Trigonis Tidbits:

“Wear Twins Attracting National Acclaim”

(August 25, 2006)

Rivals.com just recently released their initial Top 25 selections for the Class of 2009 and three of the picks hail from Southern California.  Besides Los Angeles Dorsey’s talented 6’6” swingman Jordan Hamilton (who checked in at an impressive #5), 6’9” David and Travis Wear made the list at #22 (Travis) and #23 (David).  There is a sizeable segment of both the West Coast and national recruiting scene that still does not comprehend how talented these two multi-dimensional forwards are and what huge upside they have.   Make no mistake about it, these skilled players have the potential to be among the greatest players out of Orange County and to surpass the Collins twins (Stanford/NBA), Craven twins (USC) and Lopez twins (Stanford) as the top twins to be produced in the Golden State.  As remarkable as their immense talents are, their attitude, work ethic and basketball IQ are as equally impressive……….The recent commitment of 6’5” James Harden (Artesia/Lakewood CA) to Arizona State was no big surprise to those knowledgeable about SoCal Hoops.  Since Harden’s former HS coach Scott Pera (now director of basketball operations at ASU) had the “juice” to pick the club program (Pump-n-Run) that Harden played for this spring and summer, it is no huge revelation that Pera would be able to land this very talented wing winner for his new boss Herb Sendek.  The significance of this commitment cannot be overstated since Harden projects to be the 1^st McDonald’s All-American to sign with the Sun Devils since Jamal Faulkner in 1989 and the first Californian McDonald’s/ASU signee since Chris Sandle (Long Beach Poly) was selected to the event in 1984 (ASU recruiting assistants at the time were Henry Bibby and Doug Collins)…………Speaking of Artesia, it had been rumored all summer that Mississippi native 6’9” soph Renardo Sydney would be transferring to the Lakewood CA school, but new reports have been circulating that Sydney will now be attending Westchester (Los Angeles CA).  I guess we will have to wait until school starts after Labor Day to find out exactly where Sydney will land…………….6’4” senior combo-guard Carlon Brown (King/Riverside CA) has narrowed his school list and he will officially visit Utah (weekend of September 1st), UNLV (weekend of September 8th) and Marquette (weekend of September 13th).  Brown (whose outstanding play at the Reebok ABCD Camp in July improved his stock with college coaches) will likely decide between those three programs after he concludes his visits………...Former Fremont product and current Patterson School (Lenoir NC) sharpshooter 6’4” Jeremy Hazell has committed to Seton Hall where he will be an entering freshman in the fall of 2007………….6’4” lefty scorer Seketoure Henry (Lynwood/Patterson School) has signed with Nebraska and will join the Cornhuskers and new coach Doc Sadler this fall after becoming a late-summer qualifier………….Former Oaks Christian (Westlake Village CA) 6’3” guard Matt Hornbuckle will be spending a post-grad year at Brewster Academy (Wolfesboro MA) starting this fall…………Former Notre Dame (Sherman Oaks CA) standout 6’6” swingman Bruno Naylor will be attending Northfield Mount Herman (Northfield MA) this fall as a 5^th year senior…….6’4” Kieran Ramsey has decided to transfer from Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood CA) to South Kent (CT) prep school and will re-classify to the Class of 2008.  Ramsey made nice improvement in his perimeter skills this past summer – playing for Robert Icart’s BTI program………..6’5” soph Gerard Anderson (Saddleback JC/Mission Viejo CA) is officially visiting Cal State Fullerton this weekend.   Hawaii, Portland and a rising number of West Coast programs are showing interest in this ultra-athletic wing….………How the merger of adidas and Reebok will affect grassroots basketball both locally and nationally will become much clearer in the next few weeks as the head honchos of adidas will be meeting soon to decide what role Reebok will play in the grassroots arena.  One thing that has become obvious, adidas will start to consolidate its sponsorship of teams in each national metropolitan area which means most of its current lower-mid tier sponsored programs could soon get the ax or their “deals” will not be getting renewed.