super 25 players in California

As noted in our prior article on USA Today's Dave Krider's Super 25 Boys Basketball Players, USA Today also published a list of the top regional players, on a state-by-state basis in their Sunday, December 14, 1997 edition. Jason Day also sent this list along with the Super 25 USA list, and it's a good thing he did, because USA Today's Online version doesn't seem to have it posted. They do have the USA Super 25 National and Regional Team rankings, and we've previously done those lists for you.

So here's the California list. Again, we've tried to correct Krider's bad grammar contained in his short and not too descriptive listing for each player. Since they were just listed alphabetically, thus avoiding the "I'm better than your are" stuff which a No. 1 or a No. 25 would generate among folks, we've also taken the liberty of grouping these players into a Northern California and Southern California list. And again, the name of the school in parenthesis is the school to which the player has already committed, or which is a likely choice. Again, also note that all players listed are seniors unless otherwise noted.

Northern California		Southern California

Matt Barnes, 6’8, Del Campo		Moises Alvarez, 6’1, Hemet
Senque Carey, 6’4, St. Francis (Mt. View)		Ricky Anderson, 6’8, Long Beach Poly
Myron Epps, 6’6, Tulare Western		Rafael Berumen, 6’8, Simi Valley (Jr)
Chris Jefferies, 6’7, Washington (Easton)		Tony Bland, 6’6, Westchester
Albert Johnson, 5’10, Sacred Heart Cathedral		David Bluthenthal, 6’7, Westchester
Darryl Tucker, 6’7, McClymonds (OAK.)		Gary Colbert, 6’2, Etiwanda
Wesley Wilson, 6’11, Vallejo		Ruben Douglas, 6’3, Bell.- Jeff
Ray Young, 6’5, St. Joseph (Alameda)		Caleb Gervin, 5’11, Cathedral City
		Nick Gosserand, 6’9, J.W. North
		Brandon Granville, 5’11, Westchester
		Deon Green 6’2, L.A. High
		David Hamilton, 6’8, Compton
		Casey Jacobsen, 6’5, Glendora (JR)
		Jason Kapono, 6’5, Artesia (JR)
		Vincent Okotie, 6’7, Grossmont
		Tayshaun Prince, 6’8, Dominguez
		Lance Ray, 6’4, Twentynine Palms
		Jason Thomas, 6’4, Dominguez
		Luke Walton, 6’9, University (San Diego)
		Brian Weathers, 6’5, Murrieta Valley (JR)
		Felipe Williams, 6’3, Crossroads (SO)
		Juni Williams, 6’0, Burbank

So how do you explain the prominence of SoCal players on this list? There are fully a dozen more than in NoCal/Central Coast. We're not sure, but we think that media and press coverage have something to do with it, because as far as we can tell, there are far more top players from NoCal who end up at D-I schools than just 5 or 6, which is what this list would lead one to believe.

Anyway, as we said before, that's why Krider is getting those large dollars and we're just sitting here typing away. Read the list, consider it, and then come to your own conclusions. Better yet, go out and see a good high school game, so that you can realize that even those who don't make the "top 25" list might still be worth watching.