“Junior Dominos Start Falling”
(January 21, 2006)
Last week, several prominent juniors began making college decisions. Sharp-shooting 6’7” junior Taylor King (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA) decided to become a future Duke Blue Devil – picking Coach K’s program over Villanova, Gonzaga and USC. While it is well known that King has the ability to hit the long range perimeter jumper, he is also an underrated defender and rebounder. Athletic 6’8” junior swingman Jamelle Horne (San Diego HS/San Diego CA) made Lute Olson happy last week by closing up his recruitment, choosing the Wildcats over Louisville, Washington and North Carolina, and becoming the 3rd member of Arizona’s great looking Class of 2007 which includes super PG 6’3” Jerryd Bayless (St. Mary’s/Phoenix AZ) and promising 7’0” center Alex Jacobsen (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA). Horne (who played great at last June’s Pangos All-American Camp – making the Top 20 all-star game there) is terrific running the break, has the ability to knock down the outside jumper and is a deceptive defender and effective shotblocker. 6’4” junior Quintin Watkins (Dominguez/Compton CA) completed last week’s junior commitment tri-fecta by telling Tim Floyd he will become a USC Trojan. Watkins is a great athlete who has improved his outside shooting and is a tough kid………
While those three juniors grabbed the headlines last week, other juniors that are making noise this season include 6’6” Drew Viney (Villa Park/Villa Park CA), 6’6” Justin Holiday (Campbell Hall/North Hollywood CA), 6’8” Darnell Gant (Crenshaw/Los Angeles CA), 6’10” Clint Amberry (Los Alamitos/Los Alamitos CA), 6’7” Omondi Amoke (Oxnard/Oxnard CA), 6’5” James Harden (Artesia/Lakewood CA), 6’5” Gabe Adler (Poway/Poway CA), 6’11” Sean Williams (Villa Park/Villa Park CA), 5’9” JayDee Luster (Hoover/San Diego CA), 6’4” Isaiah Jenkins (Westchester/Los Angeles CA), 6’6” Dane Suttle (Westchester/Los Angeles CA), 6’6” Norvell Arnold (Hoover/San Diego CA), 6’1” Robert Ford (Campbell Hall/North Hollywood CA), 6’9” Genesis Maciel (Centennial/Compton CA), 6’9” Austin Daye (Woodbridge/Irvine CA), 6’1” DJ Gay (Poly/Los Angeles CA), 6’0” Tre’von Harmon (Pasadena/Pasadena CA), 6’6” Jonathan Willis (Mayfair/Lakewood CA) and 6’3” Avner Alkhas (Northwood/Irvine CA).
Viney is a skilled and deceptively athletic wing that has a nice stroke. The Villa Park junior is getting serious interest from the likes of Cal, UCLA, USC, Arizona, Washington and Kentucky. Holiday is having a fantastic junior season and is very improved offensively over last year. The 6’6” swingman was all-tourney at the Modesto Christian tourney and is being recruited by Cal, UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon State, Oregon, Arizona State, Washington State, UNLV, Pepperdine, Pacific and Idaho……Gant is an athletic forward oozing with potential and is a major target of UCLA (offered) and the rest of the Pac-10 with probable national interest looming come this spring. Amberry transferred from Ocean View to Los Alamitos for his junior year and has really improved his aggressiveness and rebounding. The skilled center has range on his jump shot and was the MVP of the Long Beach Wilson Holiday tourney. Illinois, Pepperdine, Washington, USC, Washington State, Purdue and Gonzaga are among schools showing interest. Amoke was hurt last summer which limited his effectiveness on the July circuit but is fully healthy now and posting very good numbers. Omondi is a sleek wing forward with a very good basketball IQ who has schools like Cal, UCLA, USC, Washington, Oregon, Arizona State, Oregon State, UNLV, Pepperdine and Gonzaga on his list. Harden is a lefty with great range on his stroke and has great defensive tools – long arms, quickness and athleticism. James is hearing from UCLA, USC, Arizona, Oregon State, Washington, Kansas, Pepperdine and UNLV. Adler briefly moved to Florida before the school year and returned back to the San Diego area due to massive hurricane damage to South Florida. Great leader and student, Gabe is a strong wing that has developed a very nice outside stoke. Stanford, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and the Ivy League are taking a close look. Williams is a very intriguing center prospect. This Baltimore MD native is very long, eager to learn and a real shotblocking factor around the basket. Syracuse, USC, Cal and many others will take a long look this spring. Luster is a small but very quick point that makes things happen. JayDee’s play as a lead guard this winter has attracted the interest of Florida, Arizona State, Creighton, Washington State and New Mexico. Luster’s Hoover teammate Arnold is an athletic combo-forward that is a New York City native who is drawing looks from Colorado State, San Diego State, San Diego, New Mexico and Liberty. Jenkins is having a break-out junior year and has shown a variety of offensive skills leading Westchester to the championship of the Westchester Tip-Off Classic while his Comet teammate Dane Suttle has very good size for a wing as well as a sweet stroke from the 3-point stripe. Ford is the younger brother of Pacific freshman Joe Ford and the owner of a great perimeter jump shot. Maciel has had to contend with deferring to a senior dominated Centennial squad, but Genesis has a nice upside and a soft touch around the basket. Daye is the son of former UCLA/NBA player Darren Daye. Although he has struggled with injuries most of his high school career and dealing with his tremendous growth spurt (has grown at least 6 inches since freshman year), Daye has a very soft touch from the perimeter and intriguing size for a small forward and has played very solid this year. Huge upside! Gay is a high scoring lead guard that is starting to attract high-major attention. Harmon is a savvy point with a confident swagger that allows him to run his team effectively. Willis is currently drawing mid-major attention but impressive performances like his 25 point effort against nationally ranked Artesia (Lakewood CA) and a great wing build to go along with excellent grades could have high-majors on him heavy come April. Alkhas is a great student with a knack for knocking down the three-point shot with regularity. Avner has a terrific basketball IG and great work ethic.
These are just some of the talented juniors in SoCal and I will highlight others in the weeks to come.
