sophomore shooting guards

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

SoCalHoops Sophomore Class:
Top Shooting Guards In SoCal--(May 11,1999)

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 entire sophomore class in SoCal. Second in the series are the shooting guards among the current sophomores (juniors to be this summer and next season).

As with the current junior class, 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. Most on these lists are D-I material, many are certainly at least D-II, III and virtually all of them will play somewhere when they graduate from high school. All of the players are varsity level players, and many are the top prospects on the West Coast; several are even high level national recruits.

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 for college if their development continues during the next two seasons as it has during their first 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.

As with the juniors, 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 sophomores ("rising juniors"). Again, they are currently all varsity level players. Most of them have already drawn the attention of college coaches, and some have drawn national media attention as well. Most of the players listed below have been team, league, or even CIF stats leaders, and almost all have 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 Prospects", "Next Top 20 Prospects" and "Best of the Rest". 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 67 players on the list that follows. That's not as many as the juniors, but then by the time these guys are juniors, in a year from now, there will probably be more players in their class identified, and hence the list will grow. But these players are the best of their class that we've identified so far. 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?

But obviously some on our list are much better than some of the others. Likewise, some have gotten much more media attention than others, and some have been more heavily recruited than others. Indeed, some may not have been recruited at all or even been much noticed before. Well, you be the judge. 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 Sophomore Shooting Guards

Chris Alexander (6'-3" So. SG) Price HS
Jamaal Barnes (6'-2" So. SG) Rowland Heights Rowland HS
Jamal Barnes (6'-2" So. SG) Compton
Torin Beeler (6'-4" So. SG) Ocean View HS
Jarrah Bolden (6'-2" So. SG)San Diego Horizon
Cedric Bozeman (6'-3" So. SG/PG) Mater Dei
Steven Brown (6'-5" So. SG) Venice HS
Marcus Crane (6'-3" So. SG) Lakewood Artesia
Errick Craven (6'-2" So. SG/PG) Bishop Montgomery
Derrick Craven (6'-2" So. SG/PG) Bishop Montgomery
Anthony Davis (6'-4" So. SG) LA Locke HS
Edwin Draughan (6'-5" So. SG/PG) Mayfair HS
Jeff Gloger (5'-11" So. SG) Santa Margarita
Chris Hernandez (6'-2" So. SG) Fresno Clovis West
Earvin Johnson (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Cathedral HS
Matt MacGinnis (6'-3" So. SG) Villa Park
Floyd North (6'-4" So. SG) San Diego St. Augustine
J.S. Nash (6'-0" SG/PG) Moreno Valley Rancho Verde
Cody Pearson (6'-3" So. SG/PG) Sherman Oaks Notre Dame
Ricky Porter (6'-3" SG/SF) Mater Dei
Wes Wardrop (6'-3" So. SG) Loara

SoCalHoops Next Top 20 Sophomore Shooting Guards

Ryan Abreu (6'-4" So. SG) Sonora
Ryan Arceo (6'-0" So. SG) Chaminade
Chaz Bey (6'-1" So. SG) LA Dorsey
Aaron Bobik (6'-2" So. SG) Newbury Park
Lester Clay (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Crenshaw
David Fisher (6'-3" So. SG/SF) LA Hamilton
Jamal Flanagan (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Antelope Valley Christian
Brian Gonzales (6'-4" So. SG) Corona Centennial
Prentiss Harris (6'-1" So. SG) Upland
Armand Ivory (6'-2" So. SG) Artesia
Jamaal James (6'-2" So. SG) Artesia
Donnie Jury (6'-2" So. SG/SF) San Bernardino
Casey Markovic (6'-4" So. SG/SF) Bell-Jeff
Peter McCaslin (5'-11" So. SG) Chadwick
Tony McFadden (6'-3" So. SG) Montclair Prep
Andrew Moore (6'-0" So. SG)Crespi
Nathan Stern (6'-3" So. SG) North Hollywood
David Sybesma (6'-4" So. SG) Corona Centennial
Dijon Thompson (6'-6" SG/PG) Redondo Union
Colin Ward-Henninger (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Sherman Oaks Buckley

Best of the Rest of SoCalHoops Top Sophomore Shooting Guards

Ron Banks (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Long Beach Jordan
Cecil Brown (6'-2" So. SG/SF) LA Taft
Robert Cave (5'-10" So. SG/PG) Crossroads
Alex Clancy (5'-11" So SG) Sherman Oaks Buckley
Mjumbe Jajja (5'-10" So. SG) Crenshaw
Paul Johnson (5'-10" So. SG) JW North
Patrick Lefler (6'-2" So. SG) Esperanza
Landon Lewis (6'-1" So.SG) Brea Olinda
Kristofer Lofgren (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Crossroads
Michael Luderer (6'-2" So. SG)Crespi
Nick Moss (6'-3" So. SG) Villa Park
Chris Parish (6'-2" So. SG) El Toro HS
Robert Rakestraw (5'-10" So. SG/SF) St. Monica's
Terry Stephens (6'-1" So. SG) Cleveland
John Valdez (6'-1" So. SG) Sylmar
DeAndre Williams (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Mayfair
Jackson Wood (6'-4" So. SG) Beaumont