SoCalHoops Tournament News

40th Annual Best In The West--Program Notes:
Bakersfield HS--(Dec. 26, 1999)

What:      40th Annual Best in the West Invitational
Where:   Long Beach State & Lakewood High School
When:    December 27, 28, 29 & 30, 1999
Who:      32 of the top boys' teams in the West

Bakersfield HS (Bakersfield, CA):   Bakersfield comes into the Best in the West having just finished 4th at the Reebok Holiday Prep Classic in the Silver Cup Tournament, with a record of 2-2 in Vegas.  The team is currently 10-5, and the while they are very good, the offense sputtered a bit in their last two games. Nevertheless, they are led by a very strong contingent, and are well coached. Mark Hutson is in his 22nd year and just picked up his 400th career win, the most in CIF Central Section history.  The team is led by Alfred Williams (6'-3" Sr. SG), and outstanding player, who helped the Drillers recently to a win over Fresno Washington Union and top 5 player and Kansas-signee Deshawn Stevenson (6'-5" Sr. SG/SF), one of several huge upsets at the BCW "Battle of Central California" earlier this month. The Drillers are also led by top scorers Johnny Wiley (6'-5" Sr. F) and Brandon Huggins (5'-1"" Jr. PG). The Drillers will look to do some more damage here at the Best in the West.

Williams is probably the best known of the players on this team, and in the last year, at least since the adidas Fresno Hoop Summit where he made his travel team "debut" of sorts for George Albanez' 805 Basketball squad, Alfred has been attracting quite a bit of attention. In a memorable semifinal game, 805 took host EBO and Deshawn Stevenson to the wire, and Alfred's defense and scoring against Stevenson in that semifinal game turned a lot of people on to Williams, even if 805 ultimately didn't win. His reputation was becoming established, and he helped himself in other events during the summer, including the adidas Las Vegas Big Time, where 805 again fared well in one of the 32 team brackets; Alfred also played for Miles Gonzales' Sports Express team (which was co-coached by Albanez) at the Nike Summer National Championships. While the team didn't fare too well, Alfred again played a steady, solid game. 

We asked about Alfred's recruiting earlier this fall and Hutson told us, "Al will be a Prop. 48. I don't think there's much doubt about that. He is missing several necessary credits in math, and there isn't sufficient time to make up the classes this year. He's been getting some attention from national programs, but I'm pretty certain from talking with him and assessing his recruiting that he'll probably wind up staying home in the Central Valley next year while he gets himself eligible. CSUSB is very interested, and Al seems interested as well, at least for one year,"   Hutson told us. "You know, he can attend a D-II school like Cal State Bakersfield as a Prop. 48, pay his own way, spend a year there and get eligible, and still have four full years of eligibility to play. If he was a Prop. 48 at a D-I, he'd only have another three to play." Hutson reasoned. " The year will do him good, and may even improve his recruiting. And besides, for Al, staying home won't be such a bad thing," Hutson said. "He's kind of a homebody anyway. Al's 18 years old, and he's got a 2 year old daughter, and his girlfriend is attending school here and working, so being able to stay here with his family will be a good thing for him, at least that's what I think," Hutson said.

See you there.

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