Mr. Basketball 2002

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SoCalHoops CIF "All-State" Players

Cal-Hi Sports Announces 2002 Official
"Mr. Basketball" Nominees--(Mar. 18, 2002)

This past Friday, March 15, 2002, Cal-Hi Sports released the official list of nominees for the first-ever "2002 Mr. Basketball" nominees for the State of California. While Cal-Hi Sports has been the "de facto" All-State selection entity for as long as anyone can remember, they've never given out a "Mr. Basketball" award before. They have given out "All-State Player of the Year" awards in each of the five CIF enrollment divisions, but to the best of our knowledge, there hasn't been an overall State Player of the Year award like other states (e.g., Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and other basketball-crazy states). Other states use the designation, "Mr. Basketball" so why not California too?

The list below contains the names of 84 players who were selected by Cal-Hi Sports and their staff as the official list of nominees for this prestigious award. According to Cal-Hi, the nominations were based on each player's performances this season, and some were selected as a result of completing outstanding high school careers, while others were chosen because they were top players on top teams. Nominations are still being accepted by Cal-Hi Sports (see below), so rather than complain because someone isn't listed, nominate anyone you believe has been overlooked.

Here is the Cal-Hi Sports List of Official 2002 Mr. Basketball Nominees:

Hassan Adams (Westchester, Los Angeles) Sr.

Curtis Allen (Rolling Hills Prep, Paso Verdes Estates) Soph.

Trevor Ariza (Westchester, Los Angeles) Jr.

Mark Bradford (Fremont, Los Angeles) Jr.

J.J. Brull (Torrey Pines, San Diego) Sr.

Evan Burns (Fairfax, Los Angeles) Sr.

Reggie Butler (Poly, Long Beach) Sr.

Nate Carter (Horizon, San Diego) Sr.

Richard Chaney (Verbum Dei, Los Angeles) Sr.

David Chiotti (St. Francis, Mountain View) Sr.

Richard Cobbs (Canyon Springs, Moreno Valley) Jr.

Javance Coleman (Washington, Easton) Sr.

DeAngelo Collins (Inglewood) Sr.

Lenny Collins (Santa Margarita, Rancho SM) Sr.

Ashanti Cook (Westchester, Los Angeles) Sr.

Josh Davis (Elk Grove) Sr.

Shaun Davis (Lincoln, San Diego) Jr.

Nick Debban (Clovis West, Fresno) Sr.

Timothy Drisdom (Calvary Chapel, Downey) Sr.

Keith Ellison (Redondo Union, Redondo Beach) Sr.

Khalif Ford (Diamond Bar) Jr.

David Gale (Buckley, Sherman Oaks) Sr.

Kevin Gardner (Peninsula, Rolling Hills Estates) Sr.

Jimmy Goffredo (Crescenta Valley, La Crescenta) Jr.

John Haywood (Bishop Amat, La Puente) Sr.

Brandon Heath (Westchester, Los Angeles) Sr.

Mychal Henry (Encina, Sacramento) Sr.

Ryan Hollins (Muir, Pasadena) Sr.

Ronald Howard (J.W. North, Riverside) Jr.

Ekene Ibekwe (Carson) Jr.

Eugene Jeter (Serra, Gardena) Sr.

Bobby Jones (Poly, Long Beach) Sr.

Thomas Juillerat (Amador Valley, Pleasanton) Jr.

Marquise Kately (Riordan, San Francisco) Sr.

Ezra Kiedrowski (Lodi) Sr.

Keion Kindred (Dominguez, Compton) Sr.

Antonio Lawrence (San Joaquin Memorial, Fresno) Sr.

Marvin Lea (M.L.King, Riverside) Sr.

Kevin Lewis (Locke, Los Angeles) Sr.

Sean Marshall (Eisenhower, Rialto) Jr.

Maurice Miller (Sheldon, Sacramento) Sr.

Donovan Morris (Cajon, San Bernardino) Sr.

DeMarcus Nelson (Vallejo) Soph.

Travis Niesen (Mission Viejo) Sr.

Jason Obazuaye (Andrew Hill, San Jose) Sr.

Sean Phaler (Villa Park) Jr.

David Paris (Modesto Christian) Sr.

John Parsons (Half Moon Bay) Sr.

Leon Powe (Technical, Oakland) Jr.

Jacob Ramirez (A.B. Miller, Fontana) Sr.

Ray Reed (Inglewood) Jr.

J.R. Reese (Centennial, Corona) Sr.

Matt Reid (Cypress) Sr.

Josh Rhodes (Santa Cruz) Sr.

Gino Riney (Grant, Van Nuys) Jr.

Leon Rosborough (M.L.King, Riverside) Sr.

Joey Saavedra (Banning, Wilmington) Sr.

Darius Sanders (Centennial, Compton) Sr.

John Sharper (St. Mary's, Berkeley) Sr.

Rekalin Sims (De La Salle, Concord) Sr.

Steve Smith (Taft, Woodland Hills) Jr.

Gio St. Amant (St. John Bosco, Bellflower) Sr.

Derek Stockalper (Carlsbad) Sr.

Mike Strawberry (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) Sr.

DaShawn Strong (El Segundo) Sr.

Armondo Surratt (Technical, Oakland) Sr.

Matt Sweany (Capistrano Valley, Mission Viejo) Sr.

Guy Ten Fingers (Downey, Modesto) Sr.

Bryce Taylor (Harvard-Westlake, North Hollywood) Soph.

Justin Turman (Daniel Murphy, Los Angeles) Sr.

Ayinde Ubaka (Oakland) Jr.

Kevin Ummel (Sequoia, Redwood City) Sr.

Fred Washington (Bishop Montgomery, Torrance) Jr.

Wesley Washington (Mater Dei, Santa Ana) Jr.

Mikel Watson (El Camino, Oceanside) Jr.

Wendell White (Redondo Union, Redondo Beach) Jr.

Dino Wilburn (Pasadena) Sr.

Omar Wilkes (Loyola, Los Angeles) Jr.

Marcus Williams (Crenshaw, Los Angeles) Jr.

Trayvon Williams (Fontana) Jr.

Donald Wilson (Dorsey, Los Angeles) Sr.

Brandon Worthy (Mt. Pleasant, San Jose) Sr.

Lawrence Wright (Wheatland) Sr.

Josh Zazulia (Palm Desert) Sr.

The list of nominees contains the names of 58 seniors, 23 juniors, and just 3 outstanding sophomores. Thirteen of the players nominated are from the LA City Section of CIF, 42 players are from the CIF-Southern Section (with more than 500+ schools, 10 different enrollment divisions and approximately 7,000 boys basketball players, did you expect any less?) Five of the nominees are from the San Diego CIF, and three are from the CIF-Central Section. The remaining 21 nominees all hail from the six NorCal Sections of the CIF.

According to Cal-Hi's announcment additional nominations are still being accepted. So, if there's a player you believe is deserving of being nominated who isn't listed above, let Mark Tennis or the Cal-Hi staff know. They can be reached at mark@studentsports.com or by phone at (209) 463-9050. And be sure to visit both StudentSports.com and Cal-Hi Sports to see all of the eventual All-State team nominations, and to find out who will be selected as the 2002 Mr. Basketball California.