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SoCal High School & Prep Report

Lou Wright Will Remain At Westchester
And Other Assorted Stuff--(March 27, 1998)

Big time transfer news. . . NOT. Lou Wright (6'-5" So. SG/SF), he of the "Sweet Lou" sobriquet and the getting larger 'fro, will not be leaving Westchester next year. "I don't know where these rumors get started," Wright said on Wednesday night as he watched his brother, Lorenzen Wright of the Clippers at the Sports Arena.

Brandon Granville (5'-10" Sr. PG), who is still SoCalHoops' selection as Player of the Year (even if Gary Klein of the Times did renege on our deal, selecting David Bluthenthal (6'-8" Sr. F) instead as the Times' Player of the Year), will attend USC next season, where he will join Bluthenthal.

And speaking of a Clipper/USC connection, it seems Keith Closs (7'-3" Center) of the Clippers has a baby brother who also plays a bit: Greg Jones (6'-8" Fr. F) who attends Montclair Prep, and is only 14 years old, will be playing club ball for the ARC "Lakers" 14 year old team competing in the ARC JV/High School Division league this spring. The team is coached by Marc Borgeson, who in addition to being on staff at Montclair, is also affiliated with Azusa Pacific University and was Closs' shooting coach as well as shooting coach for a number of other NBA players. Jones is a big, wide-body kid, with a frame completely unlike his older brother. And he's doubly dangerous because in addition to his size, he's a lefty.

The ARC Lakers feature Craig Weinstein (5'-10" 8th gr. PG) who currently attends Milken, but who will be at Harvard-Westlake next year, Matt Llewellyn (5'-11" 8th gr. SG) of Campbell Hall, who will transfer to Loyola next year, David Gale (5'-9" 8th gr SG/PG) of Buckley, who is being slotted as a possible 4 year varsity player, Chris Tilman (6'-4" 8th gr PF) who will probably attend Faith Baptist next season, Brian Trump (5'-11" 8th gr. SG/PF) who will probably be at either Montclair or Agoura, and Charlie Kranzdorf (6'-0" 8th gr. F), Montclair Prep. Last Sunday in their opening game at El Camino High, the Lakers defeated a mixed team of JV and Varsity players from Valencia High, without the services of Jones, who will be out for at least two more weeks after doing his own Rico Hines imitation: He cut his right hand with a knife, requiring stitches. The Lakers will play this Sunday at Pierce College at 7 p.m.

And speaking of transfers, look for Scott Borchart (6'-7" Fr. C) of Chaminade, to apply for the Simi Valley "lottery". Word is that Scott's mother works for the Simi school district, and other rumors are that Scott would not have attended Chaminade "but for" the fact that his lottery pick didn't permit him to attend Simi High last season.

If true, can you imagine the uproar that this will create for Dean Bradshaw. Simi would be an impressive team, with one of the best frontlines in the region with Rafael Berumen and virtually all of the other Simi players returning. Also, if true this would lead to an interesting situation at Chaminade, which will also lose the services of graduating seniors Scott Long, Justin Beach, and Justin Stewart. While the bench is deep, the question will be next season just how deep it really is if Borchart leaves. And we have it on pretty good authority that there are at least two other bench players and one incoming freshman who have elected not to continue at Chaminade who are in the process of transferring, probably to either Montclair, or other schools in the area.

More Chaminade: Will Coach Jeff Young, who aspires to coach at the college ranks, leave the school? Again, only time will tell, but the Times intimated in several articles before the USDHS game that it was a definite possibility, and that apparently he only stayed this year, turning down a job from San Diego State, to be with Justin Stewart and Scott Long for all four years. Now that they're gone, and given Young's stated intention to move on someday, this could be what's stirring the transfer rumor-mill.

And speaking of transfers, word is out that Harrison Schaen (6'-5" 8th F/C), who is still only 12 years old, will leave Sierra Canyon Middle School, to attend another middle school for next year (he'll be held back one year so he can mature a bit before high school), and then will play at Mater Dei. Not a big surprise, since Schaen, who played for the ARC teams and the Northridge Knights team coached by Marc Borgeson, Jerry Gale and Jeff Kranzdorf, also plays for Pat Barrett's Southern California All-Stars.

Hoop-It-Up News: Gilbert Arenas (6'-3" Jr. SG/PG/F/C) from Grant High, one of the most explosive players in all of SoCal, and his buddies Devin Montgomery (6'-0" Jr. G) from San Fernando, along with Ray Lipscomb (5'-8" Jr. G) from Grant, just destroyed the competition at the Hoop-It Up Competition two weeks ago at Cal State Northridge. Arenas will attend the Adidas ABCD camp this summer, and is currently playing in the Rockfish League, which we understand will be idle this weekend.