. F/C) from Upland is just a monster on the glass, and with his NBA body, he'll get a scholarship just based on his potential alone. Mobile, he runs the floor well, moves well without the ball and even showed flashes, brief though they were, of some nice post moves. The high scorer for Inland was Laurence Carrier (6'-7" Fr. F) from Redlands, who had 20 points in the game. Derek MgBeke had 18, Kamron Leonard had 13, and Jamar Walker (5'-9" Sr. PG) from Corona had 17 points.

But the big story of the day for Inland Empire Basketball Program was the presence of Trenell Eddings (5'-9" Sr. PG) from Eisenhower, who, in the 6:00 p.m game against the Rockfish Tiger Sharks bombed in about 30 points, and had about 18 or so assists. Really, we're not exaggerating. He was unbelievably quick, saw lanes that existed only for a brief second, and move the ball about as well as we'd seen him ever play. IEBP won the game by more than 40 points, so it wasn't really that much fun to watch, but Eddings was just amazing. We hear that San Diego State will be arranging a home visit shortly, and several other D-I schools will be involved; Eddings may sign as soon as Wednesday when the signing period opens up and whoever gets him will be very happy because notwithstanding his size, he will be an immediate impact player wherever he goes.

The 4:30 game, which we skipped above, in describing the IEBP guys, was also an interesting game between the Rockfish Orcas and the Rockfish Marlins and like the Pump v. BWBA game, this one also featured another duel between older and wiser point guards and two very promising freshmen. The Orcas had Russell Lakey (6'-0" Jr. PG) from Harvard-Westlake and Richard "RJ" Bluette(5'-10" Jr. PG) now at Verbum Dei from Crenshaw, and they faced off against David Gale (5'-11" Fr. PG) from Buckley and Tim Drisdom (6'-2" Fr. PG) from Calvary Chapel, Santa Ana, who is, in our humble opinion, one of the top point guards in any class on the West Coast. The Marlins also had Skyler Wilson (5'-11" So. SG/PG) as well, and they had some help on the wings from the Jenkins brothers Alex (6'-6" Sr. F) and Damon (6'-2" So. G) as well as Ryan Sims (6'-9" Sr. F/C) and Armand Thomas (6'-9" Sr. F/C) both from Crenshaw, and Donald Wilson (6'-2" Fr. G) from Dorsey.

Dave Benezra's Orcas had Lakey and Bluette, Dwayne Trotter (6'-4" Jr. G/F) from Morningside, Wes Wardrop (6'-3" So. G) from Loara, Alex Graham (6'-11" So. C) from Redlands, Nana Gbweonyo (6'-6' Sr. F) from Kennedy in Granada Hills, Scottie Stern (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) and Dustin Villepigue (6'-9" So. F) from Simi Valley as well as Solomon Brown (6'-2" Jr. G) and Jonathon Todd (6'-6" Fr. F) who is quickly becoming someone other than J.J.'s "little" brother. Johnathon had a decent game, not great, but he's showing steady signs of improvement both in his rebounding and shooting and his ball handling. Dustin, on the other hand, had an off day, and he told us afterward he was recovering from the flu. Dustin is very mobile, extremely agile for a big guy, and we'll be watching him next weekend at the RSL playoffs and hope he's feeling better.

But as we said, like BWBA v. Pump game, this one was really fought out on both sides between the backcourts. Russell Lakey has gotten so quick and works the pop-out move (knocking the ball from the offensive player from behind) better than anyone and he does it because he has such a low, wide stance and can seemingly turn on a dime, and use his quick hands effectively. Gale has quick hands but Lakey's feet were quicker and he picked the freshman several times, and also got into the pockets of Tim Drisdom, who as we said is, in the opinion of a lot more people than just us, one of the best point guards in just about any class on the West Coast. As Tracy Pierson commented yesterday as we sat together watching this game, "He's got a lot of coaches really mad that they'll have to wait another three years to sign him." Tim also had one of the most devastating open court cross-over moves we've seen, literally breaking Bluette's ankles in transition and he had the crowd oohing and ahhing. Gale had a couple of very nice moves, including one misdirection pump-fake drive to the basket in the first half against Scottie Stern (who also played well, athletically and strong under the boards and moved the ball well in the open court), but by the second half of the game Gale was pretty well spent, and Skyler Wilson and Tim traded point responsibilities for much of the second half while Gale hit a couple from the outside playing the two with Donald Wilson, a very strong, fast combo guard who likes to slash to the hole and can finish. Bluette didn't score a lot, but he didn't need to with his great quickness. But ultimately, it was the young guys who hung on for the win, despite a great defensive effort by the Orcas in the closing minutes.

Oh, and by the way, congratulations to Russell Lakey on making the All-CIF State Team in Division III. Russell is developing about as well as any point guard in the class, and he can really jack it up from way outside the three, and he must have hit for more than 25 points; we lost track but it sure seemed like at least that many.

As for Ryan Sims, it looks like Tracy Pierson's story over at PacWestHoops has generated some interest (or rather Ryan's play about which Tracy wrote generated the interest), and it's hard to believe that more college coaches aren't all over this guy more than they are. Ryan had about 20 points yesterday, a couple of blocked shots, and more than 10 rebounds that we counted. The kid can play and some coach somewhere is going to be kicking himself a year from now for not grabbing him while he's available.

The final game of the day at 7:30 was supposed to be between the Pump N Run team and the Barracudas, but it ended up simply being a game between some made up teams, about half from the Barracudas who showed and other guys who elected to hang around following the end of their own games, which was not a lot, and since we'd been there about 8 hours we managed to make an early escape.

But Steve Fisher was still there, taking notes, watching, and learning what he needs to learn about the players in SoCal.