gibbons2

SoCalHoops High School & Prep Report

Reebok/Bob Gibbons Tournament
Of Champions: First Day--(May 26, 1998)

As we said before, we weren't at the Gibbons Tourney in North Carolina. No siree, we were in Newport Beach, California watching some real underclassmen (i.e, 15U and 14U) hoops at the YBOA Western Region qualifying tourney. But that's another story. Hulan Pickett, of HS Basketball, writing for www.gopack.com did have this to report. Don't mind the decidedly NC State slant to this stuff, it's just a little bit of hometown stuff; the important stuff is what he has to say about the games and the players:

Friday night's and Saturday's games for the 17 and under teams were played at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill, Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, and Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh.

Games of particular interest to NC State fans involved the Granite State, New Hampshire Raiders featuring current Pack signee Adam Harrington and top 30 player Matt Bonner; the Washington, DC Stars with top 30 DeMatha HS star Joe Forte (NC State target); the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Jots featuring top 30 wing player Matt Carroll (who has strong interest in NC State); and the Tim Thomas, Pennsylvania Playaz featuring top 10 point guard sensation Tony Robertson, who was also making an unofficial visit to NC State this weekend.

According to those who were there, the most impressive player of the Tournament's first two days was DeMatha's Joe Forte (6'-4" Jr. SG/SF). Forte plays for the DC Stars team, made up primarily of De Matha players. In Friday night's game agains the Carolina (SC) Sonics at the Smith Center, Forte scored over 20 points on a variety of 3-pointers, medium-range jumpers, dunks, stick-backs, and transition baskets. On Saturday evening at Reynolds against the Albany (NY) City Rocks, he was even more impressive scoring a phenomenal 43 points. He showed a sweet touch from behind the arc, as well as the ability to mix it up inside, soaring for several rebounds.

Forte told those at the tourney that his top schools are currently NC State, Kentucky, Georgia Tech, UNC-CH, and Duke. His DeMatha teammate, Keith Bogans, also a top 10 wing player, did not make the trip for the Tournament of Champions due to some personal business. Bogans has consistently been ranked higher than Forte by most recruiting services, and having seen them both play at the Wooden High School Invitational last December here in Anaheim at the Pond, we'd have to agree that Bogans is the better (or at least more interesting to watch) player. Forte apparently impressed a few folks though this last weekend, who now believe he's just as skilled as Bogans.

Tony Robertson, a 6'3", 190 lb. point guard from Barrington, RI, St. Andrews High School, played for the Tim Thomas Playaz of Philadelphia, PA this weekend. Dermarr Johnson, a Top 10 wing forward, is Robertson's teammate on the Playaz. Robertson is generally considered a Top 15 prospect overall, and is definitely one of the best point guard prospects in the rising senior class. Robertson is strong physically, has a nice touch from behind the arc, and makes great decisions with the ball in transition.

On Friday night in Reynolds Colisuem against the New York Ravens, who feature another outstanding PG in Majestic Mapp, Robertson hit a couple of 3's, picked up some garbage baskets, and generally played hard on both ends of the court. He spent most of the game at off-guard, but very late in the contest, with the score tied, he did take the ball and push it up the court in transition and made a great pass to a teammate for an easy dunk that pretty much sealed the outcome in favor of the Playaz team.

Robertson said that he is also thinking about Kentucky, UCLA, NC State and Connecticut. Tony lived in Raliegh until he was about 6, still has relatives, and thus might consider NC State as a top pick.

Matt Carroll, a 6'6", 192 lb. wing player from Hatboro-Horsham High School in Horsham, PA. Carroll is playing for the Pittsburgh, PA Jots team this weekend, coached by John Miller who is the father of both NC State Assistant Coach Sean Miller and guard Archie Miller. According to Pickett, Carroll is a definite Top 25 player nationally who is very strong physically and fundamentally sound with a great outside shot. He is not a "gunner," preferring to let the shot come to him. Pickett stated that Carroll is a player who could easily score 30 if the shot is there, or if played tightly, is content to score 15 and set up his teammates. He works very hard off the ball on both ends of the court. Matt has not had big scoring games in the first two days of the Tournament of Champions, primarily because the other teams have been keying on him defensively. But his performance in last December's Glaxo-Wellcome Holiday Tournament showed what he is capable of offensively. Pickett said that NC State appears to be the leader at this point, but Duke, Wake Forest and Pitt are all hot on his trail, with Wake and Pitt offering the stiffest competition at this point.

Other players at the Tournament of Champions that have expressed interest in NC State, according to Pickett, include Jonathan Bender, a 6'11", 195 lb. PF from Picayune HS in Picayune, MS playing for the New Orleans Jazz; Greg Morton, a 6'7", 195 lb. PF from St. Raymond HS in Bronx, NY and Kenny Satterfield, a 6'2", 170 lb. guard from Rice HS in Bronx, NY, both playing for the New York Ravens; and Travis Watson, a 6'7", 245 lb. PF from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, VA, playing for the Virginia Select team.

In addition, Adam Harrington, incoming freshman who signed with the Pack last fall out of Pioneer Valley Regional HS in Northfield, MA, is playing for the Granite State, NH Raiders this weekend, along with Top 10 rising senior Matt Bonner. In his first game on Saturday, Adam torched the Ft. Worth, TX West Side Lions for over 50 pts!!! And during the warm-ups for his second Saturday game against Matt Carroll's Pittsburgh Jots team, he reportedly put on quite a dunking exhibition that had everybody's attention. According to Pickett, Harrington is much closer to 6'5" than the 6'2" that was reported by some publications after his signing last fall. According to Adam's high school coach, Adam is such a great leaper that he thought his leaps would seem even more impressive if he said he was 6'2" rather than 6'5".

Pickett was able to interview Adam after his game on Friday night, and learned that Adam has been hitting the weights since his HS season was over and is now maxing out at 205 lbs. on the bench press, and hopes to be up to 210 lbs. by the time he comes to NC State in June, where he will attend summer school, continue to work on his conditioning, and hopefully play in the Chavis Summer League at St. Aug's College. Adam did reveal that his younger brother Kevin, who was probably the second best basketball player (after Adam of course) on their high school team this year is more of a golf fan at this point than basketball, but he's just a rising sophomore so he has plenty of time to change his mind!