SoCalHoops Prep & High School News Report

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

It's time for SoCalHoops to evaluate who we thought, in our opinion, were the best shooting 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 "shooting guard" is generally what you think it means: Someone who shoots the ball; it may also mean someone who slashes to the hole off a cut, someone who can spot up from either in close or three-point range, and someone who plays defense typically on the other team's off-guard. It's generally a player who also has the skills to play point, may bring the ball up, may occasionally set up the offense, and it may be someone who can run a motion or feed the ball inside to a big man.

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 171 players on this list; but only 22 on the "Best" list. As to the Best of the Rest, some are good; many are journeymen players who have the potential to be a lot better. And a few are truly outstanding, but we just couldn't put them on the top. . . not yet.

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:

Robert Abercrombie (6'-3" Jr. SG) Anaheim Katella
Andre Adams (6'-0" Jr. SG) Rialto
Kaleb Adams (6'-2" Jr. SG) Clovis West
Calvin Afualo (6'-2" Jr. G) Rialto Eisenhower
Peter Amechi (6'-2" Jr. SG) Chatsworth
Devrin Anderson (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) Crossroads
Mel Angell (6'-1" Jr. G) Santa Clara
Mike Antonson (6'-1" Jr. SG) Huntington Beach Ocean View
Ricky Balboa (6'-0" Jr. SG) Lakewood
Scott Barlow (6'-0" Jr. G) Woodbridge
Drummond Beck (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Verbum Dei
Douglas Bell (6'-2" Jr. SG) L.A. Los Angeles
Otis Belisle (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) L.A. Manual Arts
Wayne Bernard (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) San Diego Horizon
Dan Block (6'-0" Jr. SG) Newbury Park
Royce Boone (5'-11" Jr. SG) Cathedral City
Jason Bow (6'-2" Jr. SG) Clovis West
Lennie Brown (6'-2" Jr. SG) Inglewood
Drew Buford (6'-1" Jr. SG) Foothill
Tyler Burke (6'-0" Jr. SG) Santa Barbara
Nehemiah Campbell (6"-2" Jr. SG) L.A. Washington
Chris Canoles (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) Chaminade
Jawan Carter (6'-3" Jr. SG) West Covina
Ronald Cass (6'-3" Jr. SG) L.A. Manual Arts
Adam Chamulon (6'-0" Jr. SG) Crossroads
Theron Chaney (6'-2" Jr. G) Fullerton Troy
James Chung (6'-0" Jr. SG) Santa Clara
Rashawd Cobbs (5'-9" Jr. SG/PG) Verbum Dei
Clayton Coleman (6'-3" Jr. SG) Pasadena
Robbie Collins (6'-2" Jr. SG) Hueneme
Jorge Cordoba (6'-2" Jr. SG) Murrieta Valley
Deryon Dale (6'-3" Jr. SG) Long Beach Jordan
Joseph Dawson (6'-2" Jr. SG) Fontana
Dan D'Entremont (6'-2" Jr. SG) San Luis Obispo
Pat Dornan (6'-0" Jr. SG) Crespi
Eric Elbert (6'-2" Jr. SG) Clovis West
George Dejohnette (6'-1" Jr. SG) Pasadena
Todd D'Gara (6'-1" Jr. SG) Carson
Lawrence Douglas (6'-1" Jr. SG/PG) Compton Centennial
Terrence Dunn (6'-1" Jr. SG) Bakersfield
Ed Estaban (6'-0" Jr. SG) L.A. Palisades
Nate Fall (6'-1" Jr. SG) Villa Park
Brian Faulstich (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) San Diego La Costa
Ryan Fellows (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) San Diego Horizon
Chris Ferguson (6'-1" Jr. SG/PG) Irvine
Sandy Fletcher (6'-2" Jr. SG) Inglewood
Tony Freeman (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Santa Barbara
Evan Friedl (6'-3" Jr SG) Servite
Reggie Fritz (6'-2" Jr. SG) L.A. Palisades
Albert Garcia (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Hueneme
Benny Garcia (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Paso Robles
Chad Gordon (6'-3" Jr. SG) Crossroads
Josh Gordon (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) San Diego La Costa
D.J. Hackett (6'-3" Jr. SG) San Dimas
Nathan Hair (6'-5" Jr. SG/PG) Aliso Niguel
Ryan Hall (6'-2" Jr. G) La Habra
Billy Hamilton (6'-1" Jr G) Servite
Neil Hammad (6'-3" Jr. SG) Anaheim Canyon
Justin Haney (6'-1" Jr. SG/PG) Villa Park
Charles Harper (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Canoga Park
Jeffrey Harris (6'-2" Jr. SG) Long Beach Wilson
Rodney Harris (6'-1" Jr. SG/PG) Cypress
Josh Holmes (6'-3" Jr. SG) Duarte
Ryan Huff (5'-6" Jr. G) La Habra
Titus Hunt (6'-1" Jr. SG) Redondo Beach Redondo Union
Marvin Issacs (6'-3" Jr. SG) Inglewood
Cameron Jackson (6'-3" Jr. SG) Tustin
Marcin Jagoda (6'-1" Jr. SG) Crespi
Joel Jelincowicz (6'-2" Jr. SG) Los Alamitos
Chet Johnson (5'-11" Jr. SG) Foothill
Richie Johnson (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Oak Park
Ronald Johnson (6'-4" Jr. SG) South Gate
Kristian Jordan (6'-2" Jr. SG) Etiwanda
Ramsey Kadana (6'-1" Jr. SG) Inglewood Morningside
Adam Keith (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Villa Park
Damon Knight (6'-1" Jr. SG) Corona
Todd Kurihawa (6'-0" Jr. SG) Harvard-Westlake
Matt Landers (6'-5" Jr. SG/SF) South Torrance
Casey Lawson (6'-5" Jr. SG) Huntington Beach Ocean View
Nick Lawson (5'-10" Jr. SG) Chaminade
Robbie Leark (5'-10" Jr. SG/PG) La Serna
Toby Lee (6'-1" Jr. SG/PG) Poway
Derrick Lewis (6'-1" Jr. SG) L.A. Palisades
Hyman Lewis (6'-0" Jr. G) Pacific Hills
Josh Levy (6'-3" Jr. SG) Chaminade
Cedric Lilly (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) L.A. Mid City Magnet
Alan Limon (6'-2" Jr. G) Newport Harbor
Ray Lipscomb (5'-10" Jr. SG) L.A. Grant
Doug Little (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Diamond Bar
Lavouse Long (6'-1" Jr. SG) Cathedral City
Kason Love (6'-2" Jr. SG) Perris
Robert Luna (6'-3" Jr. SG) Hueneme
David Lurth (6'-2" Jr. SG) Chatsworth
Michael Madrigal (6'-0" Jr. SG) Santa Clara
Rashaw McAfee (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF) Huntington Beach Ocean View
Jeff McDaniel (6'-3" Jr. SG) Temecula Valley
Tim McDonough (6'-1" Jr. SG) Crespi
Jermaine McDaniel (6'-2" Jr. SG) Capistrano Valley
Alex Minn (6'-1" Jr. SG) Harvard-Westlake
Robert Muller (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Crespi
Jovan Murphy (6'-3" Jr. SG) Fresno Hanford
Jason Oliver (6'-2" Jr. SG) San Diego La Costa
Jerry Owens (6'-3" Jr. SG) Newhall Hart
Max Patrick (5'-11" Jr. SG/PG) Cathedral City
Kevin Patton (6'-5" Jr. SG/SF) L.A. Jordan
Jimmie Penn (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) L.A. Mid City Magnet
Marvin Perez (6'-4" Jr. SG) Bishop Mongtomery
Josh Pierson (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Laguna Hills
Brian Pinchon (6'-2" Jr. SG/PG) Diamond Bar
Sossen Price (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) L.A. Palisades
Adam Province (6'-2" Jr. G) La Harbra
Jack Robbins (6'-2" Jr. SG/SF) Foothill
Gary Robinson (6'-0" Jr. G) Newport Harbor
Jaison Robinson (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Long Beach Wilson
Jorge Rodriguez (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) San Diego Horizon
Sam Roy (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) La Verne Damien
Matt Santos (6'-0" Jr. SG/PG) Upland
Marcus Sargent (6'-3" Jr. SG) Long Beach Poly
Kevin Seuss (5'-10" Jr. SG) Villa Park
Steve Sims (6'-3" Jr. SG) Compton Centennial
Dave Smith (6'-2" Jr. SG) Oak Park
Mike Snyder (6'-1" Jr. SG/PG) L.A. Fremont
Jeff Staniland (6'-2" Jr. SG) Ventura
Tyree Stocker (6'-1" Jr. SG) Lakewood
Murray Stokes (6'-1" Jr. SG) Etiwanda
Mike Stowell (6'-2" Jr. SG) Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley
Imran Sufi (6'-0" Jr. SG) Mater Dei
Adam Talley (6'-3" Jr. SG) La Puente Nogales
Daniel Tarr (5'-11" Jr. SG) L.A. Grant
Jeff Thizle (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) Yucca Valley
Aaron Thomas (6'-5" Jr. SG) Pomona
Patrick Thornell (6'-3" Jr. SG) Bell-Jeff
Blake Tibbetts (6'-1" Jr. SG) Crespi
Robin Tobin (6'-2" Jr. SG) La Verne Damien
Robert Turnbull (6'-2" Jr. SG) L.A. Mid City Magnet
Kevin Turner (6'-2" Jr. SG) Diamond Bar
Daniel Utsinger (6'-0" Jr. SG) Crossroads
Nick Verando (6'-3" Jr. SG) L.A. University
Jamar Walker (6'-0" Jr. SG) La Sierra
Mark Ward (6'-2" Jr. G) Newport Harbor
Brent Weiss (6'-2" Jr. G) Woodbridge
Jamal Williams (6'-3" Jr. SG) Long Beach Wilson
Michael Williams (6'-2" Jr. SG) Compton Centennial
Roy Williams (6'-1" Jr. SG) L.A. Manual Arts
Alonzo Wimberly (6'-3" Jr. SG/SF) L.A. Palisades
Gene Wolf (6'-1" Jr. SG) Long Beach Jordan
Dushon Woodard (6'-3" Jr. SG) Inglewood

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