SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Rim Rattler Holiday Hoops Invitational
Brings Big Names To SoCal--(Oct. 21, 2000)

	What:	Rim Rattler Holiday Hoops Invitational
	When:	December 18-22, 2000
	Where:	Long Beach State (The Pyramid) & LB Poly HS
	Who:	20 Top Local & National-Level Teams

If you thought the now-defunct Best in the West was a great tournament, then what is ostensibly the replacement for that tournament this year is going to exceed any superlatives used to describe the BIW.  Really. . .this tournament is going to feature some of the best matchups of the year.  We had a chance to talk yesterday with Long Beach Poly Coach Ron Palmer, who is working with Walter Milton and the corporate folks at Rim Rattler, and they've got one of the most impressive collections of local and national level talent all collected in one place here in SoCal. Here's who is scheduled to play:

The "local" teams: Most people are aware of some of the more well-known players from the "local" teams that will be participating in this tournament, guys like Josh Childress and Edwin Draughan (Mayfair--ranked No. 50 in the country by Fox StudentSports.com), Terrell Stovall, Anthony Davis, Doug Thomas, De Angelo Collins, Jason McKinney (Inglewood), Carlos Rivers, Jono Harper, Reggie Butler, Mike Roche, Mercedes Lewis and Markee White (Long Beach Poly),  Dominic Ingerson (Santa Barbara), Anthony Davis (Compton Centennial), and many many more.  We'll have some more detailed previews of the SoCal-based teams coming up shortly as the tournament approaches.

But it's the "national" competition and the teams from other parts of the country, along with the great matchups that will bring people out to this one. . . And there will be some interesting matchups.   Here's what we know about some of these "National-level" teams:

Mt. Zion (Durham, NC)---Not as powerful as in prior years, actually a complete mystery at this time, but they are still considered one of the top teams in the country, ranked for the preseason at No. 13 by Fox StudentSports.com in the Southeast Region coming off last year's 25-1 season (which ranking might be in some doubt now that Amarie Stoudamire (6'-9" Jr. PF) has apparently left the school and enrolled at Winter Garden in West Orange, Florida).    Stoudamire is the ranked as the top junior in the nation by a lot of recruiting experts, and as someone said, "he's probably  the closest thing to Kevin Garnett since Kevin Garnett."  We don't know much about who else is enrolled at Mt. Zion right now, but the saga that is "Mt. Zion" is certainly worthy of a novel or maybe even a Hollywood screenplay (we hear Michael A. Miller might be interested). . . Many who follow high school basketball, particularly at the national "elite" level will  recall that former Mt. Zion head coach Joel Hopkins ran a program that Clark Francis described as "so questionable that most Division I schools shied away from recruiting his players."   Last spring Hopkins and the head of Mt. Zion, Pastor Artis Plummer left Durham to start a new school, Emmanuel Christian. Soon thereafter though, Hopkins was offered and took the head coaching job at Shaw University, which is a Division II school in Raleigh, NC.  When Hopkins left Emmanuel, Plummer hired Mike White to be the new coach.   Emmanuel's roster was supposed to include just about everyone slated to be returning to Mt. Zion this year, including Jonathan Hargett (6'-0" Sr. G), Marco Killingsworth (6'-8" Sr. F), Tony Key (6'-11" Sr. C), Tyrone Sally (6'-7" Sr. F), Shawn Smith (6'-4" Sr. G), Darius Hargrove (6'-3" Sr. G), Deonic Smith (6'-10" Jr. C), Vern Hamilton (6'0 So. G) ,Jelani Lawrence (6'-6" So. G/F) and Marcus Sikes (6'-6" So.G/F).   But on October 17, 2000,  it was widely reported that Emmanuel Christian had closed, and it looked as if the entire upcoming season for all of these players would be a bust; it was thought that some might even return to Mt. Zion.  That was the last we heard about the players who were formerly at Mt. Zion. . . well there was a little more news:  Hargett was looking at schools in the D.C. area, and according to Clark Francis, "While it appears that White had good intentions, it looks like it was business as usual for Plummer, who was both the owner and principal of the school. One theory is that the school, which included 12 basketball players and three other students, was shut down due to lack of funding. Another is they couldn't get state accreditation. But the real story involves housing for the players. . . if they can find a place for the players to live by the end of the week, the school may still be in business."   As of right now though, the school is shut down.   And as for Mt. Zion, the real question remained "who will show up?" this year. As late as a few weeks ago, Mt. Zion was still slated to get  6'-9" Terry Licorish,  a legitimate top 30 senior from Canada, who moved into the United States about a month ago. Licorish is extremely athletic and active inside, but he also is versatile enough to quick enough to play out on the perimeter. Whether he'll be at Mt. Zion though is anyone's guess right now. They were also slated to get Kendal Provet (5'-8 So PG),  a playmaker who was set to transfer from New York (Wadleigh) NY.  Bottom Line:  Right now a big mystery.

Rice HS (New York, New York) is  nationally ranked in the preseason by Fox StudentSports.com (at No. 26 nationally, No. 8 in the East region). Rice finished at 21-7 overall last season. They return at least five junior veterans and Sagari Allegne (7'-1" So. C) who played only sparingly this past summer with the New York Ravens, but who could, if his skills develop, become a highly recruited big man in another two years (it's hard to teach height, and no one throws away a 7'+ player who has even marginal skills).   But besides the big man, the team returns Luis Rodriguez (6'-4" Sr. G/F) and Shariff McBride (6'-0" Sr. G), both highly regarded players nationally.  Long gone are players like Andre Barrett (to Seton Hall)  Andre Sweet and Kyle Cuffe, but Rice still has guys like Jason Wingate (6'-0" Jr. G), as well as Kenneth Eusey (6'-1" Jr. G) and two other seniors are worthy of mention, Emil Hemmock (5'-8" Sr. PG) and Spencer Longmore (6'-1" Sr. G),  as well as two more juniors, Keydren Clarke (5'-7" Jr. G) and Shakeem Mitchell (6'-6" Jr. F) .  Rice also had a lot of very promising freshmen last year who will be sophs this year: Dominic Lewis (6'-1" So. G), Steve Dyer (6'-2" So. G),  Derek Williams (6-0 So G), Isaiah Kelly (5-5 So. PG), Desmond Frazier (6'-2" So. SG/SF), Jason Holford (5'-10" So. G), Carl Gervias (6'-4" So. F)  and Cameron Tyler (5'-8" So. PG). Coach Mo Hicks' Raiders are going to be a tough, national-level squad with not a lot of height, but they will be quick and relentless.

Gainesville HS (Gainesville, Fla)--Another of the three Florida teams in this tournament, none of them nationally ranked right now.  Gainesville is always tough, and last seasn they finished ranked right behind Mt. Zion in the USA Today polls.  Mt. Zion was ranked No.l  in the Southeast region, an dGainesville was No. 2, finishing with a 33-2 record overall, and winning their second straight 5A Florida State Championship.  The team features at least one junior national-level prospect in Alton Darling (6'-3" Jr. G) as well as returning senior Vernell Brown (5'-9" Sr. PG) and a very promising freshmen, Ron Larris (5'-8" Fr. PG). Last year, they also featured Florida's "Mr. Basketball" Orien Greene who averaged 17 points, 7.4 assists, 6.0 steals and 5.7 rebounds and Jerald Fields who averaged 13.3 points and 8.4 rebounds.

Miami Senior is down a bit from their "glory days" of a few years ago, but the Stingarees still have some exciting players like Francisco Gonzalez (6'-7" Sr. F), and  Marcellas Smith (6'-1" Jr. G).  Also known as just "Miami" in the Florida State record books, they own the most State Championship appearances (138 games in the Championship tournament with 108 wins), and the highest number of Championships in Florida State history with 17, including 5 in the 1990's.   Well coached, strong and deep, this will be a great team for some California team to match up against.

Miami Christian--While the Miami schools in this tournament are not currently   ranked nationally, they still will provide very tough competition, and Coach Mitchell Means' Miami Christian team features ultra quick Carlos Morban (6'-2" Sr. SG) and Johan Rivera (6'-8" Sr. F) (Johan played on the "Coast To Coast" club team). . . both have committed to FIU; both were also selected to the Florida 1st Team All-State team by the Florida Sportswriters Assn.,  and both will lead this team this season, along with top point guard Kelly Ortiz (5'-10 Sr. PG). Miami Christian won the A division Florida State Championship last year and is still very tough.

Southern Lab is ranked by Fox StudentSports.com No. 30 nationally in the preseason, and No. 6 in the Southeast region.  The team finished 33-2 last season (ranked as the No. 3 team in the Southeast region, right behind No. 1 Mt. Zion and No. 2 Gainesville), and they also have won their 20 straight games since last season.  They also garnereed a seventh state Class A title in eight years last season. Marcus Spears, a 6-foot-6 two-sport standout, returns along with several key reserves.   Spears averaged 21.5 points and 14.1 rebounds last season to lead Southern Lab to a USA Today final season ranking of No. 18 in the country.  While Chris Duhon at Slidell HS got most of the accolades, Southern Lab finished last year as the only boys' team in Louisian with such a natoinal ranking.   The "Kittens" (great nickname. . . just don't call them any other kind of feline nickname. . . especially one beginning with a "P" and ending with a "Y"),  they were led last year by All-State forward and Texas A&M signee Nick Anderson, who graduated in June, along with Trayvean Scott, who enrolled at A&M as well, and lasted just one day there before withdrawing from the school.

Chester HS (Chester, Pa.) is ranked by Fox StudentSports.com as the No. 32 team in the nation (preseason) and they are coming off a 28-4 season for 1999-2000.  The Clippers are defending state Class 4A kings and impressed in summer league play with a balanced squad hoping to earn their 12th state finals' appearance and fifth title (they won titles in 83, 88, 94 and 2000).   The team has made 29 appearances (with an over record of 65-25) to the PIAA State Champoinships, and they hold the record (18) for trips to the final four.

Spingarn HS (Washington, D.C.)--Coach William "Doc" Robinson's Greenwaves finished at 25-1 last season and were ranked by USA Today's Dave Krider as No. 3 at the end of the season in the East, just behind No. 1 Seton Hall Prep from NJ and Christian Brothers Academy also from NJ, and ahead of such other national powers as St. Raymond's (Bronx, N.Y), DeMatha (Hyattsville, Md.) and Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.).Willie Brown (6'-0 Sr. PG) and Justin Wiggins (6'-3" Sr. SG) are ranked among the top 25 at their respective postions in Maryland-Virginia-DC region by DCHoops.com. Spingarn won the DC City Title game last season 83-73 behind the play of returning forward Anthony Williams (6'-4" Sr. F) who led all scoring with 25 points, and he was also the Championship MVP. Junior point guard Willie Brown also played a large part in the title game and he will return. This should be another All-Metro squad even without Deon Saunders (6'-6" F), the team's overall leading scorer who graduated after playing in last year's Capitol Classic game. Spingarn also returns another top player,senior Antoine Miller (6'-4" Sr. G/F), as well as guys like Antonio Dickerson Lionel Fletcher, Delano Hunter, Reggie McDonald, Michael Pelham, and Lucas Spencer.  If you want to read about their championship season, here's the story from the Washington Post

St. Albans School  (Washington, D.C.)--While St. Albans has been a good school from a basketball standpoint for a while, competing in the Interstate Athletic Conference against such schools as Georgetown Prep (which is where Justin Burns (6'-7" Sr. SG/SF) went after he left Mt. Zion, but before he returned to Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas to attend high school with his cousin, Jason Carter (6'-9" Sr. PF),  it is probably more well known as one of the few all-boys' schools in the D.C. area. We don't really know much about the team this season, but when we were back in D.C. this past summer we happened to see their campus, and it's really nice. We do know that they had a player named Adam Harper, a senior on last year's team, a guard, who was pretty good, a nice scorer, but we don't know much else about the team except some of the names of the returning players: St. Albans should return guys like junior Matt Baker, senior guard Gayruad Townsend, junior forwards Nick Kapur, Amadou Kilkenny-Diaw and Patrick Hayes. Coach Bob Brown led the team to a share of the IAC Championship last season, and they hope to do even better this year.  They are used to traveling for holiday tournaments, and last year the Bulldogs traveled to the Vero Beach, Florida Holiday Hoopla Tournament over Christmas break and won their final two of three games to finish a respectable fifth in the highly competitive tournament.  

Boston English HS (Jamaica Plains,  Mass)--The English High School is the oldest public high school in the United States, founded in 1821, the year after the town of Boston became a city. Located in Jamaica Plain, English High, with over 1200 students, embraces a diverse student body from every section of the city. Currently 27 different language groups are represented, from Albania to Somalia.  The Bulldogs finished first in their division last season and were ranked as the No. 1 team in Boston with a 23-3 overall record. They lost in the Massachusetts State Final game to St. John's, 63-61.  The Bulldogs return Tony White (5'10" Sr. PG) who is an excellent playmaker, a good thinker in game situations, can shoot and moves the ball well. Coach Barry Robinson also returns junior guard Antoine Clark (5'-8" S.r G), who only played point a little bit last year, but will be counted on this season, as well as talented juniors like Frankie Hall (6'-2" Jr. F), a second year returning varsity guy, forward Mamady Tonguino (6'-5" Jr. F), who as a freshman averaged 85 ppg, and who is a solid college prospect. Lastly senior guard Jason Smith (6'-0" Sr. PG) averaged more than 20 ppg and is a very gifted athlete with pure natural athleticism and ability.  Last season, the team was a lot deeper, including having guys like UMass' Raheim Lamb, a 6'-6" forward who could jump out of the gym and who had incredibly long arms, as well as Rasheed Quadri (6'-3" Sr. SG), and excellent shooter who is now at La Salle University.  The Bulldogs like to travel for the best competition possible during the Christmas season, and they attended the City of Palms Tournament last year, losing to Mater Dei (Santa Ana) and to Ballard of Kentucky. .

 

 
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