par412.

Parade's 1998 All-American Team
Only One From SoCal. . . Guess Who?--(April 12,1998)

Is the talent level in SoCal and the West really not on a par with New Jersey, Virginia, or points East? Or is it that Parade Magazine, that sometime stuffer of Sunday Hearst Newspapers (and probably a few owned by Rupert Murdoch now) thinks so. We don't, but then our opinion hardly counts, at least not in this story.

Parade Magazine obviously thinks the talent in the east this year is vastly superior to that found in the west, and in naming the 1998 Parade First, Second, Third and Fourth Team All-Americans, Parade demonstrates it's eastern bias yet again. Only two California players made it at all to the list, both to the second team. Tayshaun Prince (6'-8" Sr. G/F Compton Dominguez) was named to the second team, while Ray Young (6'-5" Sr. G Alameda St. Joseph Notre Dame) was named to the second team as well.

From the "eastern seaboard (from Maine to Florida and points in between), Parade named 24 players out of the 40 total selected. The entire West Coast had a total of only 5, including Carlos Boozer from Alaska. And just where does Texas fit in? Is it in the South? Or is it in the West? Ok, while we don't think Rashard Lewis of Houston is really from the "west coast", it is probably, to a New Yorker, considered "west". So we had 6 players selected.

12 East Region -- VA (3), MD (3), NJ (2), MA (2), Conn. (1), Penn. (1)
12 South Region --Fla. (3), Tenn. (1), LA (1), N.C. (2), Ala (1), KY (1), W. VA (1), Miss. (1), GA (1)
10 Midwest Region-- Minn. (1), Mo. (1), Ill. (3), S. D. (1), Mich. (1), N.D. (1), OH (1), Ind. (1)
1 Southwest Region--Texas (1)
5 West Coast--California (2), Alaska (1), AZ (1), Wash. (1)

All right, we hear you say, enough of the numbers, tell us who was selected. Ok, here's the list:

Name	Height	School	City
Al Harrington	6'-9"	St. Patrick	Elizabeth, NJ
Rashard Lewis	6'-10"	Elsik	Houston, TX
Vincent Yarbough	6'-8"	Cleveland	Cleveland, TN
Joel Przybilla	7'-0"	Monticello	Monticello, MN
JaRon Rush	6'-7"	Pembroke Hill	Kansas City, MO
Korleone Young	6'-7"	Hargrave Academy	Chatham, VA
DerMarr Johnson	6'-9"	Newport	Kensington, MD
Dan Gadzuric	6'-11"	Gv. Dummer	Byfield, MA
Stromile Swift	6'-9"	Fair Park	Shreveport, LA
Ronald Curry	6'-3"	Hampton	Hampton, VA

This first team really doesn't contain many surprises, and we're glad to see that JaRon Rush, who has signed with UCLA is considered in the top category, even if he says he intends to jump to the NBA after one or two years. Dan Gadzuric is certainly a top talent, as is Harrington. DerMarr Johnson is good, and occasionally showed flashes of NBA-type brilliance, but a first team selection? Ok, who are we to quibble. But take a look at this team closely. There are really no guards except for Ronald Curry. So that's a "team" for Parade? If you say so.

Let's look at the "second" team:

Name	Height	School	City
Corey Maggette	6'-6"	Fenwick	Oak Park, IL
Jason Capel	6'-8"	St. John's	Frederick, MD
Corey Hightower	6'-8"	Mt. Zion	Durham, NC
Michael Miller	6'-8"	Mitchell	Mitchell, SD
Frank Williams	6'-4"	Manual	Peoria, IL
Tayshaun Prince	6'-8"	Dominguez	Compton, CA
Quentin Richardson	6'-5"	Whitney Young	Chicago, IL
Kevin Lyde	6'-9"	Oak Hill Academy	Mouth of Wilson, VA
Keith Bogans	6'-5"	DeMatha	Hyatsville, MD
Ray Young	6'-5"	St. Joseph	Alameda, CA

Hmmm. So what have we got here? Any true centers? Maybe Kevin Lyde, but mostly a team of forwards and wing guards, which a couple of tall guards who could probably play point in college, including Ray Young and Keith Bogans. Maybe even Corey Hightower, if he doesn't jump to the NBA. Oh, and there's Quentin Richardson. But I'm willing to bet that if you put the First Team up against the Second Team, that the Seconds would probably outshoot, out-hustle, and out-handle the First Team.

Take a look at the Third Team.  Getting smaller all the time:

Name	Height	School	City
Dane Fife	6'-4"	Clarkston	Clarkston, MI
Ajou Ajou Deng	6'-11"	St. Thomas More	Oakdale, Conn.
Keyon Dooling	6'-3"	Dillard	Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
Ted Dupay	5'-10"	Mariner	Cape Coral, Fla
Carols Boozer	6'-8"	Jeneau-Douglas	Juneau, Alaska
Rasual Butler	6'-7"	Roman Catholic	Philadelphia, Penn
Marvin Stone	6'-9"	Grissom	Huntsville, Ala.
Adam Garrington	6'-4"	Pioneer Valley	Northfield, Ma.
B.B. Waldon	6'-7"	Kathleen	Lakeland, Fla.
Jeff Boschee	6'-0"	Valley City	Valley City, N.D.

Now this is more like a "team". A very good, proven point in Ted Dupay (even if he is only 5'-10"), and Keyon Dooling as well. Marvin Stone and Ajou Ajou at center, boozer and Rasual at the forward spots, and our guess is that they'd kick butt on the First or Second team, especially with backups Dane Fife, Jeff Boschee at gaurd spots, and Garrington and Waldon at the forward spots.

Name	Height	School	City
Kris Lang	6'-10"	Hunter Huss	Gastonia, NC
J.R. VanHoose	6'-9"	Paintsville	Paintsville, KY
Brett Nelson	6'-3"	St. Albans	St. Albans, W.Va.
Jonathan Bender	6'-11"	Picayune	Picayune, Miss.
Sam Clancy	6'-7"	Sr. Edward	Lakewood, Ohio
Richard Jefferson	6'-7"	Moon Valley	Phoenix, Arizona
Donnell Harvey	6'-7"	Randolph-Clay	Cuthbert, GA.
Jason Gardner	6'-0"	North Central	Indianapolis, Ind.
Doug Wrenn	6'-7"	O'Dea	Seattle, Wash.
Danny Miller	6'-7"	Rancocas Valley	Mount Holly, N.J.

A lot of these guys we've seen before, including Doug Wrenn, Sam Clancy, J.R. and Richard Jefferson. We haven't seen Donnell Harvey play, nor many of the others, but we've read a lot about them. Yup, it's probably, among this group, a "fourth team", but then we'd still bet that any of the second, third or fourth teams could beat the first team guys, heads-up. And don't try telling me that there was no room for a David Bluthenthal, Tony Bland, Luke Walton, or any number of other top players from SoCal. Geez, since they even went with some juniors, you'd think they would look at some of the Artesia guys, maybe even Casey Jacobsen, or some of the Long Beach crowd. How about Shantay? Well, maybe next year.