SoCalHoops Recruiting News

SoCalHoops Class Of 2001:
Top Wing/Small Fwds--(Oct. 25, 1999)

It's time for SoCalHoops' own annual post-summer, pre-season fall list of  "Top Players in SoCal" at each position in each class. The second group we're going to focus on in the class of 2001 is the wing players & small forwards, and we've selected all the top players that we know about. If there are more out there, well, we have yet to find them, and while it's possible that we left someone off the list, we tried pretty hard not to do that.  Because there are a lot more of these guys than the power forwards and post players, we've arranged them into three groups, sort of a "best," "next best" and "guys to watch" list.   With some it's probably arbitrary whether they are in the middle or "guys to watch" group, but we don't think there will be much argument about those players we've identified as among the best.  On this one though we do have to explain ourselves a bit, especially with the placement of the Craven twins as "wing" players.  Why are they "wings?"   Well, having watched them play probably more than most of the prospects this summer, we can definitively say that they probably aren't point guards, and they also probably aren't two guards either because they just don't shoot that much from the perimeter; but these two guards can also rebound better than just about any other 6'-3" guards we've ever seen, and they find more ways to get to the basket and score, slashing, driving and jamming than almost any other guards around.  They are truly wing players, but have an unusual ability to rebound, and frankly they really don't fit in the 1 or 2 category; so we're going with them as three's. Disagree or not, it doesn't matter, they are among the best in the class at almost any position.

And like the rest of the groups we have listed, we have not used numerical rankings. Maybe we should, and maybe someday we will, but for now we haven't.  Why not use numerical rankings?  Well, college coaches make their own evaluations, and the point of our lists is not to "rank" players, but to get the word out about players to those who are in a position to actually recruit these players, i.e., the college coaches.  Most club coaches, high school coaches, recruiting services, and other players already know about the guys listed here, and likewise, everyone's got an opinion of who is "best" or "better" than the next guy.  Some of these players will be good enough eventually and lucky enough to get recruited at the D-I level, while others will get recruited at various other levels, whether D-II, D-III or NAIA.  Some will wind up at JUCO's because they may not qualify.  All of them have the chance to, but they'll need to get it done in the classroom first. But by and large, this is probably the most talented collection of players in any class in SoCal in the last 20 years. It's loaded.  

We obviously have not seen every player in SoCal in the junior class, but we've seen most of the top players.  We've listed those players we believe are among the best who have played particularly well this past summer and fall,  especially at some of the higher profile events.  We've reviewed all of our prior lists, all the rosters from tournaments we viewed this summer, re-read articles we've written since last June, and reviewed our notes and tapes of players.  The list include players from Fresno in the North, to San Diego in the South, i.e., the entire SoCal region.  Most of the players listed have already drawn the attention of other recruiting services (such as Recruiting USA (Benezra and Mayemura), Fullcourt Press, Clark Francis at the HoopScoop,  Dave Telep of PrepStars Recruiting, and others).  Some are "ranked" elsewhere by the other guys, some are not.  No matter, we believe they are worthy of note.

Each player is listed at his primary position. If you don't see a player on a list where you'd expect, look at another position because he may be listed elsewhere.  

Lastly, if we've left a player off the list, it may or may not be an oversight, but if you think someone deserves to be on the list who isn't shown, just let us know.  Here are the Top Wing/Small Forwards in SoCal in the Junior Class:

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