Trigonis Tidbits:
“July Closes……..Recruiting Heats Up”

(August 4, 2006)

From the national camps (Reebok ABCD, Nike and adidas superstar) that kicked off the July period to the inaugural Fullcourt Press End of the Trail Classic which closed it out, July 2006 proved to be a heated affair – not just due to the intense competition between the three (soon to be just 2) major shoe brands and the hot summer heat and humidity which gripped most of the country, but because several West Coast players rose to the occasion and served notice that they merited national recruiting respect.   6’5” senior wing James Harden (Artesia/Lakewood CA) was outstanding this summer and made a very strong case for being California’s #1 2007 prospect as well as a bonafide 2007 McDonald’s All-American candidate.  Harden has narrowed his choices to Washington and Arizona State - where his former HS coach Scott Pera is now the ASU Director of Basketball Operations and his Artesia teammate Derek Glasser just recently accepted a scholarship from the Sun Devils for 2006-07……….After a strong Reebok ABCD Camp, 6’4” senior combo-guard Carlon Brown (King/Riverside CA) has seen his recruiting value skyrocket as he now lists Marquette, UNLV, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico and Loyola Marymount among others who are positioning themselves for his signature on a NLI this fall………….Underrated 6’5” senior guard Julyan (Ju Ju) Stone (Dos Pueblos/Goleta CA) played well this July despite suffering from severe pain in his knee which required surgery just days after the July period ended.  Santa Clara (will visit), UC-Santa Barbara (will visit), Western Kentucky, UNLV, San Diego, Utah, Wyoming, Loyola Marymount, Boise State and Pacific are among the growing number of schools showing interest in this versatile player (presently ranked as the #139 senior by Hoop Scoop) that can play all three perimeter positions and was selected to the Fullcourt Press All-West Camp Top 25 all-star game………………..6’6” senior shooting guard Jon Reed (Peninsula/Rolling Hills CA) has committed to Pepperdine.  This follows on the heels of 6’6” senior Tyrone Shelly (Crawford/San Diego CA) verbally committing to Vance Walberg’s Waves at center court immediately following Shelly’s last career AAU game at the Fullcourt Press End of the Trail Classic last weekend.  Shelly was the 3^rd straight San Diego Crawford high school player to commit to the Waves (seniors 6’8” Malcolm Thomas and 5’10” Tyler Tucker being the others).   San Diego native and Minnesota transfer 6’0” Rico Tucker set all this San Diego to Malibu avalanche in motion by announcing his intent to head to Malibu earlier this summer………..6’6” senior Drew Viney (Villa Park/Villa Park CA) has committed to Cal picking the Golden Bears over Washington, Arizona State and Pepperdine.  Viney is a skilled and smooth swingman that will compliment the two prior Cal 2007 verbals - 6’8” Harper Kamp (Mountain View/Mesa AZ) and 6’6” Omondi Amoke (Oxnard/Oxnard CA) - acquired earlier this year…………2006 grad 6’11” center Josh Crawford (Wilson/Long Beach CA) became a magnet this summer for college programs in dire need for quality size.  This agile post planned to attend new prep school 7 West Academy (Los Angeles CA) next year to beef up and gain experience but his impressive play in July has drawn the sincere interest of many schools looking to sign him right now including Iowa, SMU (will visit this week), San Diego and Pepperdine………..Crawford’s Compton Magic teammate 6’9” senior power-forward Genesis Maciel (Centennial/Compton CA) also performed well this July as he showed an improved post game as well as nice range on his perimeter shot. Maciel is now listing Oregon State, Oregon, San Jose State, Texas A&M, Miami FL, UTEP, San Diego, Santa Clara, and Long Beach State……………6’4” senior wing Quentin Watkins (Dominguez/Compton CA) committed to USC earlier this year, but is now back on the market and he responded with a very impressive July performance starting with the Nike All-American Camp earlier in the month.  This lefty shooter displayed an improved shooting touch which grabbed the interest of schools like Virginia, Vanderbilt, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, Oregon State and San Diego State……….6’1” senior point guard Jesse Woodard (Centennial/Compton CA) is mentioning Fresno State, UNLV, Colorado State, Virginia Tech, SMU, Clemson, Idaho and USC as schools showing interest……..6’10” junior Andy Poling (Westview/Portland OR) has given an early verbal to Gonzaga and shows Mark Few’s continued ability to mine the Northwest for size and talent.  Poling is a skilled center that should fit in well within the Gonzaga system and be an impact player in the WCC………..6’5” senior Robert Jones (Riordan/San Francisco CA) has committed to San Diego – choosing Brad Holland’s program over several other WCC and Big West programs……..6’7” junior Renaldo Woolridge (Harvard-Westlake/North Hollywood CA) emerged this summer as a player who could make major national noise this fall and winter.  The son of former NBA star Orlando Woolridge, Renaldo is an excellent athlete just now physically coming into his own as well as having a nice skill package that includes three-point range on his jump shot.  Notre Dame (dad’s alma mater), UNLV, USC, Texas, Marquette, Wyoming, Cal, Oregon, Oregon State, Washington, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa State, Alabama, Illinois, Boston College, Michigan and many others appear to be keeping track of this young player with a great upside...........6’7” junior power forward Tyreese Breshers (Price/Los Angeles CA) is attracting interest from the likes of Texas Christian, New Mexico, USC, Arizona State, Boston College, Wyoming, UNLV, Washington, Oregon State, Oregon, San Diego, Virginia Tech, Pepperdine, Idaho and Long Beach State.  Breshers is surprisingly athletic for his size (250 lbs) and his long arms make him an effective rebounder and shotblocker.  Breshers has drawn comparisons to Craig Smith (Boston College/NBA) and Sam Clancy (USC/NBA)……………2006 grad 6’2” Dezon Otis (Dominguez/Compton CA) signed with Texas-San Antonio in July giving new Roadrunner head coach Brooks Thompson a direct pipeline into one of the West Coast’s top high school programs (Dezon’s dad is Dominguez head coach Russell Otis).  Dezon (a great kid) is a very good defender with a knack for making tough mid-range shots………….Another late summer pick-up was 6’5” Donald Thomas (Daytona Beach FL JC) inking with Sacramento State after spending one year in the Florida JUCO ranks.  The Pacifica HS (Garden Grove CA) product (one of the standout’s at Etop Udo-Ema’s Fullcourt Press JUCO All-West Camp last month) is an athletic swingman who is an absolute steal for this Big Sky program……….6’4” wing Seketoure Henry who spent his 5^th year last season at Patterson School (Lenoir NC) is reportedly on the verge of gaining NCAA eligibility and will pick between UTEP and Virginia Tech………..In the “in case you missed this” college transfer department, Long Beach natives and childhood friends 6’4” Curtis Allen (formerly at Kansas State) and 6’6” Marcus Lewis (formerly at Portland) will transfer to Oral Roberts this upcoming school year………..The tenure of Rudy Washington as the head coach of historic powerhouse Verbum Dei (Los Angeles CA) proved to be a short one as earlier this summer Washington moved on to become the athletic director of San Bernardino Valley College.  Washington was formerly the director of the Black Coaches Association as well as a long time college assistant and served a brief stint as the head coach of Drake……....Former Stanford assistant Tony Fuller is now the head coach of Brophy Prep High School in Phoenix AZ where his best player is 6’7” senior Justin Johnson (son of former NBA player Eddie Johnson)………..While SoCal’s Class of 2009 appears to be shaping up as a terrific group with the likes of the 6’9” Wear twins (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA), 6’7” Arron Moore (Dominguez/Compton CA), 6’8” Joe Burton (West Valley/Hemet CA), 6’3” Roberto Nelson (Santa Barbara/Santa Barbara CA), 6’5” Rome Draper (Etiwanda/Etiwanda CA), 6’8” Chris Cunningham (Diamond Ranch/Diamond Bar CA), 6’1” Justin Cobbs (Bishop Montgomery/Torrance CA), 6’4” Demetrius Walker (Fontana/Fontana CA), 6’4” Craig Payne (Etiwanda/Etiwanda CA), 6’6” Keegan Hornbuckle (Campbell Hall/North Hollywood CA), 6’2” Justin Hawkins (Taft/Woodland Hills CA) and 6’0” Darian Morris (Windward/Los Angeles CA), the Class of 2010 is also starting to take form.  At the top of the list are 6’8” Jeremy Tyler (Eastlake/Chula Vista CA), 6’5” Tyler Lamb (Colony/Ontario CA), 6’1” Gary Franklin (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA), 6’5” Dwayne Polee Jr. (HS undecided/Los Angeles CA), 6’5” James “Deuce” Johnson (Campbell Hall/ North Hollywood  CA), 6’5” Michael Atwater (Villa Park/Villa Park CA), 6’6” Clint Bozner (Villa Park/Villa Park CA), 6’4” Eric Swoop (Harvard-Westlake/North Hollywood CA), 6’2” Austin Kelly (Harvard-Westlake/North Hollywood CA), 6’2” Marek Lagorce (Crossroads/Santa Monica CA) and 5’10” Julian Benarouche (HS decided/Los Angeles CA).  This SoCal 2010 class lost a promising member - 6’3” Trey Zeigler when Central Michigan hired Trey’s dad and former UCLA assistant Ernie Zeigler as its new head coach depriving SoCal of a promising future perimeter star.