kmox1

SoCal High School & Prep Report

KMOX-Coca Cola Shootout
In St. Louis, Missouri--(December 14,1997)

While this tourney is certainly not in SoCal, it featured some players who stand a better than even chance of one day playing college or pro ball here in Southern California. The 17th Annual Coca-Cola/KMOX Shootout, one of the premier high school basketball events, was played last Thursday in St. Louis. The prestigious one-day event -- which featured the nation's No. 1-ranked team, Chicago Whitney Young, and 10 of the country's "top 50" seniors -- was played at Kiel Center in downtown St. Louis on December 11. The 10-game showcase consisted of eight boys' games and two girls' games. Four of the blue-chip seniors who played are pretty well known among those who read our columns:

Dan Gadzuric, (6'-11" Sr. C) from the Netherlands, played for Governor Dummer Academy, Byfield, Mass., the oldest private boarding school in the U.S. Gadzuric is regarded nationally as the No. 1 prep center and among the top five players overall. He is being recruited heavily by Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, Connecticut, George Washington, Indiana, Wake Forest and Arizona. In Drummer's game against Paintsville (Paintsville, Kentucky) Paintsville came back from an 11-point defict with just over three minutes to play and beat Governor Dummer 70-64 in overtime. The game featured a battle between Gadzuric and Paintsville's J.R. Vanhoose. Vanhoose won the battle, scoring 32-points and grabbing 14-rebounds, while Gadzuric netted 26-points and 14 boards before fouling out. Todd Tackett added 26-points for Paintsville, which improved to 5-0 on the season. Both teams shot better than 50% from the field (Paintsville 53, Dummer 50).

The tournament also featured JaRon Rush, (6'-6" Sr. G/F) from Kansas City (Mo.) Pembroke Hill, who led his Raiders to an undefeated Missouri Class 2A championship last season, averaging 27.5 points and 12 rebounds, and Corey Maggette, (6'-6" Sr. G/F) from Oak Park (Ill.) Fenwick, who led the Friars to an Illinois supersectional appearance against nationally-ranked Harvey Thornton. Maggette, an explosive athlete, averaged 24 points and 10 rebounds. Rush had visited UCLA, and wanted to sign his National Letter of Intent on November 19, with Kansas, but his mother would not consent, so he will wait until spring to sign. Maggette signed with Duke and will play there next year. In the game Fenwick used a balanced scoring attack to defeat Pembroke Hill 65-50. Corey Maggette, who led Fenwick with 19-points, was one of four players to score in double figures for the Friars. Chris Williams added 17, Quinton Gilmore scored 11 and Michael Shannon chipped in with 10 for
Fenwick. JaRon Rush (31-points) and Kareem Rush (14-points) combined to score 45 of Pembroke Hill's 50. Only two other players scored for Pembroke Hill in a very unbalanced attack. Fenwick outscored Pembroke Hill in each of the four quarters.

Quentin Richardson, (6'-5" Sr. F) from Chicago Whitney Young, the nation's pre-season No. 1-ranked team, averaged 24.5 points and 11 rebounds last season, was also featured at the Shootout. Also appearing at the shootout against Whitney Young were Keyon Dooling (6'-3" Sr. G) and Clarence Gilbert (6'-2" Sr. G) of Ft. Lauderdale Dillard, maybe the best high school backcourt duo in the U.S. Whitney Young used its size advantage to roll past Dillard 75-53 in te next to last game of the Shootout. Whitney Young outrebounded Dillard 37-27, with Quentin Richardson grabbing 11 boards of his own. Richardson also led all scorers with 23-points. Dennis Gates also topped 20-points with 21, and Cordell Henry added 13. Keyon Dooling led Dillard with 18-points, and Clarence Gilbert had 14.

Also appearing was (5'-9" Sr. G) Ted Dupay of Cape Coral Mariner, who electrified the Coca-Cola/KMOX Shootout crowd last year when he set Shootout scoring records of 43 points and seven 3-pointers. Dupay is committed to the University of Florida. Other top seniors who played were 6'-5" Joey Range and 6'-6 Roderick ("Baby Shaq") Thompson, Galesburg (Ill.); 6'-9" J.R. Van Hoose, Paintsville (Ky.); 6'-7" Billy Collins, Concord (N.H.) Bishop Brady; 5'-11 Jose Winston, Milwaukee (Wis.) Vincent; and 5'-10" Cordell Henry, Whitney Young. The Tournament also also included three highly-rated juniors: 6'-10" Brian Cook, Lincoln (Ill.); 6'-5" Marshall Williams, Milwaukee Vincent; and 6'-5" Kareem Rush, Kansas City Pembroke Hill.

Teams from seven different states, including two first-time-ever New England schools, appeared in the Shootout. Defending state champions include Pembroke Hill and the St. Louis Gateway Tech girls (Missouri), Milwaukee Vincent (Wisconsin) and Concord Bishop Brady (New Hampshire). Paintsville was the overall Kentucky champion in 1996 and state semifinalist in 1997.

Top-ranked Whitney Young, which returns five of its top six players, was defeated last season in the Illinois quarterfinals by eventual state and national champion Peoria Manual. The Dolphins lost only two games, both to Peoria Manual (by three and four points).

Last season five of the participating Shootout teams went on to capture state-tournament titles: Peoria Manual and Carlyle girls (Illinois), CBC (Missouri), Minneapolis North (Minnesota), and Baton Rouge Southern Laboratory (Louisiana). A total of 44 teams -- almost one-fourth of the participants over 16 years -- have won their state tournament after playing in the Shootout earlier in the season. Peoria Manual's national champion title from USA Today made the Rams the third Shootout team to be crowned national champion. The other two were Baltimore Dunbar (1991-92 season) and Philadelphia Simon Gratz (1992-93 season). Seven former Shootout players were named to the McDonald's High School All-American team last spring, running the total to 44 Shootout alumni on that prestigious all-star team. Alumni selected for the McDonald's All-American game in April were Larry Hughes, Melvin Ely, Marcus Griffin, Khalid El-Amin, Tony Harris, Ryan Humphrey ('95) and Chris Burgess ('93).

Keith Booth, '91 Shootout alumnus from Baltimore Dunbar, became the 30th former Shootout player to be picked in the NBA draft. He was selected in the first round by the Chicago Bulls in June. Other well-known Shootout alums in the NBA include Alonzo Mourning, Anfernee Hardaway, Kenny Anderson, Kevin Garnett, Glenn Robinson, Michael Finley, Shawn Bradley, LaPhonso Ellis, Corliss Williamson, Sam Cassell, Danny Ferry, Rasheed Wallace, Allan Houston, Stephon Marbury and Antoine Walker.

This was a great tournament, clearly featuring some of the best talent in the nation. While it is described as a "tournament" it is perhaps better termed an exhibition, in the same vein as what the John R. Wooden Inaugural High School Invitational is attempting to become for West Coast and SoCal showcase hoops. If you happened to be in St. Louis, consider yourself lucky. If you weren't, well, you'll be seeing most of these players in college and in the pro ranks for years to come.