July 2008 Archives

The of the last of the national travel team high school basketball tournaments held during the current NCAA evaluation period that wraps up on Friday are taking place at Cabrillo HIgh in Long Beach and Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

Cabrillo is the site of the Fullcourt Press End of the Trail Classic.

Games got under way this morning at 10 o'clock and wrap up with the Silver (consolation bracket) and gold (winners' bracket) championships at 5:20 and 6:30, respectively.

LMU is playing host to the Best of the Summer Championships, which got under way Sunday morning. Some of the event's games are being played at Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Championship games in five divisions begin Thursday at 2 p.m.

An interesting matchup tonight (8:15) at LMU has Mater Dei taking on the Franchize All-Stars (made up of players from in and around Houston).

Mater Dei is led by 6-9 twins David and Travis Wear, who are committed to signing with North Carolina in November.

And Franchize is led by another player who intends to sign with UNC, 6-10 John Henson (Rockfound High).

After four days and four nights, it's finally here: The final day of play during the three national high school-aged boys travel teams in Las Vegas.

Today's (Saturday's) action:

*The semifinals of the Main Event (Spring Valley High) have just one team from Southern California in action, after the L.A. Team Odom (including the Jordan Hamilton-led horde of Dominguez players) was eliminated by a team from Dallas Friday night.

And that from SoCal is the California Supreme, which won four games Friday and takes on the Chicago-based Mac Irvin Fire at 9 a.m.

California supreme is led by juniors-to-be in guard Gary Franklin (Mater Dei) and center (San Diego High).

*There are no Southern California teams remaining in the Reebok Summer Championships (Foothill High in Henderson) after the L.A. Dream Team, Belmont Shore and Inland (from the Inland Empire) were knocked off in the playoffs on Friday.

The highlight of today's quarterfinals has the Northwest Panthers (Tacoma, Wash.) taking on Team Breakdown (Plantation, Fla.) in a rematch of a "mini-tournament" game on Tuesday morning won by the Florida squad. The hooks is the backcourt battle of Avery Bradley and Abdul Gaddy (Northwest) vs. their TB counterparts (Kenny Boynton and Avery Bradley).

*The Pump 'N Run Elite team, with its plethora of Southern California standouts, is taking on Grassroots Canada Elite at 1 o'clock in the main gym at Rancho High in North Las Vegas in an adidas Super 64 semifinal.

Another SoCal Club, the Compton Magic (led by players from Santa Barbara and Hemet, and not Compton, by the way), faces the Atlanta Celtics at 1 in the auxilary gym (next door) in the other semi.

If there was only a way I could clone myself three ways . . .

LAS VEGAS - It's halftime at Rancho High, in the main (as in, large, really neat bleachers and air conditioning that isn't overwhelmingly chilly) gym, with the New England Playaz holding onto a 23-21 lead over the Wedman Pumas team from Overland Park, Kansas.

It's the closest thing to a "real" high school game - with teams playing solid man-to-man defense and trying to execute structured offense - that I've seen in four days of these orgy of travel team hoops.

That's a power outlet under this table, hence, I'm blogging.

I just watched the Compton Magic blow out a team from Utah in a gymnasium across campus, which took me a little longer to get to because the soccer field I was able to cut across diagonally Wednesday and Thursday actually had a soccer game going on just now. Imagine that.

Long Beach State assistant Rod Palmer, watching the Compton Magic game with me, made an astute observation: The Compton Magic has just one player who attends a Compton Unified School District school. And that's junior guard Deonta Burton, who transferred to Centennial in the spring after spending two seasons playing for Cabrillo.

Believe me - there are all kinds of dynamics like that going on in this summer basketball . . . which is why the Compton Magic situation can't be called "peculiar".

Oh, well. There is a day and a half worth of action remaining in the three tournaments. Sorting out which games to go to is getting even tougher.

Back later . . .

Players from the San Gabriel Valley and Suburban leagues are continuing to help their college recruiting stock with their play in the three national travel team boys basketball tournaments being played in and around Las Vegas.

*La Mirada forward Derrick Williams (6-foot-7) was outstanding for Team Odom during action in the Main Event at Spring Valley High in the western part of the city Wednesday.

Among the programs whose coaches are believed considering offering Williams a scholarship are USC.

Also members of that club, which edged a team from Chicago Wednesday, are Jordan Hamilton, Kalea King, Marquis Moody, Myron Green and Kurt Davis from Dominguez.

*Devonte Elliott (6-8) of Paramount is a standout for another Los Angeles-based team, the I-CAN All-stars, as is another SGVL standout, 6-7 D'Angelo Scott of Lynwood.

His I-CAN teammates include point guards Michael Mayes (Poly) and Sam Ferguson (Mayfair).

*Thurman Woods (6-5), another Dominguez standout, scored 32 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to help the Belmont Shore team edge the World Wide Renegades of Atlanta, 83-79, Wednesday evening in a Reebok Summer Championships game at Foothill High in Henderson.

*Kyle Richardson (6-7) of Mayfair has continued his standout play in the low post as a member of the Bellflower-based BCA team during the adidas Super 64.

I checked out games from about 9:45 a.m. to 10 p.m. in the Reebok- and adidas-sponsored high school hoops tournaments in and about (Henderson) Las Vegas today.

You name 'em, I pretty much saw 'em today when in comes to high profile college basketball coaches, including Ben Howland, Tim Floyd, Roy Williams, Billy Donovan, Lute Olson, Bill Self and John Calipari.

If you're scratching your head as to the schools those gentlemen coach for, you're not much of a college basketball fan, are you?

As for the best individual performances, the names that come immediately to mind are guards Brandon Knight and Kenny Boynton (Team Breakdown of Florida), John Henson (Franchize All-Stars of Texas) and John Wall (D-One All-Stars of North Carolina).

Check out my detailed story in Wednesday's Press-Telegram. As for now, time to get something to eat with my buddy Joel Francisco.

Compton High McDonald's All-American Demar DeRozan is apparently another step toward playing for the USC basketball team next season.
The 6-foot-6 DeRozan, who finished in the balloting for the Press-Telegram's Best in the West team last November, confirmed that he learned he has received a score on the ACT examination that will help him meet NCAA academic standards for freshmen eligibility.
The test results and his Compton transcripts have been filed with the NCAA's Clearinghouse for initial eligibility.
It ultimately rules on athletes' eligibility upon examining his or her academic profile.
"Everything is done,'' he said in a text message Friday night. ''It's a big relief.''

The second LeBron James Skills Academy wrapped up earlier this evening at the University of Akron and the three and a half-days of competition left littled question as to which were the most skilled of the 75 or so boys high school basketball players in attendance.

The two best players were 6-foot-4 point guard John Wall (Raleigh, N.C., Word of God) and 6-9 forward John Henson (Rockland, Texas).

Wall is the closest thing to Derrick Rose on the high school scene since . . . well, since the now-Chicago Bulls rookie was a high school player with Chicago SImeon during the 2006-07 season,

Henson, who plays to sign with the University of North Carolina in November, is the best frontcourt prospect in the national class of 2009. I'm not sure who the second best FC propsect is but I know there's a considerable gap between the two.

The next time you O.J. Mayo or Russell Westbrook (in person or whatever), don't be surprised to see the former USC Trojan and UCLA Bruin decked out in Nike clothing and gear.

The Beaverton, Ore.-based sports apparel mega-giant recently the pair to endorsement contracts, Mayo apparently landing a four-year deal paying him $450,000 annually, with Westbrook picking up $250,000 a pop over the same period.

A report on ESPN.com tonight said that Brandon Jennings, the McDonald's All-American point guard from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., who played his first two seasons at Dominguez High, would not be playing for the University of Arizona basketball program as a freshman and would explore opportunities of playing in Europe while awaiting the 2009 NBA Draft.

Based on what multiple NBA scouts and scouting directors have told me, i'm not so sure that is the best option for Jennings.

They think Jennings could only hurt his stock while playing against high-level competition in Euriope at such a young age.

It wouldn't surprise me if Jennings ends up signing with a high-profile agent who understands exactly what those NBA guys mean. He would then hire a "trainer" for Jennings who would work him out behind the scenes in preparation for the individual workouts with the NBA franchises that he would participate in next June prior to next year's draft.

Those same NBA guys believe Jennings would have been better served (NBA stock- and preparation-wise) by getting himself academically eligible to play for Coach Lute Olson's Arizona Wildcats for at least one season, ala the "one and outs" that dominated last month's draft, including Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo and Kevin Love, who were four of the first five players chosen.

Some of the best high school basketball players in the country got down to some serious playing Sunday night in the James Rhodes Arena on the campus of the University of Akron during the second day of the LeBron James Skills Academy.

Try saying that without pausing to take a breath . . .

*Skinny (6-foot-9 and 183 pounds) John Henson (Round Rock, Texas) was matched against not-so-skinny DeShonte Riley (the Detroit Country Day senior to be is listed at 7-foot and 220 but probably closer to 6-10 and about 230). Both were spectacular at times although Henson was more active/productive at both ends of the floor over the course of the game (that lasted about an hour). Riley looks like the second best "true" low-post center in the camp. I'm not sure which position the North Carolina-bound Henson is ultimately best suited for.

*Xavier Henry (6-6, 214) of Putnam City, Oklahoma, rivaled Henson as the best player I watched Sunday. He could be the best "shooting guard" prospect in the class of 2009. Memphis and Kansas supposedly lead for his services and John Calipari and Bill Self represented the Tigers and Jayhawks while sitting side by side close to Henry's court last night.

I guess you could call it a "Final Four rematch" of sorts, right?

Check back later today and I'll update what happens during the morning and evening sessions. Now it's time for me to pack up the laptop and make the 11-mile drive to the JRA.

The first session of high school games at the LeBron James Skills Academy and, unlike at last year's inaugural event and its "Nike All-American Camp" predecessors, there wasn't a player I watch who made me go "wow!"

The exception to that being, of course, the presence of the guy the camp is named for, who worked out with the high school players in the 9:15 to 11:30 a.m. drills.

LeBron also spent about 15 minutes sitting in the bleachers with his coach on the U.S. Olympic team, Mike Krzyzewski, who was representing Duke during this, the first day of the NCAA's "July evaluation period".

Other coaches on hand include Tim Floyd (USC), Billy Donovan (Florida), John Calipari (Memphis) and Bill Self (national champion Kansas).

Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez) and Solomon Hill (Fairfax) are two of the West Coast players who represented themselves and the region well this afternoon.

Check back in a few hours. Maybe I'll have be in possession of a little more enthusiasm.

It's 6:15 a.m., Eastern Time, on Sunday and I'm in Akron for the LeBron James Skills Academy at the University of Akron.

It's the second incarnation of what was formerly know as the "Nike All-American Camp", with the Cleveland Cavalier all-pro/Olympic serving as the front man in his hometown.

Nike just released the roster a few hours ago, on-line (www.nike.com) and here is the West Coast high school representation:

Jordan Hamilton (Dominguez), Darius Morris (L.A. Windward), Gary Franklin (Mater Dei), Solomon Hill (Fairfax), Moses Morgan (Las Vegas Windward), Aaron Dotson (Seattler Rainier Beach), Mike Moser (Portland Grant), Dwayne Polee (Westchester) and Greg Smith (Vallejo).

I know what you're thinking . . . that's not a lot of western representation, is it?

The Long Beach-based Cal Juniors and Mizuno-Long Beach came up short Friday in their bids for gold in the 16-under Open Division of the National Junior Olympic Volleyball Championships in the Dallas Convention Center.

The Cal Jrs were beaten in the semifinals (3-1) by Encinitas-based Wave 16 Jeanne Spalding, which then knocked off Mizuno-Long Beach (3-0) in the title match.

Both the Cal Jrs and Mizuno-Long Beach were unbeaten during the week before falling to the Encinitas squad.

Selected all-tournament were Kellie Culbertson, Kellie Woolever and Megan Moenog of Mizuno-Long Beach and Jane Croson and Janisa Johnson of the Cal Jrs.

The Long Beach based Cal Juniors and Mizuno-Long Beach teams advanced into Saturday morning's quarterfinal matchups of the 16-under open division in the Volleyball Junior Olympic Championships in the Dallas Convention Center.

The Cal Juniors will take on Tampa Bay Black while Mizuno-Long Beach faces Asics MAVs at 8 a.m., central time.

The semifinals are set for noon with the title match scheduled for 5 p.m.

The Lakers' in-house neighbors just became a bit more revelant to the NBA scene.

Mulitiple media outlets are reporting that Baron Davis has agreed to a five-year contract with the Clippers after walking away from something close to $18 million Monday on the final year of his deal with the Golden State Warriors.

If the team re-signs forward Elton Brand (who, like Davis, opted out of the final season of his contract Monday), you're not going to see the Clippers involved in the NBA lottery next season.

And you could see them in the NBA playoffs, even with as strong as the Western Conference is.

The former Bruin is coming back to Los Angeles on a full-time basis . . . and the phones to the Clippers' ticket office are already quite lively, I would imagine.