The 2006 Fullcourt Press Spring Showcase was held on Sunday May 7th at Long Beach Jordan HS and as is usually the case there was plenty of SoCal talent on hand. Besides the Fullcourt Press’ own Dinos Trigonis and Etop Udo-Ema, other media/scouts in attendance included Dave Keefer and Dave Rogahan (CaliforniaPreps.com), Frank Burlison (Long Beach Press-Telegram/Scouthoops.com), Greg Hicks (Scouthoops.com) and Joel Francisco (SoCal’s Finest Scouting Service). The report below is the 2^nd of a three part series highlighting this event which featured over 130 of SoCal’s top underclassmen.

Sophomores (Class of 2008)

Gillenwater and DeRozan Clearly “Cream of the Crop” in Top 20 Sophomore Game

The top two sophomores in attendance were 6’8” Troy Gillenwater (Fremont/Los Angeles CA) and 6’5” Demar DeRozan (Compton/Compton CA). Gillenwater is a strong and savvy post-forward that has a smooth feel for the game and uncanny ability to score in a variety of ways. Gillenwater (who had 29 points/11 boards in this game) is deceptively athletic and is a big time national sophomore. DeRozan is truly a human highlight show - being perhaps the best pure athlete in the West Coast soph class. DeRozan showed here that he is more that just an athlete as he exhibited a nice jump shot (had 23 points) and impressive all-around game (10 rebounds/6 assists/3 steals).

The next tier of sophomore talent present included 6’10” Chris Gabriel (Patterson School/Patterson NC), 6’4” Quamaine Crymes (Joel John/Los Angeles CA), 6’5” Wendell Wright (Mayfair/Lakewood CA), 6’3” Chris Solomon (Fairfax/Los Angeles CA), 6’6” Renaldo Woolridge (Harvard-Westlake/North Hollywood CA), 6’1” Jason Pruitt (Artesia/Lakewood CA), 6’5” Tre Brewer (Alta Loma/Alta Loma CA), 6’6” James Staniland (Ventura/Ventura CA) and 6’4” Jamal Trice (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA). Gabriel (a South African native) is somewhat of a project, but showed flashes here that he may very well develop into an impact post player. Gabriel’s huge size (290 lbs.) takes up gobs of space in the paint and he has developed a soft touch inside as well as an inclination to bang the boards (had an impressive 10 points/19 rebounds). /i/z11 Spring Show/Troy_Guillenwater_Demar_DeRozan.jpg

/i/z11 Spring Show/Chris_Solomon_Jason_Pruitt.jpg Crymes is an undersized but strong and athletic wing-forward that gets a lot done and he competes on every play (produced 24 points/13 boards here). Wright is a long swingman oozing with potential and is now coming into his own. Wright (who scored 19 points on 9/15 shooting) runs the floor like a deer, is quick to the glass and has the long arms necessary to be an annoying defender.

Solomon is lanky lefty with a crafty scorer’s mentality ala Johnny Dawkins and long arms which make him a surprisingly effective rebounder at his size (12 points/13 boards here). Woolridge (the son of former NBA player Orlando Woolridge) is another young wing with great upside and has an accurate jumpshot (shot 8/15 from the field en route to 19 points) to go along with his bouncy athleticism.

Pruitt (the younger brother of USC star Gabriel Pruitt) beats defenders off the dribble as well as anybody in this class and is an underrated passer and perimeter shooter (12 points/11 assists). Brewer is another good-looking wing that has a nice physique and defends with intensity, Staniland is an excellent shooter with a huge basketball IQ while Trice is a pesky defender with a solid mid-range game. Other sophomores that made a notable impression include 5’11” Nick Sanchez (Compton/Compton CA), 6’4” Jordan Higginbotham (Antelope Valley Christian/Lancaster CA), 6’6” Matt Freeman (Wilson/Long Beach CA), 6’4” Vernon Davis (Loyola/Los Angeles CA), 6’0” Ryan Merkle (Harvard-Westlake/North Hollywood CA), 6’5” William Bellano (Crossroads/Santa Monica CA) and 6’1” Ryan Walczuk (Malibu/Malibu CA). Sanchez is a solid point that handles the ball well and is a pin-point passer (11 assists/2 turnovers in this game), Higginbotham is an athletic wing that is a lethal slashing scorer, Freeman is a improving wing forward that has tons of potential, but needs more experience, Davis is an active and hard-working swingman that played well here (10 points/9 boards), Merkle is a tough lead guard that can knock down perimeter shots, Bellano is a lefty with three-point range and Walczuk is a heady combo-guard that makes few mistakes and is an able defender. Talented 6’7” Tyreese Breshers (Price/Los Angeles) was scheduled to play but was ill and did not participate. /i/z11 Spring Show/Quamaine_Crymes_1.jpg

“A Star is Born” in Top 40 Sophomore Game

It is not often that somebody totally sneaks up on us and blows-up on the spot. But that was clearly the case in the Top 40 Sophomore game as 6’0” Charles Odum (St. John Bosco/Bellflower CA) erupted for a Sophomore record 41 point/18 rebound outburst. Odum’s game opening dunk and subsequent Vince Carter-like tomahawk jam over an unfortunate defender were among the best dunks of the afternoon and rivaled some of the vicious flushes fellow soph DeRozan had that day. But Odum is not just athletic, but a strong combo-guard that is quick off the dribble as well as having range on his jump shot. It was a very impressive effort for Odum who was more than capable of playing in the Top 20 game.
/i/z11 Spring Show/Charles_Odum_1.jpg

Other sophs that fared well in this game were 6’1” Terance Reaves (Poly/Long Beach CA), 6’4” Keith Davis (Lakewood/Lakewood CA), 5’10” Marcus Johnson (Loyola/Los Angeles CA), 6’4” Keith Thompson (Downey/Downey CA), 6’10” Matt Goode (Marina/Huntington Beach CA) and 6’1” Dillon Ratleff (Los Alamitos/Los Alamitos CA). Reaves is a fast combo-guard has real scoring ability (had 22 points here), Davis is an athletic defender that can also score (21 points), Johnson is a small but jet-quick PG that can shoot the rock (15 points including 3 “threes”), Thompson is active on the boards (14 rebounds) and can finish in traffic (12 points), Goode is raw but learning and he is a solid rebounder (8 boards here), and Ratleff (the son of former Long Beach State great and NBA player Ed Ratleff) is a young but promising combo-guard that has terrific basketball instincts.

Other 10^th graders that made an positive impact in this 2 OT affair were 6’2” Jordan Borucki (Venice/Los Angeles CA), 5’11” Jeremy Pope (Mayfair (Lakewood CA), 5’11” James Tyler (San Diego Academy/San Diego CA), 5’11” Mark Richards (El Camino/Oceanside CA), 5’10” Calvin Kyles (Animo/Inglewood CA), 6’0” James Eszlinger (San Pasqual/San Pasqual CA), 5’8” Justin Clark (Belmont/Los Angeles CA) 5’10” Kurtis Korver (Valley Christian/Cerritos CA), 6’3” Charles McGinnis (Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks CA), 5’11” Niko Veatch (Notre Dame/Sherman Oaks CA), 6’0” Webb Massey (Santiago/Corona CA), 6’2” Ryan Lyles (Animo/Inglewood CA), 5’8” Ryan Leong (Newbury Park/Newbury Park CA), 5’11” Daniel Minamide (San Pasqual/San Pasqual CA) and 5’8” Devon Holmes (Downey/Downey CA).

Borucki has good perimeter scoring skills (11 points), Pope is a scoring lead guard (16 points) that has a nice handle, Tyler (the brother of elite 6’8” 8^th grader Jeremy Tyler) showed a scoring touch as he pumped in 11 points, Richards has a very good outside stroke (had 3 “threes” here), Kyles is a pesky defender, Eszlinger is a heady combo-guard that makes sound decisions and doesn’t mind rebounding (had 11 boards here) and Clark is a scrappy point that can get to the basket (9 points) or find the open man (3 assists). Korver (the cousin of Philly 76’er Kyle Korver) has a pretty stroke, McGinnis is a hard-working wing that defends aggressively, Veatch is heady PG that passes well and can knock down the open shot, Massey is a lead guard with nice court savvy, Lyles is a tenacious defender, Leong is a scrappy floorleader with a solid handle, Minamide handles the rock well under pressure and Holmes is quick off the dribble.

Detailed stats of each game and player in this event is available online at: www.CaliforniaPreps.com

Special thanks to Coach Ron Massey and the Long Beach Jordan staff for all their help and efforts related to this event.

* Second of a three part series covering the 2006 Fullcourt Press Spring Showcase.

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