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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Open Exposure: Rockfish Workouts
This Weekend & Following--(Sept. 9, 1999)

For the first time in a long time, Rockfish will not be participating in the fall tournaments. That means they won't be at the Long Beach Fall Hoops Classic this weekend, and they won't be at the adidas Sweet 16 tournament up in Fresno the following weekend, and lastly they won't be entering any teams in the Pump's "Fall Premier Tournament" either. But the Rockfish will still be on display for the college coaches after all. Here's what's up:

A group of returning Rockfish players, mostly seniors and the better underclassmen, will be working out during the fall open period ( (9-9 through 9-26) on Saturdays and Sundays at Los Angeles City College. Confirmed already are
Saturday, September 11 @LACC from 10am to 1;
Sunday, September 12 @LACC from 12:30 - 3:30;
Saturday, September 18 @LACC from 10am to 1;
Saturday, September 25 @LACC from 10am to 1

Not yet confirmed are Sunday, September 19 & 26. Dave Benezra, in an e-mail we received yesterday, explained why Rockfish won't be participating in any fall events: "This will be our first fall that we have not participated in any tournaments. Nothing against any of the tournaments, we just feel that it is a time that can be better spent having our guys workout during that time instead of losing those 6 workouts to tourney games. Players at the above workout will be split up into 4 stations and will workout at two of the four. These workouts are by invite only."

So who's being invited? Well, we know that Russell Lakey (5'-11" Sr. PG) and Jacoby Atako (6'-2" Sr. PG/SG) will be there, and we'd guess also that the rest of the usual starters for the Rockfish travel squad will be in attendance, including Nick Curtis (6'-6" Jr. PF) Oxnard, Anthony Davis (6'-4" Jr.SG) LA Locke, Tim Drisdom (6'-3" So. PG) Calvary Chapel, Alex Graham (6'-11" Jr. C) Redlands, Jermaine Harper (6'-3" Jr. SG) Blue Ridge, Rory O'Neil (6'-10" Jr. C) Ridgecrest Burroughs. Other returning Rockfish who are likely to make an appearance at one time or another would include Kenny D'Oyen (5'-8" Jr. PG) Bishop Montgomery, Josh Dunaj (5'-11" Jr. PG) Riverside Poly, James Jenkins (6'-7" Jr. F) Crescenta Valley, David Sybesma (6'-4" Jr. SG) Corona Centennial, Blake Walker (6'-5" Sr. F) Cajon, Donald Wilson (6'-3" So. SG), and Brock Kyler (6'-6" Sr. F) El Modena.

We know that Julian Sensley (6'-8" Jr. F) St. Thomas More won't be there, and neither will Solomon Brown (6'-1" Jr. PG/SG) who is also attending St. Thomas More. Both of them will participate in the Midnight Madness at Cherry Hill East, in New Jersey for a big exposure event which attracts the top talent in the east every year. And having spent a week in Cherry Hill this past summer watching some of the local talent, we just wish we could be there to see the event.

We hear that the group invited to participate in this "invite only" workout, will be limited to about 20 players, so this will be a select group from among those who have played Rockfish for the past few years. College coaches can attend open workouts, so this will be an alternative opportunity to the usual tournaments and shootouts (actually, this is the first year in a while that we can remember the Pumps not putting on one of their Discovery Shooouts during the fall, opting instead for a tournament format). We'd expect to see coaches dropping in throughout the evaluation period.

Of course Rockfish is also constantly scouring SoCal for new talent, and for younger returning players or guys who have never played with Rockfish, they will also be holding open workouts at Hollywoood High every Saturday from 12:45 to 4:45, beginning this Saturday, September 11. If you are interested, just show up: Hollywood High is located on Sunset between Highland on the east and LaBrea on the west. There is parking inside the school off of Sunset and Orange. Rockfish uses the fall period to give players individual attention on fundamentals, moves and skills, and players interested in attending these workouts also don't have to join the Rockfish (there are no club fees) nor do they have to travel with the Rockfish. The workouts are not a "tryout", but they do allow the club to evaluate new players, and become aware of players who may want to be invited to the Rockfish Spring League (RSL) which always has limited openings available. It's also a good opportunity for younger players to show what they can do, especially if they're interested in making a travel team for next spring.

See you there.