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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

SoCalHoops Junior Class:
Top Shooting Guards In SoCal--(May 10,1999)

It's time for SoCalHoops to again evaluate who, in our opinion, were the best shooting guards in SoCal this past year, who's got the most potential to become the best in next year's senior class, and who the top college prospects are. We haven't ranked the players by number, because generally (as we said last year too) 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 really means very little, except to inflate someone's head. From our perspective, our list is only an indication that a player is a blip on the radar-screen; some players are bigger blips than others. Some deserve to be watched more closely than others, but that's not a decision we make, it's really up to the college coaches to truly decide who is D-I material, and who isn't.

To compile the list, we've culled 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 list includes 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 this list (and the lists for other positions which will be posted in a few days and for the next week or so) are shown by their primary position. That is, it's the position they may have played during the season, but not necessarily. Usually it is, but there may be a few shooting guards who've snuck in here because they have the potential, in our view to be better at the point than the position they may have played on their school team. This is an important fact to note about our listings: Last year we did the same thing, and you wouldn't believe how many times we got e-mails saying "how in the world could you leave [insert name here] off your list of [insert position here]. Of course we usually had [insert name here] on a list, it was just at a different position than the one the writer thought the guy should be listed at. So before you complain that someone isn't listed, be sure to check the other lists we'll be posting up soon too. If a guy isn't listed after looking at all the lists, well, then you can start complaining.

What this means is that you may find someone who played a lot of point during the season listed in this list. Don't worry, they're all still guards. Likewise, it may get really murky when we get to the taller "shooting guards" who can also double as "wing" or "small forwards" or the "small forwards" who can double as "power forwards" or the big men who may seem like centers but who are really forwards because they don't yet have a really developed post game. You may find a player on more than one list because he can play more than one position. And if you don't find someone you think should on one of the lists, try another list; you might find him at another position.

What we mean by "shooting guard" is generally what you think it means: Someone who shoots the ball, either a spot up shooter or a catch and release shooter coming off screens; it also means someone who slashes to the hole off a cut, someone who can spot up from either in close or three-point range, and someone who plays defense typically on the other team's off-guard. It's generally a player who also has the skills to play point, may sometimes bring the ball up, and occasionally sets up the offense. Sometimes though it's a guy who also plays out on the wing, or in a three-guard offense may play point, but primarily shoots or goes to the basket. In other words, it's the "two guard," "off guard" or the other guard on the floor who is not playing point. You get the idea.

All the players listed below are currently juniors ("rising seniors"). Their recruitment is about to get into high gear this summer, and by the end of the summer, many of the top prospects will have committed (and some will sign in November) to the college of their choice. The players listed below have also been stats leaders, received varying degrees of attention from the basketball or general media, or are already established stars. Some are obviously not as well known: For those in the "Rest of the Best" category, they've shown promise or potential, and could break out during the summer circuit or during their senior year and thus have the potential to attract the attention of the colleges at the D-I through NAIA levels. In other words, we believe they are all players.

All the listings are in alphabetical order. We have not assigned numerical rankings, but we have grouped the players into "Top 20 College Prospects", "Next 20 College Prospects" and "Best of the Rest College Prospects". We would expect most, if not all of the players in our Top D-I list will sign by the time they graduate.

For those who are counting, there are approximately 100 players on the list that follows, by far the largest group at any position in SoCal. Not all are the best. Some are good; many are journeymen players who have the potential to be a lot better. And a few are truly outstanding. Sure it's arbitrary as hell, but it's better, we think, than trying to assign numbers to a player. We hate numerical rankings, because they're arbitrary, and it's most often next to impossible to to distinguish between say player 25 and player 53; how much better is one than the other? Who really knows?

If there's someone we missed (and we're sure there are more than a few) 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 discretely by e-mail. Please don't post derogatory stuff on the message board about how player x doesn't deserve to be listed; these are, after all still just kids.

Top 20 SoCal Two-Guard College Prospects

Deshawn Anderson (6'-3" Jr. SG) Fresno Washington Union
Jason Breland (6’-4" Jr. SG) Westchester HS
Solomon Brown (6'-2" Jr. SG) Savanna HS
Doyle Cole (6'-5" Jr. SG) Gardena Serra
Montel Duhon (6’-4" Jr. SG) Venice HS
Branduin Fullove (6'-4" Jr. SG) Simi Valley High
Michael Hall (6'-4" Jr. SG) San Bernardino Pacific
Larry Johnson (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Dominguez
Tommy Johnson (6'-4" Jr. SG) Los Angeles Crenshaw
Deverion Mackey (6'-4" Jr. SG) Marshall Fundamental
Brennan Martin (6'-6" Jr. SG) Trabuco Hills High
Steve Moore (6-3 Compton Dominguez
David Popoola (6’-3" Jr. SG) Westchester HS
James Profit (6'-6" Jr. SG) San Diego Serra
Steve Scoggin (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Mater Dei
DeShawn Stevenson, 6-5 Fresno Washington Union
Dwayne Trotter (6’-4" Jr. SG) Morningside HS
Lou Wright, 6-6 Los Angeles Westchester
William Waggoner (6'-3" Jr. SG) La Mesa Helix
Felipe Williams (6'-3" Jr. SG) Crossroads High

Next Top 20 SoCal College Prospects

Derick Andrew (6’-2" Jr. SG) Rancho Cucamonga HS
Kevin Brown (6'-2" Jr. SG) Westchester
Tracey Cathey (6'-1" Jr. SG) Morningside
Jamaal Dean (6'-2" Jr. SG) Verbum Dei
Leland Dodd (6'-2" So. SG/SF) Bishop Montgomery
Dylan Mathis (6'-5" Jr. SG) Redondo Union
Karim McDougal (6’-4" Jr. SG) Rancho Cucamonga HS
Christian McGuigan (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Mater Dei
Micha McKinney (6'-2" Jr. SG) Dominguez
Kyle Morrison (6'-2" Jr. SG) Venice
Chris Pacana (5'-11" Jr. SG/PG) Ayala
Allan Purnell (6’-3" Jr. SG) Savanna HS
Ronald Ruffin (6'-4" Jr. SG) Chatsworth High
Lamar Ruffin (6’-5" Jr. SG) Murrieta Valley HS
Scottie Stern (6’-4" Jr. SG) Los Angeles HS
Jon Steven (6'-5" Jr. SG) Anaheim Esperanza
Demil Ware (6’-5" Jr. SG) Riverside Arlington HS
Brent Wethers (6’-1" Jr. SG) Murrieta Valley HS
Ryan Wilbur (6’-4" Jr. SG) Brea Olinda
Matt Winter (6'-3" Jr. SG/PG) Heritage Christian
Mike Yildiz (6'-0" Jr. SG) Bell-Jeff

Best of the Rest SoCal College Prospects

Anthony Alexander (6'-1" Jr. SG) Venice
John Alexander (6'-3" Jr. SG) Victor Valley
Jason Angell (5'-10" Jr. SG)Oxnard Santa Clara
Akachi Azubuike (6'-0" Jr. SG) Fullerton
Josh Barnes (5'-10" Jr. SG)Corona Centennial
Andrew Bloomfield (6'-2" Jr. SG) LA Baptist HS
Doug Brown (6'-2" Jr. SG) Esperanza
Marcel Burke (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Ayala
Anthony Camper (5'-11" Jr. SG) Oxnard Santa Clara
Tim Chevalier (5'-10" Jr. SG/PG) Thousand Oaks
Tory Cohn (6'-2" Jr. SG) Beaumont
Andrew Contreras (5'-9" Jr. SG) San Gabriel HS
Art D'Egidio (6'-1" Jr. SG/SF) Chaminade
Jason Davis (6'-3" Jr. SG) Glendora
Ryan Dillon (6'-3" Jr. SG) Victory Valley
Lionel Dixon (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) JW North
Damien Derrico (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Sylmar
Chad Garson (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Harvard-Westlake
Charles Gibson (6'-2" Jr. SG) Canyon Springs
DeAndre Gipson (6'-2" Jr. SG) Buena Park
Damien Gilchrist (6'-0" Jr. SG) JW North
Ronald Gray (6'-1" Jr. SG/SF) Taft
Justin Greene (6'-0" Jr. SG/SF) University of San Diego HS
Trey Harper (6'-0" Jr. SG/SF) Ambassador Christian
Oliver Haworth (6'-1" Jr. SG/SF) Antelope Valley Highland HS
Chris Hooks (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) Harvard-Westlake
Jon James (6'-3" Jr. SG) Bolsa Granda
Nick Jensen (5'-10" Jr. SG) Capo Valley
Andre Johnson (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Carson
Lovestar Jones (6'-2" Jr. SG) Fairfax
Marqui Jones (6'-4" SG) Fairfax
Terrance Joseph (6'-1" Jr. SG) Walnut
Larry Knox (6'-3" Jr. SG) Cleveland
Michael Lalazerian (6'-0" Jr. SG) Sherman Oaks Buckley
Edward McKinney (6'-1" Jr. SG) Inglewood
Graham Miller (6'-3" Jr. SG) Glendora
Steve Miller (6'-3" Jr. SG) Orange
Gene Myvette (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Littlerock
Anthony Naylor (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF/PF) Southwestern (injured)
Senian Norman (5'-10" Jr. SG) Inglewood
Lucas Pace (5'-10" Jr. SG/SF) Capo Valley
Tarus Parish (6'-1" Jr. SG) Colton
Adam Pastor (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Sherman Oaks Buckley
Lonnel Penman (6'-3" Jr. SG) Long Beach Poly
James Phillips (6'-3" Jr. SG) Temecula Valley HS
Ron Prettyman (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) Los Alamitos
Chris Prins (6'-4 Jr. SG) Christian HS
Tremayne Rankins (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Cabrillo
Gregg Robinson (5'-11" Jr. SG) Crespi
Alex Sansberry (6'-0" Jr. SG) Long Beach Cabrillo
Jordan Ste. Marie (6'-1" Jr. SG) Loyola
Ramaan Shotwell (5'-10" Jrl SG/PG) Long Beach Poly
Jeff Souther (6'-1" Jr. SG) Canyon Country Canyon
Logan Steinhauer (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) West Torrance
Blake Tibbitts (6'-1" Sr. SG) Crespi
John Tilton (6'-0" Jr. SG) Woodbridge
Ismael Torres (6'-2" Jr. Sg) Fairfax
Twaine Waite (6'-1" Jr. SG) Carson
John Ward (6'-0" Jr. SG/SF)AB Miller
Todd Warner (6'-2" Jr. SG) Heritage Christian
Dialo Washington (6'-4" Jr. SG) Crenshaw
William Welch (6'-0" Jr. SG) Lynwood
Brent Williams (6'-1" Jr. SG) Santa Barbara
Chris Williams (6'-0" Jr. SG/SF)Santa Barbara
George Williams (5'-11" Jr. SG) Santa Monica