SoCalHoops Prep & High School News Report

SoCalHoops Junior Class--
The Best of the Best: Point Guards--(April 16,1998)

It's time for SoCalHoops to evaluate who we thought, in our opinion, were the best point guards in SoCal this past year, and who's got the most potential to become the best in next year's senior class. We haven't ranked the players by number, because generally we think that's pretty silly and doesn't mean much. But we have culled through all the lists we compiled this year, gone through all the notes of the games we watched, reviewed the tapes we've seen, and picked those players who, in our view, were either the best, or who showed the most promise. The players are from Fresno in the North, to San Diego in the South. Generally what constitutes the Southern Region of CIF.

All players on this list (and the lists for other positions which follow) are shown by their primary position first. That is, it's the position we think they're best suited for. The position may or may not be the one they played for most of the year; it may be the position they're now playing on a club team. But it's where we listed them anyway. That means that you may find someone who played a lot of point during the season listed in the shooting guards list, just because we thought he was a better SG than a PG. Don't worry, they're all still guards. Likewise, it may get really murky when we get to the taller "shooting guards" who can also double as "small forwards" or the "small forwards" who can double as "power forwards" or the big men who may seem like centers but who are really forwards because they don't yet have a really developed post game. So if you don't find someone you think should on one of the lists, try another list; you might find him at another position. Hey, we're trying, ok?

For the list of players which follows, what we mean by "point guard" is generally what you think it means: Someone who brings the ball up, sets up the offense, controls the team's play, and is generally (but certainly not necessarily) the smartest player on the floor, with the court sense, the best vision, who does the most to make his teammates better; he passes, dishes, and occasionally presents his own scoring threat, either off the dribble, the fastbreak or from the perimeter.

All the players listed below are currently juniors and will become senior next season. Most have either been stats leaders, received varying degrees of attention from the basketball or general media, or are already established stars. Some are obviously not as well known: For those in the "Rest of the Best" category, we believe they've shown promise or potential, and could break out during the summer circuit or during their senior year and thus have the potential to attract the attention of the colleges at the D-I through NAIA levels. In other words, we believe they are all players.

All the listings are in alphabetical order. We have not assigned numerical rankings, but we have grouped the players into "Best", "Best of the Rest".

But for those who are counting, there are 105 players on this list. Not all are the best. Some are good; many are journeymen players who have the potential to be a lot better. And a few are truly outstanding.

Sure it's arbitrary as hell, but it's better, we think, than trying to assign numbers to a player. We hate numerical rankings, because they're arbitrary, and it's most often next to impossible to to distinguish between say player 25 and player 53; how much better is one than the other? Who really knows? But obviously some on our list are much better than some of the others. Likewise, some have gotten much more media attention than others, and some have been more heavily recruited than others. Indeed, some may not have been recruited at all or even been much noticed before.

Well, you be the judge. If there's someone we missed (and there are probably a few) let us know. And if you think someone doesn't belong on the list, let us know that too (but be nice; these are, after all still just kids). Either post a message on the board, or send us an e-mail.

The Best of the Best:

The Rest of the Best & Up and Coming:

Josh Alvarez (5'-10" Jr. PG) Cathedral City
Lanere Anderson (6'-0" Jr. PG) Compton
Rodney Anderson (5'-10" Jr. PG) L.A. Washington
Carlos Bailey (5'-7" Jr. PG) Hueneme
Baron Baker (5'-11" Jr. PG) Fontana
Davis Ball (5'-11" Jr. PG) Pasadena
Tim Britt (5'-10" Jr. PG) L.A. Tower
Norman Campbell (5'-11" Jr. PG) Long Beach Wilson
Mark Cannon (5'-11" Jr. PG) L.A. Chatsworth
Doane Cole (5'-6" Jr. PG) Murrieta Valley
Wah-nee-ota Colvin (5'-5" Jr. PG) L.A. Los Angeles
Kevin Dunlap (5'-10" Jr. PG) Etiwanda
Kenneth Ellison (5'-7" Jr. PG) Inglewood Morningside
Anthony Evans (5'-10" Jr. PG) Lakewood
Jardu Fati (5'-11" Jr. PG) Century
Archie Ferguson (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG/SF) Canoga Park
Paul Ferretti (5'-9" Jr. G) Century
Tayhab Furgan (5'-8" Jr. PG) Long Beach Wilson
Jason Furino (5'-11" Jr. PG) Thousand Oaks
Eric Gathrite (5'-10" Jr. PG) Long Beach Joradn
Gibran Garcia (5'-10" Jr. PG) Bishops
Brendon Garret (5'-7" Jr. PG) Hueneme
Rodney Gauldon (5'-10" Jr. PG) Corcoran
Seth Grandison (5'-11" Jr. PG) San Diego Horizon
Deonte Gilmer (6'-4" Jr. SG/F) Rialto Eisenhower
Jaffus Haley (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Compton Dominguez
Roshod Hall (5'-10" Jr. PG) Long Beach Wilson
Walter Harper (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Inglewood Morningside
Corey Harris (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Long Beach Wilson
Dante Hart (5'-10" Jr. PG) Riverside Arlington
Kenny Ho (5'-10" Jr. G) Esperanza
Huston Holly (5'-6" Jr. PG) Verbum Dei
Keenan Howry (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG) Los Alamitos
Matt Jameson (5'-11" Jr. G) Newport Harbor
Leon Jones (6'-1" Jr. PG/SG) L.A. Jordan
Zack Jones (5'-11" Jr. PG) San Diego Horizon
Chiumba Johnson (5'-10" Jr. PG) Rolling Hills Prep
Rahnell Johnson (5'-8" Jr. PG) L.A. North Hollywood
Antuan King (6'-0" Jr. PG) L.A. Mid City Magnet
Eric Knight (6'-1" Jr. PG) Westchester
Chrishawn Lawrence (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Inglewood Morningside
Gary Lenoir (6'-0" Jr. PG) Lynwood
Randall Leyking (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Poway
Chris Livaccari (6'-3" Jr. PG/SG) Temecula Valley
Denver Lopez (6'-0" Jr. PG) La Puente Nogales
Don Manning (5'-9" Jr. PG) San Diego Lincoln
Adam Marques (5'-7" Jr. PG) Cypress
Eddie Martinez (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG) Cathedral City
Mike Matangi (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Long Beach Jordan
Romero Mendoza (6'-0" Jr. PG) Canoga Park
Jaeson Merkson (5'-8" Jr. PG) Etiwanda
Andrew Moore (5'-11" Jr PG) Servite
Ryan Moreau (5'-11" Jr. PG) Fountain Valley
Zia Nadjib (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Valencia
Ryan Navarre (5'-10" Jr. PG) La Verne Damien
De Ondre Oliver (5'-9" Jr. PG) San Bernardino Pacific
Scott Orozco (6'-1" Jr. PG/SF) San Diego La Costa
Johnny Ortiz (5'-10" Jr. G) Santa Barbara
Vahan Parasghian (5'-11" Jr. PG) Pasadena
Matt Parm (5'-8" Jr. PG) Antelope Valley
Sid Perkins (5'-10" Jr. PG) Crossroads
Marquis Poole (6'-2" Jr. PG) Compton Centennial
Tim Rahall (6'-1" Jr. PG/SG) Santa Margarita
Roberto Ramirez (5'-10" Jr. G) Century
Jesse Roche (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) Newbury Park
Edgar Reyna (5'-9" Jr. PG) Cathedral City
Dan Schneider (5'-11" Jr. PG) Oak Park
Tim Scott (5'-7" Jr. PG) Santa Clara
Brian Segbefia (5'-10" Jr. PG) L.A. Los Angeles
Jamal Smith (5'-9" Jr. PG) Lakewood
Lawrence Smith (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) Compton Centennial
Jean Rene Stephens (5'-11" Jr. PG/SG) Ayala
Chris Stiles (5'-11" Jr. PG) Antelope Valley
Jonathan Stokes (6'-0" Jr. PG) Crenshaw
Robby Tanouye (5'-8" Jr. PG) Chaminade
Gerome Templeton (5'-11" Jr. PG) Poway
Pham Thompson (5'-10" Jr. PG) Temecula Valley
Stanley Thorne (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) L.A. Fairfax
Essak Venegas (5'-11" Jr. PG) San Diego Horizon
Nick Vicencia (5'-10" Jr. G) Esperanza
Emmitt Washington (6'-0" Jr. PG/.SG) L.A. Palisades
Jeffrey Washington (6'-0" Jr. PG) Pasadena Muir
Alex Will (6'-0" Jr. PG/SG) Villa Park
Rashad Winston (5'-11" Jr. PG) L.A. Grant
Lewis Woods (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) L.A. Washington
David Word (5'-10" Jr. PG/SG) Long Beach Jordan
Daniel Worzella (5'-8" Jr. PG) Santa Barbara
Kenneth Wright (5'-11" Jr. PG) Long Beach Poly
Donn Yu (5'-9" Jr. PG) Anaheim Canyon

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