brandon brooks

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SoCalHoops High School News

PG Brandon Brooks At Double Pump
Shootout This Weekend--(March 16, 2000)

brandonb120.jpg (6896 bytes) Brandon Brooks (6'-0" Sr. PG) from Portland Jefferson, who finished his high school season by scoring 21 points for his team as they captured the Oregon Class 4A State Championship will once again be playing for one of the Pump N Run teams, and he will here in Los Angeles, along with a lot of other guys from out of state displaying his talent for some of the assembled college coaches. . . and while many will be at the NCAA tournament, there will be those teams interested in Brooks (and the many other players, including unsigned seniors and underclassmen) who will be playing at the Pump Discovery JC Men's and High School combined shootout at Cal State Dominguez Hills. This past season Brandon averaged more than 20 ppg and 8 assists leading Jefferson to a perfect 27-0 season.

Hopefully we'll get a chance this weekend to spend some time with Brandon to talk about his college choices and prospects. Brooks played with Pump N Run last summer (which also featured Branduinn Fullove, Salim Stoudamire, the Craven twins, Aerick Sanders, Heath Bailey, Casey Cook, Dustin Villepigue, David Gale, Kevin Elleby, Montell Duhon and others) and this weekend he'll be reunited with a several of those players on the Double Pump All-Stars, which lists Brooks, Quinn Hawking (6'-4" Jr. G) from El Dorado, David Gale (6'-0" So. PG) from Buckley, Jonathan Harper (6'-4" Jr.Jr. G) from Long Beach Poly,. Scott Borchart (6'-8" Jr. F) from Chaminade, Jason Carter (6'-9" Jr. F) from Bishop Gorman, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Doug Thomas (6'-9" Jr. F) from Pasadena, Torin Beeler (6'-4" Jr. G/F) from Ocean View, Dustin Villepigue (6'-9" Jr. F) from Simi Valley, and Bakari Altheimer (5'-11" Jr. G) from Saint Elizabeth.

Brooks is currently being recruited by a number of schools including Arizona State, and word is that the ASU coaches will also be in attendance this weekend. Brooks is a jet quick penetrator and an excellent passer with a good first step who can either dish or beat his man to the hole and finish. Brandon's jumper has gotten a lot better, and he's a very highly regarded point guard, probably the most highly rated point guard on the west coast in the senior class who is still unsigned. Brandon has already taken visits to UNLV and will be taking a trip to ASU. Other schools that have been mentioned as having an interest in Brandon are Oklahoma, Cincinnati, Georgia, and UCLA although several pundits have said that Brandon does not have the academics to get into UCLA, and there's probably some merit to that view, since up until this season, Brandon had been having difficulty with some of his coursework. But he's acheived a high enough score on the SAT and reportedly qualified to play as a freshman, so even though he may not be able to meet UCLA's standards, there are a number of other D-I's that will be happy to have him.

The Pumps will also have another team playing this weekend at the Shootout, and this one will feature a lot of guys from the Arizona area, and will simply be called "Pump N Run". This weekend, it will feature Jon Wilkins (6'-5" Jr. F) from Chadler Hamilton, James Fontenet (6'-1" Jr. G) and Jason Fontenet (5'10" Jr. G) from St. Mary's, Ryan Trico (6'-4" Jr. G/F) from Brophy Prep, Dennis Lattimore (6'-8" Jr. F) from Halstead, Kansas, Channing Frye (6'-10" Jr. F/C) from Saint Mary's, Nick Lewis (6'-8" Jr. F) from Brophy Prep, Mike Stephens (6'-10" Jr. C) from Napa, California, and Jamal Williams (6'-6" Jr. F) from Corona Centennial.

We'll have the schedule for the shootout posted up shortly, although unless you know which team is which, it won't mean much except to the players and their parent. Perhaps when we get the rosters we'll post them up sometime on Saturday or Sunday.

See you there.