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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Class of 2002: Rising Senior
Top Small Forwards--(July 2, 2001)

We wanted to get our summer lists posted before the July NCAA recruiting period and the commencement of the camps, and we managed to do that by feverishly working through our notes, rosters, scouting stuff, and prior lists of players we've posted.  The NCAA July recruiting period this summer is split into two sessions, from July 8-14 and from July 25-31.   Hopefully these lists will identify the players we believe should be watched.  Some of these players will be at some of the national elite-level camps such as ABCD and Nike Camp, and some have also participated in other camps such as the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival, the NBA Players Development Camp in Washington, DC, and other camps.  Many will play at the adidas Double Pump West Coast All Star Camps or at Dinos Trigonis' Fullcourt All West Camp (some will be at both), and most everyone will be playing at the adidas Big Time which this year will feature a record 334 teams.  A few, those on the Nike circuit, will be at the Augusta Peach Jam, or the Nike Supershowcase in Orlando.  Finally, just about all the top players will be at either the Pump's "Best of Summer", which will feature 128 teams, or at the Slam N Jam Elite 8x2 up in Berkeley. . . it will be a busy summer.    This time, we'll post the lists first, and then the narrative explanation and rationale will follow.  Here are the lists:


SoCalHoops Top 15  SF's (Class of 2002)

Evan Burns   6'-7"  SF/SG/PG    Fairfax
Sterling Byrd   6'-6"  SF    Compton Centennial
Reggie Butler   6'-5"  SF    Long Beach Poly
Nick Debban   6'-4"  SF   Clovis West
Johnny Dukes   6’-7"  SF    Eisenhower
Kevin Edmonds   6'-8" SF   Fountain Valley
Keith Everage   6'-6"  SF   Westchester
Dominic Freeman   6'-4"  SF   Long Beach Millikan
Samir Hernandez   6'-6"  SF   Compton Dominguez
Matt McKinney   6'-8"  SF   Santa Ynez
Tony Melum   6'-7" SF   Newport Harbor
Travis Niesen   6'-8" SF   Mission Viejo
David Patten   6’-8"  SF   El Dorado
Darius Sanders   6'-6"  SF   Compton Dominguez
Adam Zahn   6'-7"  SF   Redondo

SoCalHoops Next Top 15  SF's (Class of 2002)

Marlon Brisco   6'-4"  SF   Morningside
JJ Brull   6'-6" SF   Torrey Pines
Wayne Chamberlain   6'-7"  SF   LA Washington
Deshar Clipper   6'-6" SF   Chatsworth
Kevin Cornwell   6'-7" SF   Agoura
Spencer Foster   6'-6"  SF   Glendora
Greg Gaudino   6'-5" SF   La Canada
Doug Hall   6'-6"  SF   Crossroads
Julius Keeler   6'-4"  SF   San Diego San Pasqual
Ryan Love   6'-6" F   Long Beach Poly
Deon Marcus   6'-7"  SF   Lynwood
Desmond Newman   6'-6" SF   Los Angeles HS
Mike Roche   6'-6" F   Long Beach Poly
Kalief Washington   6'-6" F   Price
Manual Wright   6'-7" F   Long Beach Poly

SoCalHoops "Best of the Rest" SF's (Class of 2002)

Blake Allison   6'-4"  SF   Western Christian
Ben Barrett   6'-5"  SF   Chadwick
Jared Bender   6'-4" F   Canyon Anaheim
Daniel Boardman   6'-4"  SF   Jurupa Valley
Matt Boesler   6'-4" F   Helix
Marcus Burns   6'-4" F   LA High School
Kevin Cape   6'-4"  SF   St. John Bosco
Sean Carey   6'-3"  SF   Gabrielino
Jon Cooley   6'-3"  SF   Twentynine Palms
Richard Coombs   6'-3"  SF   Diamond Ranch
Daniel Doss   6'-5"  SF   JW North
David Dunn   6'-5" F   Ontario
Jonathan Fryer   6'-7" F   Cabrillo
Issac Gabbai   6'-5"  SF   Yeshiva
Mike Gains    6'-4" G/F   Canyon Springs
Greg Geier   6'-4"  SF   Mira Costa
Brandon Gray   6'-6" F   Cathedral City
Chris Goswiller   6'-6" F   Capo Valley
Mike Grier   6'-6"  SF   Compton
Kalanji Guillory   6'-5" F   Ontario
Eugene Hackett   6'-4" F   St. Bernard
Mike Haley   6'-6"  SF   Barstow
Matt Hatch   6'-3"  SF   Ocean View
Matt Henderson   6'-5"  SF   Calvary Chapel Downey
Ryan Johnson   6’-5"  SF   Peninsula
Steve Keglevic   6'-4'  F   Agoura
Davis Kennedy   6'-5" F   Highland HS
Jeremy Lopez   6'-4"  SF   Riverside Poly
Flamingo Malone   6'-5"  SF   Banning
Dan Monroe   6'-5" F   San Luis Obispo
Brandon Murray   6'-6" F   Rosamond
Ryan Neff    6'-6" F   Torrey Pines
Shane O'Connor   6'-6"  SF   Claremont
Ben Olson 6'-5" F Thousand Oaks
Michael Peterson   6'-4" G/F   Temescal Canyon
Chris Randall   6'-6" F   Newbury Park
Ken Randle   6'-4"  SF   Twentynine Palms
Lawrence Renee   6'-5" F   Norte Vista
Joktan Roberts   6'-4"  SF   San Diego Eastlake
Jushay Rockett   6'-5" F   Cabrillo
Terron Rodmond    6'-4" F   Pasadena
Ryan Shinneman   6'-6" F   Bell-Jeff
Sylvester Seay   6’-5"  SF   Cajon
Marcus Smith   6'-5" F   Mission Bay
Eric Stewart   6'-4" F   Verbum Dei
DaShawn Strong   6'-6"  F   El Segundo
Kevin Tatum   6'-4"  SF   Fresno Edison
AJ Ward   6'-6" F   Mater Dei

Now here's the long explanatory note:

Just about everyone understands what a small forward is:   Bigger than a big guard, smaller than a power forward or a post player, usually plays facing up to the basket, some have good guard skills, can dribble and put the ball on the floor, and will usually play anywhere from 15' out and in.  An Imprecise definition to be sure, but we know one when we see one. 

Caveat 1: We are not ranking or rating players based purely on their "potential" as college players, nor are we doing so based entirely on whether they are finished products, i.e., accomplished high school players who have no room for improvement. We are simply listing the top players in SoCal who we believe have talent, potential and have demonstrated that they are not only excellent high school players, among the best in SoCal, but also have shown skills which we think will make them good college prospects.

Caveat 2: This will sound like a broken record, but we haven't used numerical rankings for individual players. Maybe we should and maybe someday we will, but for now we won't.  Others who rank players use such a system, but we're just not sold on the value of that concept.  Most of the recruiting gurus on the internet use strict numerical rankings.  We've had many conversations over the years about why feel a need to rank in this fashion, and while we've heard a lot of good reasons  we're still not sold.   In our opinion, there are just too many subtleties to each player's game, too many variables, whether opponents, game situations, level of play, coaching,  injuries, etc, which can influence how a player might look on any given day, and there are admittedly far too few opportunities to see a player.  In short, it's kind of like art:  We know what we like and what we don't.  Which is basically what all of this comes down to.  Keep in mind that we like everyone on these lists, just some a bit more than others.   But there isn't anyone listed whose game we don't think is excellent, among the top in Southern California.  Remember, we're listing in the aggregate something like 200 players total, out of more than 10,000 or so who play high school and club basketball in SoCal.   Which ought to tell you that we really like each of the players listed.    So, just keep these lists in the proper perspective. i 

Caveat 3: We have not seen every player in SoCal, and we would venture that no one has either.  in the current sophomore class.  Most of what we know about a player comes from seeing a player several times, either with his high school team, or with a club team at a tournament or camp.  But we can't be everywhere, and we can't see everyone. 

We've tried to list those players who played particularly well this past season and spring, who are among the more promising players.   The list include players from Fresno in the north, to San Diego in the south, i.e., the entire SoCal region.  Many of the players listed have already drawn the attention of some of the traditional recruiting gurus (e.g., Recruiting USA, Fullcourt Press, Clark Francis'  HoopScoop,  PrepStars Recruiting,  PacWestHoops,  and others).  Some are still undiscovered.   But in our view, all of them are excellent players. 

Lastly, not to be too repetitive about this, but 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, let us know via e-mail.

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