Rick Barrett's N.J. "Midnight Madness":
Several Reports On SoCal Players--(Sept. 23, 2002)

As we noted, we had planned to attend Rick Barrett's Gym Rat's Midnight Madness this past weekend, but because of other commitments we opted not to make the trip there.  But Dinos Trigonis was there, and he was accompanied by several SoCal prospects from the current senior, junior and soph classes,  and from the looks of things, it was a productive event for the guys from SoCal, even if no D-I coaches could be in attendance.   Of course, we've also heard that the game was pretty much just an up-and-down affair, with not much in the way of defense, a lot of cherry-picking, etc. (see the "minority" report below), but then that's what sometimes happens at events like these.   Dinos' entourage included Arron Afflalo from Compton Centennial and Jamal Boykin from Fairfax, as well as making the trip with seniors Wesley Washington and Harrison Schaen, the latter of whom was in New Jersey principally to take two visits, one to Princeton, an unofficial he took on Friday through Saturday, and then an official to Penn, where he was hosted by his former Belmont Shore teammate Patrick Haddan, now a freshman at UP.   And about Harrison, Michael Kruse, formerly of Basketball America (now defunct, at least on the internet), who also writes for ESPN and Dave Telep's The Insider'sHoops.com, interviewed Harrison at the Gym Rat's event, and was told that Harrison is now down to considering only three schools, and none of them are in the west:  Princeton, Penn and Yale.  

Anyway, about the games at Cherry Hill:  Dinos sent us a report (which will also no doubt show up over at Fullcourt Press soon), and we also captured some stats from Jay Gomes' NJHoops.com website, as well as a report from Clark Francis' HoopScoop online, and even a note from someone else who was there, which we're simply calling the "minority report".....Think Al Gore's speech in San Francisco yesterday, and you'll get the drift.  First up, the report from Dinos:

Southern Cal Prospects Shine at 2002 Gym Rats Midnight Madness
(September 23, 2002)

The 2002 Gym Rats Midnight Madness was held on Saturday September 21st at Cherry Hill East HS (Cherry Hill NJ) - featuring several of the nation's top senior and underclass prospects as well as four top guns calling Southern California home.

In the national underclass all-american game, 6'6" sophomore Jamal Boykin (Los Angeles Fairfax) had a game high 28 points (with 11 rebounds) while 6'4" junior Arron Afflalo (Compton Centennial) was not far behind with 26 points (including 4 "threes") as their "Black" squad trounced their "White" team opponents 108-85. This game showcased several elite national underclassmen including game MVP 6'7" junior Shawn Livingston (Peoria IL Central/23 points/12 boards/event record 15 assists), 6'9" junior Josh Smith (Marietta GA/25 points/11 rebounds) and 6'8" junior Marvin Williams (Bremerton WA/15 points/8 boards).

In the top national all-star game, 6'5" senior Olu Famutimi (Flint MI) poured in 37 points to spark his "White" crew over the "Black" squad 122-106. 6'3" senior Wesley Washington (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA) pumped in a team high 33 points to lead the "Black" - sharing game MVP honors with Famutimi. Washington's Mater Dei teammate 6'9" senior Harrison Schaen contriibuted 16 points/14 boards for the "Black". Other national standouts in this game included 6'4" senior Mustafa Shakur (Philadelphia PA/23 points/8 assists), 6'5" senior Thomas Gardner (Portland OR/25 points/committed to Missouri), 6'3" senior Ayinde Ubaka (Oakland CA/16 points/committed to Cal) and 5'11" senior Aaron Brooks (Seattle WA/15 points/committed to Oregon). A few underclass players also participated in the top game including Josh Smith (20 points), Shaun Livingston and Jamal Boykin (the only national sophomore in the entire e! vent) who contributed 12 points/6 boards.

Former Inglewood HS 5'10" senior point guard Jason McKinney (now at Hargarve Military Academy VA) played in a regional preliminary game and looked very impressive.

Past event participants include Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), Tracy McGrady (Orlando Magic), Antoine Walker (Boston Celtics), Stephon Marbury (Phoenix Suns), Tim Thomas (Milwaukee Bucks), DeShawn Stevenson (Utah Jazz), Carlos Boozer (Duke/NBA), Kelvin Torbert (Michigan State), Travon Bryant (Missouri), Anthony Roberson (Florida), Jawad Williams (North Carolina), Dijon Thompson (UCLA) and Leon Powe (committed to Cal).

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Jay Gomes' NJHoops.com also had a table featuring the stats from the "Elite" game.  Here they are:

Clark Francis of the HoopScoop was also on hand for the festivities in New Jersey, and he raved about Josh Smith's play, as well as that from Arron Afflalo.   Hhere's what he had to say about the event:

He [Joshua Smith] simply picked up at Rick Barrett's 2002 Gym Rat Midnight Madness on Saturday night at Cherry Hill East High School in Cherry Hill where he left off the last time he played in the state of New Jersey. We're talking about 6'9 Jr Joshua Smith from Marietta (McEachern) GA, who was ranked as the #1 player at the adidas ABCD Camp in July by the HOOP SCOOP. Smith was like a human highlight film, as he made one incredible move after another to the basket, more often than not for an earthshattering slam dunk, en route to 29 points in the Elite Game for Underclassmen and 20 points in the Senior All American Game. In addition to the numerous dunks and world-class athleticism, Smith also impressed everybody with his ability to hit the three and ball handling and passing in the open court. Smith is currently ranked as the #3 junior nationally behind 6'9 Jr Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS and 6'0 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, but, if he plays like this all the time, it is going to tough to keep him out of the number #1 spot. And a lack of consistency is really the only question mark. As a matter of fact, Smith seems to play better when he's not playing with his club team. Remember, the Atlanta Celtics, which also feature 6'10 Jr Dwight Howard from Atlanta (Southwest Atlanta Christian) GA, 6'9 Jr Randolph Morris from Fairburn (Landmark) GA, and 6'5 Jr Dwayne Day from Vidalia (H.S.) GA, are absolutely loaded, plus they don't have a pure point guard whose primary function is to make those around him better. However, Smith alone was not good enough to even keep it close, as the heavily stacked Black Team beat the White Team, 107-78, in the Elite Game for Underclassmen. And part of the problem is that whoever put the teams together obviously hadn't read what we had to say about 6'4 Jr Arron Afflalo from Compton (Centennial) CA from a week ago when we saw him at the Fullcourt Press Fall Hoops Classic in Lynwood, CA. If you will recall, we said that Afflalo was the best junior in Southern California ahead of 6'4 Jr Curtis Allen from Palos Verdes (Rolling Hills) CA, 6'2 Jr Gabriel Pruitt from Los Angeles (Westchester) CA, and 7'0 Jr Robert Swift from Bakersfield (Garces) CA. Well, he simply reinforced that thought as he scored 28 points and was one of the top players in the game, along with 6'6 Jr Shaun Livingston from Peoria (Central) IL and 6'6 Jamal Boykin from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA. Livingston had 18 points and several incredible dunks of his own, but it was the 15 assists and willingness to do everything, except sell tickets, that got him team MVP honors. Not only is Livingston a great passer and excellent rebounder for his size, but he's so smooth that you don't always realize just how explosive and athletic he really is. But Livingston still needs to get stronger and continue to work on his outside shooting, if he wants to develop into a truly great one. Boykin is not a great athlete and he's only 6'6, but he has great timing and excellent anticipation and, as a result, it seems like he gets every rebound. He's also pretty good offensively around the basket, as is evident by the fact that he tied Afflalo as his team's top scorer with 28 points. Also helping Boykin dominate the boards was 6'9 Jr Marvin Williams from Bremerton (H.S.) WA, who finished with 15 points and nine rebounds. And 6'5 Zakee Boyd from Philadelphia (Lutheran) PA chipped in with 13 points of his own. The only player, besides Smith, for the White Team who finished with more than 10 points was 6'7 Jr Tim Pierce from Oakland, CA, who had 25 points. The Senior All American Game was also lopsided as 6'5 Olu Famutimi from Flint (Northwestern) MI, who was the leading scorer and best player of the evening, along with Smith, hit layup after layup en route to 36 points. However, Famutimi still had to share team MVP honors with 6'3 Mustafa Shakur from Wynnewood (Friends Central) PA, who had 23 points. Obviously politics may have had something to do with Shakur's selection (he's a local kid), but he wasn't any better than 6'4 Thomas Gardner from Portand (Jefferson) OR, who finished with 25 point of his own. And he too reinforced what we'd already seen in July at the adidas ABCD Camp, as Gardner impressed with his outside shooting and athleticism. Easily the best player for the Black Team was 6'3 Wesley Washington from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, who finished with 33 points and did a good job of getting his teammates involved, despite the fact he wasn't playing point guard. Chipping in with 16 points apiece were 6'1 Ayinde Ubaka from Oakland (H.S.) CA and 6'9 Harrison Schaen from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA. Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the game was 5'11 Aaron Brooks from Seattle (Franklin) WA. He finished with 15 points, but he never really got into the flow. Neither did 6'3 John Winston from Richmond (Salesian) CA, who finished with only two points, but he did make several excellent passes. Boykin and Pierce both chipped in with 12 points apiece. In addition to holding one of the best single-day showcases of the entire year, Barrett also deserves special praise for exposing all the players in attendance who are not already qualified academically under NCAA guidelines to the Princeton Review. As a matter of fact, Jay Rosner, who is the founder of the Princeton Review, flew in from California this year to personally administer a mock test and provide pointers on how to take the SAT.

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The Senior Game stats referred to last were as follows (again, courtesy of NJHoops.com):

And lastly, since we think there needs to be a "minority report," we came across one in a message posted over at IvyBasketball.com's message board, from one Howard Gensler, who evidently visited the game in order to check out Harrison Schaen now that he's become a hot Ivy prospect and the subject of some discussion there. Here's what Mr. Gensler had to say about the game:

"Re: Schaen's Stats [re: AsiaSunset]
"09/23/02 01:54 AM

"Was at the game last night and saw Schaen and some of the other big-timers. This is one case where the stats are meaningless. There was not one lick of defense played in this "contest." I've never seen so many 3 on 0 fast breaks, half court alley-oop attempts (most failed) and turnovers in one game in my life. No competitive intensity on either side. So except for being able to tell that various players can run, jump, cherry pick, not hustle back on defense and dunk when no one is guarding them, the game was a waste of time.

"They did, however, give out a lot of big-ass trophies."

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