SoCal High School & Prep Game Review

Way Too Much Basketball: The Reebok
Compton Tip-Off Classic--(December 1,1997)

In the last five days, I believe that I have seen more basketball games than some people see in a lifetime. About 20 youth tournament games over the weekend; the Clippers v. Utah, Northridge v. Pepperdine, a ton of pro and college TV games (Lakers, Great Alaska Shootout, Maui Invitational), games on the radio (USC v. San Diego), games, games and more games.

And now it's time for high school ball. The Reebok Compton Tip-Off Classic. First day of real high school basketball.

Inglewood getting beaten by Long Beach Jordan by 8 points, 72 to 64 (at least I think that's what the final score was, but I wasn't really paying attention to that); and Artesia just hammered Crossroads big time, 92-76 with the fourth quarter being played by mostly freshmen and sophs for both teams. The Games started at 5:45 pm and didn't finish until almost 10:00 pm, in a veritable whistle blowing wheeze-fest for the refs who forgot that the reason everyone came out was to see a basketball game, not a free-throw shooting contest. In a stop-clock tournament, this made the first 2 minutes of the Crossroads-Artesia game seem to last longer than the final 30 seconds of a closely contested Lakers-Bulls game.

Ah, the beginning of the season. And already it's tough to fight the feeling of sheer basketball overload.

But we digress. . . A few impressions in no particular order, and mostly completely at random, although I'll try to give this some structure:

First, big props to Compton, Reebok and the printer of the program for adopting Michael Miller's complete description of this year's Compton team, verbatim (but without any attribution to Michael or to West Coast Hoops) from his West Coast Hoops preview of Compton and Coach Rod Palmer. Second year assistant coach Gary Miles of Compton did point out one error by the printer, and that is that #32 Terry Hosendove ('6-4" SF) is not a senior, but only a junior, and has one more year to impress a lot of people.

Game observations: Long Beach Jordan-- CIF Division IAA Champions in 91, 93, 96, and Moore League Champions 91, 92, 93 and 96-- They're baaaaack. This team is loaded. They've got some real players, but our favorites tonight were Tony Valdez and Travon Bryant. Tra is a 6'-6" sophomore who is quick, smooth, loves to get inside, and can dunk the ball big time. But our favorite player was Darren Peterson, a 6'-4" Jr. SG/SF, who has some great moves to the hole, can cut, drive and elevate towards the basket, and best of all, he can finish on the fast-break layups that so many of these guys were missing all over the place tonight. Travon has one of the nicest touches around the basket and can also shoot the medium range j with great accuracy. He plays pretty good defense for a big man too.

Inglewood: Inglewood is not nearly as physical as LB Jordan was, but they could still beat just about any other team on a good day. Bradley Jackson is just a great point guard, with an incredibly quick first step, some very nice spin moves; he takes care of the ball well, passes very well, and up until about the last quarter of this game, Inglewood was always in it. Jackson will fit in very nicely at CSUN with Bobby Braswell's style of play. He's a very smart player, who also has a major outside shot, and tonight he knocked down a bunch of long range jumpers from two and three point range. Unfortunately for Bradley, his inside game was a bit off, and when the dish would occur, more often than not, Inglewood was either missing the layups, or getting their shots blocked by Travon & company.

Inglewood also has some other fine players, including Sandy Fletcher a 6'-2" SF who plays very aggressively and has a nice baseline jumper; he can also rebound pretty well, at least better than most of the other Inglewood guys, who were not really too effective on the boards tonight. In fact, if there was one big difference between these teams it was that Jordan just killed Inglewood defensively and on the boards. We also like Inglewood's Gerrod Jenkins, a 6'-6" 180 lb. forward who played well tonight, getting position, boxing out, and sealing off down low. Kevin Bradley also got to play a little, and did pretty well for Patrick Roy's team, as did Shariff Davis, a 6'-3" F who was knocking down medium range j's pretty consistently.

Crossroads: The big (and we do mean big) player out on the floor for Crossroads was a freshman, all 6'-9 and 255 pounds of him. Baby Shaq. Isaiah Fox is big now, but he's going to be just HUGE in about two years. He's still learning how to run in his size 19 shoes, but he's got the most polished game for a 15 year old that we've seen anywhere. He doesn't really elevate much, and it looks like he'd have some trouble dunking, but in about a year he won't. He uses both hands on his layups, uses the glass nicely and has big soft hands. He rebounds pretty well too for a guy who doesn't get up above the rim much, and he had about 20 points tonight in the paint. Another player we really like for Crossroads Misha Taylor, a big 6'-5" Jr. forward who's still learning his position, but who has very quick feet, a nice back in move and a drop step reverse shot. He was pretty much out of the defensive rebounding tonight (which had coach Darryl Roper going crazy most of the night, but then he was pretty much losing it all night because of the poor officiating, and frankly we don't blame him. I mean, when an Artesia player fouls his own teammate and gets called for it---there wasn't a Crossroads player in sight---you know something's wrong). But he can push the ball up the court, can sometimes finish on the lay-up, and has a pretty nice perimeter shot too. We also liked the play of Felipe Williams, a 6'-3" soph. F who played more like Baron Davis' successor than a forward, pushing the ball, penetrating and driving to the hole. We also really liked Chad Gordon, a junior 6'-3" wing player, who has the handle to play guard and the quickness and rebounding ability to handle the forward spot. He plays great defense, and blocked a shot on Jason Kapono that was pretty spectacular, even if it was called for a foul by these refs. Overall impression of Crossroads--- a good private school team that will do very well in Division IV, and will take their league without any difficulty. But against the Artesia's, Jordan's, Dominguez's and Compton's of the world, they're still too young and inexperienced. I know this will drive Darryl crazy to say this, but it's true. He's got about 2/3 of what he needs to be truly competitive against a team like Artesia.

Oh, and by the way, Darryl, we agree with you: The refereeing was absolutely the worst we've seen in a long time. You guys were getting killed. Couldn't buy a foul. And neither could Merino, although he was complaining, but he fouled out more guys than you did on completely questionable calls.

Artesia: We love this team.

Jason Kapono: Everything you've heard about him is true. He's a big kid, 6'-7", seems slender, but is all muscle, and wears those great socks so that no part of his legs are exposed. But seriously, he's got a complete package. Inside, rebounding, shooting, above-the-rim play; Outside: Three-point magic, and a nice handle. A very smart player. And he's only a junior. Unfortunately by the time the fourth quarter was about half over, he fouled out, which we attribute not to the fact that he actually committed five fouls, but to the fact that these refs really over-called this game.

Jamal O'Quinn: This is the 6'-7" Sr. F younger brother of the suspension king, Mike O'Quinn who's currently (unless he got suspended again) playing for Bobby Braswell at CSUN. This guy is like butter, smooth, quick, and everywhere when it gets hot. He's got great post up moves, plays smothering defense, and can shoot from inside and out.

Apolinar Fernandez: He's 6'-9" and only a freshman, and he's got a pretty good game, but not much of a shot (at least not in tonight's game) from three point range--he launched an airball late in the third quarter. But otherwise this guy can play big time. He rebounds well, uses his body, and has very nice foot moves down low.

James: Murdock: This guy alternated tonight at the point, and we liked him. Not a major D-I prospect, but certainly a small D-I player. Takes care of the ball, pushes it well, nice cross-over, never lost the handle all night, and can shoot very well. But his real forte is defense, and he had about 5 steals in the second half alone. He's a quality PG, as is Willie Alford, who backed him up in the second half and for most of the fourth quarter, and both are outstanding J shooters.

Jonathon Stokes: He was shooting the ball well and also playing good d tonight. A nice D-I prospect as well. Jonathan had some nice steals and some great moves down the floor with a couple of nice break elevation moves to the basket. He plays really nice defense, has good lateral quickness and quick hands.

Aaron Hamilton: played well in the first half, but unfortunately fouled out after 5 minutes into the second half. Again, over-zealous refereeing. He's a big bodied guy, who rebounds well inside, and was consistently shutting Crossroads out, pushing Misha Taylor all over the place. Unfortunately for him, he got called a lot for it tonight.

Jack Martinez: At least we think that's who it was. The program had him as number 32, but then it didn't have a number 41, and he was the only other 6'-7" guy on the floor we couldn't specifically identify. He's a freshman, who plays very tenaciously and aggressively inside and outside. Nice head fakes, and good scoring moves, but a better than average defender. He'll need work defensively but will be a major top prospect by the time he leaves this program.

Andre Hazel: great three point shooter, a nice point player, with good passing ability and nice court sense. Great player.

Marcus Crane: great hands and feet, plays some of the best defense on the floor tonight. Tends to over-dribble a bit, but also very young, just a freshman.

All in all, a pretty unbelievable way to start the season. And tomorrow should be even better with LB Wilson v. Lynwood at 4:30, Dominguez v. Perris at 6:30, and Compton v. Bishop Montgomery at 8:30.

Only question is how can I be there and at Simi at the same time?

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