SoCalHoops Recruiting News

LA Rockfish: One Program,
Four Teams: A Recap--(Aug. 4, 1999)

The LA Rockfish ran three, sometimes four teams this summer and spring at the various tournaments, and as a result, they were among the youngest of the elite travel teams in most tournaments, and they also were among the most talented and most successful, all things considered.   In Fresno they had three teams, in Vegas four, and at the Best of Summer they ran three again.  For the trip to the Speice in Indiana in early spring and for the end of summer adidas EBO/Oakland Slam N Jam "Elite Eight" they only brought their No. 1 team, which was known simply as the "Los Angeles Rockfish" (which is not to be confused with the other Rockfish teams, which are sometimes known by colors-- "Gray,"  "White," or "Blue"-- or by the names of various sea creatures--"Orcas," "Barracudas," etc.

As a group, they had some excellent results in Vegas, with three of the four teams making  it to the Open Bracket (ok, so their first team was "seeded" in the Open Bracket anyway, but the other two out of three weren't).  We don't propose to give a game by game recap of each tournament, nor even a player by player analysis for all of the various teams but we'll offer some thoughts and impressions of those guys we did get to see throughout the spring and summer. Because the adidas Las Vegas Big Time afforded the best opportunity to see the most players who were all affiliated with Rockfish, we'll use the rosters from that tournament as the benchmark for evaluations.  Some of the players listed on one roster may have played on another Rockfish team at tournaments other than Vegas, but for the sake of simplicity, the Vegas rosters will suffice.

Los Angeles Rockfish Team (No. 1 Team)

According to their own count, the Los Angeles Rockfish had the youngest elite travel team in the country this summer with only two rising seniors, but they also had some great results, with final 8 finishes in four tournaments, including the adidas Las Vegas Big Time, Double Pump Best of the Summer and the runner-up spot in the Elite Eight. 

As noted, and not to belabor the point, Rockfish brought four teams to Vegas, so it was virtually impossible for us to see them all, and we'll leave the individual team results to Recruiting USA's website, which is the internet arm for the Rockfish guys anyway (Dave Benezra was listed in Vegas as the coach of all the Rockfish teams, even though he only coached the No. 1 team; others were coached by Mark Berokoff, Hernando Planells, and Erik Hardin). We did manage to catch most  of the Los Angeles Rockfish's games and they played great.  We couldn't make it to the Elite Eight tournament last week, but we understand that the Rockfish guys fought hard, but just ran out of gas at the end, losing to Oakland Slam N Jam in the finals.  Here's the roster:  

Jacoby Atako (6'-1" Sr. PG) Santa Monica-- Jacoby is a tremendously athletic, very prolific scoring guard, capable of playing either the point or the two spot. He's more well-known as a "pure" passing point, but he's had games this summer we've seen where he just bombs in three after three, so there's no doubt he could play the two in college if needed.  He's a great defender, with amazing quickness, very good hands, and nice lateral moves. He can defend with or without the ball, and we know that a number of mid-major schools were after him in Vegas and at the Best of Summer, including UCSB, Pepperdine,  San Diego State, and several other WAC, Big Sky and WCC schools.  A few Pac 10 schools, mostly from the Pacific Northwest have also expressed interest in Jacoby and there's no doubt that he'll be a good college player next season.  One of our favorite guards in the senior class.

Russell Lakey (6'-0" Sr. PG) Harvard-Westlake--Russell had a great summer,  and got a lot of college coaches hot for him, but the feeling is that he'll either have the mid-majors after him or he'll go to the Ivy League for the educational opportunities.  Russell started his high school career as a two guard behind Victor Munoz, but when Victor (who is now at Columbia) tore his ACL, Russell became a one.   He showed good ball movement in Vegas,   and likely will get offered by several schools looking for good, smart point guards who can also shoot the three, schools like Gonzaga, Portland, Oregon State, Northridge, UCSB, and several others, but the question will be for Russell whether those schools offer the opportunities that he's looking for.  He's a great defender, who sometimes relies more on pure quickness rather than good floor spacing and movement, and as a result, he's often looking at his man from behind trying to pop the ball loose, and most of the time it works.  But against bigger and better competition, he'll need to rely more on fundamentals than strength and speed.  Still, he's an excellent three point shooter, a good floor general, and he's smart enough to know what to do and when to do it.   Another of our favorites in this class. 

Nick Curtis (6'-6" Jr. PF) Oxnard--Nick is the guys, when people ask us who is most likely one day to end up in the NBA, that we think of first.  And it's not necessarily because we think he will end up there, because in the long run, the odds of any high school player making it to the big time is only about 2,000 to one, and that's not very good.  No, we think of him in that light because he just looks like he should be there one day, like he's got a future-NBA body.   He's got great big long arms, and he's very athletic and strong, but for now mostly it's a lot of promise which is as yet unfulfilled.  We didn't see great things from Nick this season, but next year we'll be watching and so will a lot of college coaches, and from the comments we heard in Vegas and at other tournaments, we'll have to bring a lot of bibs along so that the coaches don't drool all over themselves.

Anthony Davis (6'-4" Jr.SG) LA Locke--Anthony (pictured left) is a great outside shooter, who has had some great games this year on the Rockfish teams, but mostly those games came when he was in the Rockfish Spring League and not at tournaments.  He can easily overpower younger players on defense, and even some older players, and he's got a great three point shot.  He's also had games during the summer where he's virtually disappeared, like the games against Pump N Run Gold in Fresno and in Vegas, where he really didn't impact the outcome.  But we still like anything anyway.  He tells us that he's transferred already to LA  Cleveland, and in fact he played for Cleveland in the War on the Floor tournament.  A big time shooting prospect to watch over the next few years, another of our favorite players, and a great student.

Tim Drisdom (6'-3" So. PG) Calvary Chapel-- Tim (pictured left) was touted by some other scouting guys as the next best thing since sliced bread in the Rockfish Spring League when he first made his debut as a freshman, and admittedly he's very good, extremely athletic, strong, and he reminds us of Marlon Parmer a few years ago. Good quickness, likes to take the ball to the rack against pressure and has very good spin moves to the hole.  But having said all that, Tim is still very young, and he didn't get a lot of playing time on this team, in fact in Vegas we barely saw him at all.   He's still one of the most promising young point guards in SoCal and maybe the west coast, and in a couple of years, we'll be among his biggest boosters.  For now though he just needs more playing time to get accustomed to the level of play he faced in Vegas.

Alex Graham (6'-11" Jr. C) Redlands--Alex is tall, very tall, and he's also a solid rebounder and shot blocker.  But he's very thin, and needs to put on weight to become a high D-I prospect by next season.  He's got nice moves around the basket, and was a decent, albeit not great, scorer at most of the tournaments where we saw him play.   He had some great moves, including a developing hook shot, and we really think that this next season will determine a lot about his fortunes and whether he blossoms to his full potential.

Jermaine Harper (6'-3" Jr. SG) Blue Ridge--A former west coast player from Gardena, he's now a prep school player who regained a year or two, and is taking advantage of it, playing well in front of the college coaches for most of the summer.  He's athletic, a good shooter and he's got great fundamentals, but against the stiffer competition in Vegas and in Fresno, he virtually disappeared at times. Jermaine has good quickness, an excellent handle and good hops, and is a great defensive specialist too, and we saw him get about 6 steals in one of the games in Vegas. He's got high D-I potential, but will need to play hard every time out.

Rory O'Neil (6'-10" Jr. C) Ridgecrest Burroughs--Rory is perhaps the most promising "big guy" playing with the Rockfish team; we would have reserved that for Dustin Villapigue, but he's now playing with Pump N Run. . . but that's a whole different story. . .  Rory is long and lean, agile, and pretty good in close around the basket, and he's also very young.  He has nice skills around the basket, blocks shots, rebounds, and likes to get to the hoop, but like Alex Graham, he's not terribly hefty, and in fact he's rather thin.  But college coaches have got to love this guy. He drives from Ridgecrest (which is just east of Mammoth, on Hwy. 395, in other words, in the middle of nowhere)  virtually every weekend to LA to work out with the Rockfish, so he gets the dedication award.  If he fills out, he'll be a mid to high D-I player, no question about it.

Julian Sensley (6'-8" Jr. F) St. Thomas More-- He was supposed to be this year's Rockfish version of Carlos Boozer, and while he has all of the physical skills and attributes, big, strong, buffed out body, with some really great artistic tattoos (if that's your thing), he also exhibited Carlos' reputed tendency to "play soft."  In the Pump N Run game in Vegas, which Rockfish lost by more than 20, he completely disappeared.   In other games, he'd hang around the perimeter, doing his imitation of a three man.   He's got way too much talent for that, and when he decides to play tough and strong, he's virtually unstoppable as he was in some of Rockfish's other games (Madison Broncos comes to mind).  He was from Hawaii, and that may explain the laid back style, but a winter of freezing cold days and nights in Connecticut should change all of that.  No problem, he'll be back for another year, and then he'll be a very high major D-I prospect.  He's a stud who just needs to prove to everyone that he is.

LA Rockfish Vegas Results:

Pool Play (3-0; First In Pool)

Los Angeles Rockfish (CA) 65,   Team Detroit (MI) 61
Los Angeles Rockfish (CA) 45,  Newark Rams (NJ) 38
Los Angeles Rockfish (CA) 81, Topp Sports of SC (SC) 75

Bracket Results--Final 8 Finish "Open Bracket"

Los Angeles Rockfish 94, Manual (CO)  64
Los Angeles Rockfish 57, Madison Broncos 56
LA Rockfish 59, Houston Lynx 55
LA Rockfish 54, Pump N Run Gold 77

Los Angeles Rockfish Gray Team

The Rockfish Gray team was one of the "other" Rockfish teams.  We didn't get to see them in Vegas but we know many of the players from previous tourneys and some also played together in the Best of Summer.  Others we just didn't get to see. Like the Pump N Run Black team, they were a victim of their own success in pool play, and by winning their pool and coming in first, they qualified to play in the large, 100 team "Open Bracket" which was their undoing, since they lost their first game.  In any event, even though they didn't get to keep playing through until Monday, they were an impressive group. Here's the roster:

Leland Dodd (6'-2" Jr. PG) Bishop Montgomery-- very quick point guard, excellent handle, slasher
Jesse Foster (6'-7" Sr. F) Campbell Hall--ultra-thin small forward, and effective rebounder who can score
Alan Purnell (6'-4" Sr. SG/SF) Savanna--slashing small forward with a very nice shot
Jordan Rush (6'-3" So. SG/SF) Crossroads--transfer from Westchester, JaRon Rush's cousin, good outside shooter and rebounder, very promising young soph.
Wes Wardrop (6'-3" Jr. SG) Loara--great shooter, one of the better outside shooters in Rockfish Spring league, had a very good summer tournament series. (Note: He was also on the Rockfish Blue Roster, but didn't play there, at least not that we saw).
D.J. Wyatt (5'-8" Sr. G) Serra --small but effective point with a good handle, excellent court vision, great defensive tenacity.

Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the rest of these guys, and really aren't familiar with them enough to offer any observations:

Ellis Walker (6'-7" Jr. F)  Hart
Reco Wright (6'-0" Jr. G) Etiwanda
Justin Dick (5'-8" Fr. PG) Boston
Michael Wilds (6'-6" Jr. F) Dorsey
Jordan Roberts (6'-2" Jr. SG) Alta Loma
Zach Smith (6'-7" Sr. F) Oak Park

Rockfish Gray Team Vegas Results

Pool Play Results--First Place in Pool

Indy Metros Premier (IN) 76, LA Rockfish Gray (CA) 39
LA Rockfish Gray (CA) 74, Silverado (NV) 48
LA Rockfish Gray (CA) 68, Team Lima II (OH) 61

Bracket Play:  "Open Bracket"

Hoopaholics 90, LA Rockfish Grey 84

LA Rockfish Blue Team

Yet another Rockfish team, this was probably considered to be the No. 2 team at the Vegas Big Time, although in all candor, there were some guys on this team who easily could have been on the No. 1 team and outperformed some of the regulars there:

Solomon Brown (6'-1" Jr. SG) St. Thomas More--thin, active two guard, could have been one of the best outside shooters in SoCal if he wasn't leaving Savanna High in Orange County to attend prep school in the fall.  Will be a mid to high major prospect as a shooting guard next season if his development continues.

Kenny D'Oyen (5'-8" Jr. PG) Bishop Montgomery--Kenny is the reason that the Craven twins don't play point at Bishop Montgomery. Excellent handle, good vision, a real patient floor leader who can also push the ball and run the break, Kenny inherited a lot of skills from his brother, Delano, and has a few tricks of his own.

Josh Dunaj (5'-11" Jr. PG) Riverside Poly--athletic point guard, with good vision, who is only hampered (if at all) with his stature, he is quick, can defend and loves to slash and penetrate to the basket.  

Gabriel Hughes (6'-10" Sr. C) New Hampton, NH--Gabriel is thin, very thin, and will use this next year in prep school to beef up and work on his post skills before attending Cal as a freshman in the 2001-2002 freshman class.

James Jenkins (6'-7" Jr. F) Crescenta Valley--James is a good athlete, who runs the floor well, rebounds effectively, and needs to work on finishing around the basket. He had good results this summer and got some good looks from coaches.

David Popoola (6'-3" Jr. SG)  Blue Ridge Prep--How good does he want to be? That's how good he can be. Leaving for prep school, a seemingly popular option more and more among some of the Rockfish guys, David is a great leaper, a decent shooter, better from close in that out to three, and he'll be a good prospect next year.

David Sybesma (6'-4" Jr. SG) Corona Centennial--good shooter, especially on the pull up jumper and from mid range. Good defender, energetic and active. One to watch for next year.

Blake Walker (6'-5" Sr. F) Cajon--

Donald Wilson (6'-3" So. SG)

Brock Kyler (6'-6" Sr. F) El Modena--we didn't get to watch him for more than a moment, and thus really can't comment.

Pool Play Results: (3-0) First in Pool

LA Rockfish Blue (CA) 79, San Antonio Magic (TX) 64
LA Rockfish Blue (CA) 86, SRC Rebels (CO) 49
LA Rockfish Blue (CA) 79, Indy Metros Gold (IN) 48

Bracket Play: "Open Bracket" Results:

Cleveland BBall Club 77, LA Rockfish Blue 69

Rockfish White Team

This was a team with some very talented players, but which never really gelled, never got rolling, and never was able to exploit it's strengths. This Rockfish team featured more players from the San Fernando Valley than any other, but they were also among the youngest players in the tournament, including guys like Will Sheslow, a quick, talented shooter and ball handler, and Jonathon Todd, JJ's younger but bulkier and stronger brother. The team also featured three guys, Sean Phaler, Matt McGinnis, and Kyle Egkan, who were also committed to play for their high school team in the tournament.  We didn't check to see which team they played for but the tournament organizers were very clear this year in letting everyone know that a player was only supposed to be on one roster during the tourney.  Whether they did or didn't play, it didn't seem to help as the team didn't do very well, 1-2 in pool,  and they finished by losing their only game in the "B" bracket, but they had some good individual performances, including some nice play from Kenny Penn, formerly of North Hollywood who will be attending Oak Hill in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia.  No, he probably won't be playing for the top rated national varsity high school team, but will instead play on one of the schools three "local" teams, the one that plays local high schools and not other "super schools" like Dominguez, Mater Dei, and several small college teams.  Still this was a good young group, and best of all they'll be back, some for at least two more years, and so they got some valuable experience against tougher and better competion.  

Julian Blake (6'-5" Sr. G/F) Dorsey
Kyle Egkan (6'-7" Jr. F) Villa Park
Damon Jenkins (6'-3" Jr. G/F) Dos Pueblos
Matt McGinnis (6'-3" Jr. SG) Villa Park
Kenny Penn (6'-4" So. F) Oak Hill
Sean Phaler (6'-7" Fr. F) Villa Park
Ron Ruffin (6'-6" Sr. F) Chatsworth
Stephone Seals (6'-0" Sr. G) Corona Centennial
Will Sheslow (6'-0" So. PG) Montclair Prep
TJ Stephens (6'-2" Jr. G) Cleveland
Jonathon Todd (6'-6" So. F) Chaminade
Byron Williams (6'-2" Jr. G) Corona Centennial

Pool Play Results: 1-2 (Third Place)

LA Rockfish White 50, Arizona Heat Black (AZ) 49
New Mexico Flight (NM) 80, LA Rockfish White (CA) 55
Wisconsin Razz (WI) 61, LA Rockfish White (CA) 59

Bracket Play Results:

South Tahoe BBall 71, LA Rockfish White 55

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