freshmen small forwards

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

SoCalHoops Freshman Class: Top Developing
Small Forwards-Wings In SoCal--(May 13,1999)

Last year we only cursorily covered the underclassmen, and we decided to be a bit more thorough this year. So we'll be posting a series of articles on the freshmen class in SoCal, at least those freshmen who have made their presence known this past year. Which is not to say that we have any illusions that this list represents the entire pool of good freshmen basketball players in SoCal; far from it, this list that follows represents those players who we think represent the top 20 developing players who have thus far been identified in the class.

As with the other classes, we haven't ranked the players by number, because generally we think that's pretty silly and doesn't mean much. College coaches and other scout types see lists such as this and target the players they've seen or heard about anyway. Calling someone "No. 1" or some other number doesn't mean much, except perhaps to the player who thinks he's No. 1. From our perspective, these lists are just an indicator that a player has made his presence felt in recruiting, that he's a blip on some college coach's radar. Of course, some players are bigger blips than others. Some deserve to be watched more closely than others, but that's generally a decision that is made by college coaches, not guys like us who follow the players and write about then.

To compile these lists, we've gone through all of the rosters and articles we've written the past year, gone through all the notes of the games we watched, reviewed tapes of many players, and selected those players who, in our view, are clearly D-I material, those who have potential, and those who play the position well enough to deserve recognition and who might have what it takes to play at the next level, whether that's D-I, D-II, D-III or NAIA. The lists include players are from Fresno in the North, to San Diego in the South. Generally the region constituted by the CIF Southern Region (including Central Section, Southern Section, LA City and San Diego Sections) of the CIF.

All the players on these lists are shown by their primary position. That may be the position they normally play in high school, or it may be the position they play on their travel or club teams. At least it's the position we believe these players will be recruited at for college should their development continue during the next two seasons. Again, if you don't see a player on the list where you'd expect to see him, look at another list, because he's likely listed somewhere.

What we mean by "small forward/shooting forward" is generally what you think it means: Someone who typically has the body of a larger player, is very mobile, can play defense out to the wing, rebounds well, and can shoot from the perimeter to inside; it may also mean a player who slashes to the hole off a cut, who can spot up from either in close or three-point range, who may be an excellent catch-and-shoot player but is generally bigger than a guard (either point or shooting) but not generally as big or as strong as the inside a power forward/center players, and typically not a post player. And because these guys are only freshmen, they will all probably still be going through growth spurts, so whether they'll stay at the small forward or wing spots only time will tell.

All the players listed below are currently freshmen ("rising sophomores"). Virtually all of them on the list played varsity for their high school teams last year (we actually don't know of any who didn't) and many started. Most of them have already drawn the attention of college coaches, and the attention of other recruiting services, including Recruiting SoCal (Dave Benezra and Mark Mayemura), Dinos Trigonis of Full Court Press, Clark Francis' Hoop Scoop, or other regional and national recruiting lists. Most of the players listed below have been team, league, or even CIF stats leaders.

This list is relatively small. There's a reason for that: Most of the players who played varsity this last season or on the high profile travel teams are not freshmen; they're juniors or unsigned seniors, and even some sophomores. But there were very few freshmen. As a result, this list probably represents the upper-end, skilled point guards in the class who we've been able to identify thus far. As time goes on, and the freshmen become sophs, and juniors and then seniors, more players who are currently playing frosh-soph ball and jv will move up and be identified. Trust us, this list will definitely change over the next three years. It will get bigger. Players listed will get better, most will develop and some will not.

But the best thing about this group is that they've got three more years of high school eligibility left. And they've got three more years to get better, stronger and bigger. And if there's someone we missed (and we're sure there are many we did) let us know and we will add them to the list. And if you think someone doesn't belong on the list, let us know that too (but be nice; these are, after all still just kids). Either post a message on the board, or send us an e-mail.

SoCalHoops Top 20 Freshman Small Forward/Wings

Marlon Brisco (6'-3" Fr. SF/SG) Antelope Valley
Evan Burns (6'-5" Fr. SF) Fairfax
Reggie Butler (6'-5" Fr. SF) Long Beach Poly
Lawrence Carrier (6'-6" Fr. SF) Redlands
Kevin Edmonds (6'-6" Fr. SF/SG) Fountain Valley
Keith Everage (6'-4" Fr. SF) Westchester
Doug Hall (6'-6" Fr SF/PF) Venice
Ty Juan Hatter (6'-3" Fr. SF/SG) Upland
Jeramie Hopson (6'-3" Fr. SF/SG) El Segundo
Bobby Jones (6'-5" Fr. SF/SG) Dominguez
Terrence Jones (6'-4" SF/SG) Crenshaw
Djbril N'Diaye (6'-2" So. SF) Price
Travis Niesen (6'-5" Fr. SF) Mission Viejo HS
Chris Mello (6'-5" Sr. F) Mater Dei
Donald Quiros (6'-3" Fr. SF/SG) St. John Bosco
Eric Rarger (6'-3" Fr. SF) Los Alamitos
Jordan Rush (6'-4" Fr. SF/SG) Westchester
Mike Strawberry (6'-4" Fr. SF) Mater Dei
Brian Trump (6'-2" Fr. SF/SG) Montclair Prep
Adam Zahn (6'-5" Fr. SF/SG) Redondo Union