jonathan sanders

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

USC Recruiting: Jonathan Sanders
Update--(Sept. 2, 1999)

Jonathan Sanders (6'-7" Sr. PG/SF), perhaps the most misunderstood player in the senior class (in the sense that a lot of coaches don't quite know what to make of him), will be taking an in-home visit with the coaches from USC. Jonathan is also being recruited by a number of other schools, but his home visit from USC will be the last in the series. He will meet with Colorado State coaches on September 9; Denver on September 10; Kansas State on September 11; St. Louis on September 12; Texas Tech on September 13; Rice September 16, and finally USC on September 19. According to Joel Francisco (who now seems to have developed some kind of working relationship with the RivalNet guys, via Bob Gibbons ---man these guys are everywhere--), Sanders was at one time being recruited by Kansas, but the Jayhawks apparently are no longer recruiting him.

We say that Jonathan is the "most misunderstood" club player because most coaches (with the exception of his coach and stepfather, Mark Sharpley) have not been able to figure out whether he's a point guard, a small forward, or something else entirely, or a combination of the two. One thing we know: He's not a shooting guard, because even though his shot sometimes drops, it's one of the weirdest looking we've seen, and Jonathan will be the first to tell you that he's not a shooter. Last spring, he played for the Pump N Run Gold team at the Pump Easter Tournament, and while he wanted to play the point, the spot was already covered by Brandon Brooks (and during one game, as a sort of experiment, by Wesley Stokes, probably just so Wesley could say he played with every team in SoCal except Bob Gottlieb's BWBA. . . ah, but we digress), so Jonathan was put into the role of small forward/shooting guard, and to put it bluntly, he did not flourish there.

However, when allowed to play his natural position, which is "point-forward" Jonathan performs amazingly well, even if he is not a tremendous scorer, although he will from time to time take the ball to the rack and dunk it. He's got very long arms, which gives him great control and the ability to pass over even the tallest defenders, and at 6'-7", there aren't many point defenders who are taller than he is. He also has reasonably good (but not blinding) quickness, but that's more than compensated for by his excellent fundamentals and good vision on the court.

Jonathan is originally a SoCal native, and he lived in Sherman Oaks until he was about 14, where he attended Millikan Middle School and played ARC before moving to Colorado. When we had dinner with him last spring following a game at the Pump's Easter Tournament, we reminisced about several of his close friends here in California, whom he said he missed, and he also gave us some idea of what his life was like at the small school in Colorado he attends, Belleview Christian. "My school has less than a hundred students, so the classes are really small, and athletically, we play in the smallest division in the state, so we're really, really good, a lot better than most of the competition," Jonathan told us. "But even though the classes are tiny, maybe because they are, the education is great. I've got a 4.0 + GPA with AP classes."

Sanders attended the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J., and then traveled to Dominguez Hills for the second session of West Coast All-Stars before joining his travel team, the Colorado Jam at the adidas Las Vegas Big Time Tournament. We caught a couple of his games in Vegas and he played well, impressing a lot of coaches with his fluid style for the game. He's not a big scoring guard, but loves to pass the ball, and gets everyone on his team involved. Not a lot of one-on-one isolation, and his best move is not breaking down a defender off the dribble, but in the open court and a half-court offense, he'll generally find the open man with his good passing skills and excellent vision. Oh, did we mention that he's smart.

Given the fact that he's from SoCal (his father still lives here), there's a pretty good chance that if Jonathan likes what he hears from the Trojans, he could be persuaded to move them up near the top of his list. Right now, even though he continues to profess to anyone who asks that there are no favorites, we'd give the slight edge to Colorado State, because during every conversation we've had with him, Colorado State consistently comes up, and from the tone and sound of his voice, he really likes them. So, the next step for the Trojans? Get him out here on an official visit. No word yet on whether the Colorado Jam will be playing at the Pump Fall Premier Tournament, which is scheduled for September 24-26, but it would be an excellent way for him to combine the tournament with the visit.

Stay tuned.