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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

SoCalHoops Junior Class:
Top Small/Shooting Forwards In SoCal--(May 10,1999)

It's time for SoCalHoops to again evaluate who, in our opinion, were the best small forward/shooting forwards 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 shortly) 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 a player listed on more than one list, or you may find a player on a different list than you'd expect to find him. It sort of 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. Whatever. It's a list, right?

For the list of players which follows, 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.

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 90 players on the list that follows. 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 Junior Small Forward/Wing College Prospects

Nick Booker (6'-5" Jr. SF/SG) La Jolla The Bishops School
Adam Drell (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) Chatsworth
Jessie Foster (6'-7" Jr. SF/PF) Campbell Hall
Jammie Harris (6'-5" Jr. SF) Canoga Park (CA) High
David Joiner (6'-6" Jr. SF/SG) Rialto HS
Terrance Lawson (6'-4" Jr. SF) Westchester
Steve McMaryion (6’-4" Jr. SF/SG) Pacific Palisades
Brett Michel (6’-6" Jr. SG/SF) Simi Valley HS
Ryan Mollins (6’-5" Jr. SF/SG) Redondo Union HS
Jason Morrissette (6'-4" Jr. SF/SG) Los Angeles Fairfax
Ellis Myles (6'-7" Jr. SF) Compton High
Brian Pruitt (6'-5" Jr. SF) Bishop Montgomery
Tyrone Riley (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) LA Jordan
Lamar Ruffin (6'-7" Jr. SF/PF) Murrieta Valley
Jason Sanford (6'-5" Jr. SF/SG)Pasadena Marshall
Ryan Stacey (6'-7" Jr. SF/PF) Santa Margarita
Cedric Thompkins (6'-7" Jr. SF/PF) Dominguez
Dwayne Trotter (6'-4" Jr. SF)Morningside
Walter White (6'-5" Jr. SF) Redondo Union
Sherman E. Gay (6'-7" Jr SF/SG) Compton Dominguez

Next Top 20 SoCal College Prospects

Jesse Bronner (6'-3" Jr. SF/SG) Montclair Prep
DJ Brown (6'-6" Jr. SF) La Mesa Monte Vista
Chris Cablayan (6'-4" Jr. SF/PF)Corona Centennial
Josh Duncan (6'-4" Jr. SF) Pasadena
Adam Fain 6'-4 Jr. SF) Fresno Washington Union
Danny Genung (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) Redlands
Anthony Gosserand (6'-4" Jr. SF/PF) JW North
Josiah Johnson (6’-6" Jr. SF/SG) Montclair Prep HS
Dustin Kaatz (6’-5" Jr. SF/SG) Marina HS Huntington Beach
Karim McDougal (6'-4" Jr. SF) Rancho Cucamonga
Leon Robbins (6'-5" Jr. SF) Hollywood
Ricky Rico (6'-7" Jr. SF)Morningside
Ronald Ruffin (6'-6" Jr. SF) Chatsworth HS
Kevin Hansen (6'-4" Jr. SF/SG) Corona del Mar
Steve Henderson (6'-5" Jr. SF) Mater Dei
Justin Saad-Anthony (6'-5" Jr. SF/PF) LA El Camino Real
John Steven (6'-5" Jr. SF) Esperanza
Demil Ware (6'-5" Jr. SF/PF) Riverside Arlington
Matt Williams (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) Heritage Christian
Othel Johnson (6'-5" Jr. SF/SG) Price

Best of the Rest SoCal College Prospects

Carlos Arroyo (6'-5" Jr. SF/PF) Bell-Jeff
Babatunde Akingbemi (6'-2" Jr. SF/PF)Ambassador Christian
Peter Beaudin (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) Antelope Valley Christian
Matt Beirnat (6'-5" Jr. SF) Crespi
Julian Blake (6'-5" Jr. SF) LA Dorsey
Marcel Burke (6'-4" Jr. SF) Ayala
Chris Chatman (6'-4" Jr. SF) Tustin
Jarrett Clark (6'-3" Jr. SF) Lynwood
Anthony Coleman (6'-6" Jr. SF) West Torrance
Jeff Conover (6'-5" Jr. SF) University of San Diego HS
J.J. Craig (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) Diamond Bar
Jason Crow (6'-4" Jr. SF) Manual Arts
Jason Davis (6'-3" Jr. SF) Glendora
Dominic Dix (6'-5" Jr. SF) LA Dorsey
Nick Dominelli (6'-2" Jr. SF)Santa Barbara
Eric Geffner (6'-5" Jr. SF) Harvard-Westlake
Brian George (6'-6" Jr. SF) San Clemente
Mike Grimes (6'-5" Jr. SF/PF) Crespi
Earl Hall (6'-4" Jr. SF)Oxnard Santa Clara
Jason Hong (6'-4" Jr. SF/PF) Capo Valley
Elliot Hucklebee (6'-3" Jr. SF) Pasadena
J.J. James (6'-4" Jr. SF) Bolsa Grande
Jason Jackson (6'-5" Jr. SF) Bakersfield
Jason Johnson (6'-7" Jr. SF) Upland
Charles Jones (6'-5" Jr. SF/PF) Long Beach Poly
Brock Kyler (6'-7" Jr. SF/SG) El Modena
Jim Lefebvre (6'-4" Jr. SF/PF) Chaminade
Kai Lyles (6'-5" Jr. SF) Redlands East Valley
Graham Miller (6'-3" Jr. SF) Glendora
Deandre Morris (6'-4" Jr. SF) Manual Arts
Kelechi Ogbunamiri (6'-3" Jr. SF/PF) Harvard-Westlake
Ben Owens (6'-6" Jr. SF) Temescal Canyon
Gregory Peck (6'-1" Jr. SF)Ambassador Christian
Jeremiah Phillips (6'-5" Jr. SF) Silverado
Vincent Raglin (6'-4" Jr. SF) Lynwood
Alex Rasmussen (6'-4" Jr. SF) Tustin Foothill HS
Ryan Rikansrud (6'-3" Jr. SF/SG) Corona
James Rivers (6'-3" Jr. SF/SG) Temecula
Will Svitek (6'-6" Jr. SF) Newbury Park
Dante Tatum (6'-3" Jr. SF/SG)Morningside
Spencer Torgan (6'-3" Jr. SF) Harvard-Westlake
Nick Trainer (6'-4" Jr. SF) Fallbrook HS
Aaron Tunney (6'-0" Jr. SF) Crespi
Michael Van Petten (6'-4" Jr. SF) Carson HS
Jontae Vinson (6'-5" Jr. SF/SG) Perris
Blake Walker (6'-3" Jr. SF) El Cajon
Jordan Walker (6'-6" Jr. SF) Fontana
Steve Walker (6'-2" Jr. SF)Morningside
Johnny Wiley (6'-4" Jr. SF) Bakersfield
Don Williams (6'-5" Jr. SF)Pasadena Marshall
Vincent Williams (6'-6" Jr. SF/PF) Santa Monica
Jason Zippel (6'-6" Jr. SF) Tustin Foothill HS