rumors and facts: high schools

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SoCalHoops High School News

More High School Moves:
Rumors & Facts--(May 17, 2000)

A few days ago, we posted up some unconfirmed rumors which we believed were from some fairly reliable sources. We've got more:

James Webster (6'-3" So. F) who played basketball for Mater Dei's varsity this past season has apparently either checked out of the school (or he will), and has transferred (or will) to another school in Orange County. The word is that it had nothing to do with basketball, since James actually saw a pretty good amount of time, but involved issues James had with the baseball coaches.

Wes Wardrop (6'-2" Jr. SG/PG) from Loara HS will transfer at the end of the school year, and will attend a prep school, Winchendon Prep. According to our sources at Rockfish, Wes will be reclassified as a junior next season and will thus spend two years prepping. Wes averaged close to 17 ppg last season for Loara. There was some feeling among observers that Wes was probably already good enough to be a solid Ivy League, Patriot, or even a WCC type prospect, but with the extra year at prep school he'll only get bigger, better and stronger.

Darryl Strawberry, Jr. (6'-2" Fr. SG) from Blair HS, the son of New York Yankee and former Dodger Darryl Strawberry (and the cousin of Mike Strawberry) will transfer to Mater Dei. Darryl, Jr., attended Montclair Prep for junior high school before transferring to Blair last year where he played varsity as a freshman. We saw the younger Strawberry play in a tournament last December and while he wasn't a dominating player (he was just a freshman, playing in one of his first varsity games) it was clear that he's athletic and had the genes to become an impact player for Mater Dei.

Jordan Roberts (6'-4" Jr. SG) from Alta Loma H.S., is transferring to Waukesha Catholic Memorial, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. His father wrote to us to let us know that the family is moving to Wisconsin to be nearer to Jordan's mother's family and her sisters. Apparently the family also has business interests which will allow them to open a branch store in Johnson Creek, WI (they own the "Country Clutter" gift store Ontario Mills). Jordan will be leaving Alta Loma H.S. at the end of this month to play summer league in Wisconsin. Waukesha Catholic Memorial is a coed parochial school of about 1,200 which has become a Wisconsin powerhouse in basketball, making it to the State Finals of the large private school Division I last season. Next year should be interesting since it will mark the first time in Wisconsin high school basketball that private and public schools will compete in the same tournament as schools do here with the CIF. Jordan will try to stay involved in some capacity with Rockfish, and if our buddy Price Johnson (who runs the Friends of Hoop Wisconsin teams) doesn't get to him first, we'd expect to see Jordan still playing with the Fish this summer. Jordan's dad also had some nice things to say about SoCalHoops: "I want to thank you for the excellent coverage of H.S. Basketball in So Cal and the nice comments you have made about Jordan. I have found NOTHING in Wisconsin that remotely compares to SoCalHoops.com and we wish you continued success." Thanks. . . .