SoCalHoops High School & Prep News

Double Pump West Coast All Stars
"Best Of The Best" All-Star Team--The Top 16--(July 14, 1998)

Finally, following the underclassmen, hustlers, juniors and seniors, it was time for the "Best of the Best", the overall Top 16 players among all of the 340 all-star players.

But the committee was faced with some tough choices, given the fact that several big names either weren't in attendance or weren't playing. Carlos Boozer (6'-9" Sr. C) from Douglas, Alaska, clearly the consensus "best" player in the camp, was there, but didn't play. He sat on the sidelines in jeans and t-shirt, watching the game. We talked with his AAU coach, Darren "Mats" Matsubara, who explained that Carlos wasn't playing because of some disciplinary reasons. In fact, Carlos didn't play all day on Monday either, given Carlos' little "adventure." Actually, since we were there, here's what happened:

Carlos was walking to the gym from the dorm area along a road which runs for maybe 1/4 mile. There are no buildings on this road, but there is this kiosk placed by campus security, a "call box" for use in emergencies only. Seems that lots of players during the first session and the second session thought it would be pretty funny to push the emergency button, resulting in the cops having to respond to several false alarms. Well, by Sunday night, the local gendarmes had enough of the hi-jinks from the hoopster pranksters, so they stationed a couple of cops up the hill to watch. And sure enough, along came Carlos, on his way to the gym following his Sunday night game, and it seems he couldn't resist pushing the button, whereupon two squad cars and one motorcylce officer descended upon him, locked him up in cuffs and kept him there for a while. We know that there was some sort of "fine" assessed--actually it was assessed against Double Pump, because they are, after all, responsible for the facility and players. But more importantly, Boozer was not arrested, and there was nothing more serious involved in the incident.

Still, Mats wasn't going to let Carlos off easy, and he told us that because Carlos violated team rules, he wasn't allowed to play Monday or Tuesday. Accordingly, the All-Star selection committee, realizing this, just left him off the "Best of the Best," rather than list someone who wasn't going to be playing.

Likewise, Gilbert Arenas (6'-4" Sr. G) from Grant High, didn't participate either. No it was not because of any run-in with the local cops (although there was something about not having his driver's license with him at one point), but because he was in summer school, and his classes didn't let out until 12:30 p.m., long after the starting time of the game. And Raphael Berumen (6'-9" Sr. F/C) who was a bit tired from ABCD but played well on Sunday, might have been selected, but he was a no show on Monday.

Setting aside the no shows, this was truly a great group. Here were the selections:

Best of the Best-- Top 16

We don't think anyone missed this game, but because of some last minute manuevering, B.J. Ward (6'-2" Sr. PG) from Santa Clara in Oxnard was added to the roster.

Admittedly, this would have been a better game with Boozer and Arenas, but then it might not have been anything more than a dunk contest between Deshawn Stevenson, Boozer and Arenas had they all played. And then we wouldn't have had the chance to see Mike Dunleavy tear up the game with consistently smooth jumpers from 25', nice passes in the lane, and tremendous rebounding and solid open court defense. Mike is a player who plays very well in the open court, sees the court well, and when not shooting, is very unselfish about getting everyone involved. He's a dream player for a school like Stanford, Cal, Kentucy or Duke, and after talking to both Mike and his father, Mike Dunleavy (the former Laker coach, now Portland coach), we'd have to give the inside track to Cal. Mike Dunleave and Deshawn Stevenson were named the co-MVPs and their games couldn't be any different. Deshawn tends to be a more selfish player (we heard the words "ball hog" repeatedly in describing him--in fact one of the scorers at one of the "team" games during the camp when asked the score replied "Arizona 15, Deshawn Stevenson 14).

The nicest surprise of the camp for us among this group was, as we said yesterday, Joe Kirchofer (6'-9" Sr. C), who's bright, quick and who does a whole lot more than just take up space. Look for him to get some serious interest from Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Arizona, and Utah, in addition to the Ivy League schools he'll visit (he's got a 4.5 GPA and scored 1500 on the SAT).

A lot of guys liked Jonathan Sanders, and we did too. He's got great passing skills, but has a little trouble with taking his shot off the dribble; he acquired the nickname "Little Magic" for his propensity to use misdirection and throw the no-look passes. Tony Champion could use a conditioning class, but he sure does take up some space effectively, and he also rebounds for a guy with his bulk--he must weigh in at more than 250.

Jason Kapono played his usually great game, but he was certainly overshadowed by the stellar performance of Dunleavy. Did it hurt Jason? No way. Nothing can hurt his stock at this point, and he'll still be one of the major hot properties this fall. There are those who say that he "hates" UCLA, and we certainly haven't heard that UCLA is recruiting him, and there's talk that he will commit to USC. But Henry Bibby, who was in attendance at the All-Star games, didn't stay for the second half of this one. Maybe he was too depressed knowing that he's got no chance at Dunleavy (both Mike and his father acknowledged that there's not much chance of him bgeing a Trojan).

Nate Hair hit some nice leaning jumpers and handled the ball well on the break. We also were impressed with Garner Meads, the young junior and one of the best big men in camp. Aerick Sanders improved his stock as well, but he still needs to hit the weight room to become something more than a 6'-8" shooting guard. Likewise Bo Segeberg, even though playing injured improved his position in the class dramatically, playing some of the best defense we saw. Gary Holmes is a strong, tough inside banger, who can also shoot from 17'-20' out pretty consistently and we think he'll be a nice mid-D-1 level prospect or maybe even a high D-1 at schools like Washington State, ASU and a couple of others. Aaron Abrams finally got his hands on the ball, and he demonstrated his speed and ability to capitalize on the break. Jesse Boyd is one of the players who probably would have been on the senior team had Boozer shown up-- he's a bit stiff and awkward at times, but then again, it's very hard to teach height. Still, he struggled in the early games at camp and probably didn't improve his position in the class, and if he wants to regain his form he'll need to step up the defensive intensity and hit the weights as well. Cameron Carr from Oregon, is another one of those Northwest Wonders, and we think he'll be a big time D-1 player as well. Finally, Lance Buoncristiani, in our opinion, probably should have gotten the other MVP award in this game. He was probably the most acrobatic player, hitting impossible shots, scooting around the floor like a gnat among the reeds; he's a fearless offensive player, and was the only guy we saw (there must have been others, right) who actually took a charge. Lance tells us he's wide open right now, but we wouldn't expect to see him at any of the local Pac 10 schools next year, his size being his only drawback, and besides SC already has it's own 5'-8" point in Brandon Granville. Still we think that he'd be great at, for example, UNLV, Nevada Reno, Sacramento State, and maybe even USF.

This was a great game, and we want to congratulate all the "Best of the Best" players.

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