There are some basketball high school phenoms that simply never take that next step at the pro level, whereas others are even better as pros. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. Who Are the Best High School Basketball Players? - Sportsmanist Born in the Dominican Republic, Lopezs family moved to New York when he was 14 and he enrolled at Rice High School in Manhattan. Despite being an unathletic, overweight and undersized power forward, the Cavs thought he was worthy of the top pick of the 2013 draft. It is currently unknown who her companion is. You cant find her Wikipedia article on the internet. In fact, in a summer league game, Lewis dropped 52 points against a bunch of Los Angeles Lakers he was still in high school at the time. Watch James make one routine trip down the court and the whole package hits you at once: the size, the skills, the awareness, the competitiveness. I already knew I wanted to be a sportswriter; seeing all those great players on one night made me realize I wanted to write about basketball more than any other sport. Jordan really didn't top that one until the 1988 NBA dunk contest maybe. If only he couldve put basketball before everything else. And even though phone and computer screens set what seemed to be unreasonable expectations, my own eyes could not believe what they saw. Caitlin won the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award 13 times, a conference record. Unfortunately, while Los Angeles offered Hammond $50,000 to sign as a rookie, there was just one problem: Hammond was making more money than that on the street, dealing drugs and shooting dice. 2023-2024 High School Basketball Players - MonsterPreps Behind Bates, Ypsi Prep Academy begins the season ranked No. I don't mean potentially better, I mean better today. Bailey was LeBron before LeBron and had over 40,000 people coming to watch his high school games which remains an all-time attendance record. David Steele. At 26.6 points per game, Caitlin set the Iowa freshman record and led NCAA Division I scoring in 202021. best high school basketball player that never made it. During a summer camp Cooke, the then No. Brent and Anne Nizzi-daughter Clarks Caitlin is a Clark. SCNext Top 25 - The best 2022-23 high school boys' basketball teams IHSAA boys hoops: Avon defeats Danville 61-49. The best high school basketball player you ever saw: Sporting News Of the 44 players who have been drafted straight out of high school, Robert Swift remains the only white player to go from prep-to-pro. Sean Marbaugh, Cathedral: The student manager got a chance to suit up on senior night and made the most of it by scoring a basket in the fourth quarter of a 67-55 win over Zionsville. Complex Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Yet, for all the incredible individuals who left their mark on the NBA, there are those who, while talented enough to play in the league, never got the chance. Jake Gyllenhaal Dating History: Heres Look At His Dating History Over The Years! And in the early 1990s, I began to cover recruiting camps like the ABCD and then the elite tournaments like the Big Time and Peach Jam. 'Whatever seed we are, we're ready': Is there room for Cleveland among the East elite? Of course, Williamson is not just a great athlete; hes a great basketball player. It's unfortunate Ebi didn't make it in the NBA. (Michael A. Schwarz-USA TODAY Sports) Dwight Howard created a legendary resume in high school, especially his senior year in 2004. The No. In his 1985 recruiting class he was perceived to be better than Glen Rice, Danny Ferry, Sean Elliott, Pervis Ellison, Rod Strickland and Roy Marble - all who went on to have NBA careers. She is currently attending the University of Iowa and is likely to graduate in 2020. Jerryd Bayless 4. Which is a shame because the guy was insanely talented. Nick Fazekas-Ralston Valley High School- Mr. Basketball-Colorado" for the 2002-03 season along with being a two-time 4A classification player of the year. No descriptions of Caitlins future boyfriend have emerged on the internet. What happens if an high school basketball star decides to throw a "direct to the NBA Draft" party and no one decides to show? The top-two ranked, Al Harrington and Rashard Lewis, combined to play 32 NBA seasons and appear in over 2000 games. Favorite . Some of them are legends of the playgrounds; others are individuals whose lives werecut way too short. He was by far the best player to come out of Oakland. I have no idea how many points Williamson scored that day, but I do remember being disappointed when the game turned into a blowout. He ran the floor like a defensive back doing the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Jalen was good, but it was not quite as good as his dad playing with a bum wrist against Feehan, and posting 42 points." Oden would enroll at Ohio State where he was a dominant two-way player and led the team to the National Championship game. 15 Basketball High School Phenoms Who Never Made It In - TheSportster The 6-foot-3 senior guard committed to Duke earlier this year. Whether or not he actually finished high school is up for debate as he didnt qualify academically at the University of Florida. Some context: less than three months before the Capital Classic, in mid-January 1984, top-ranked North Carolina beat fifth-ranked Maryland at Cole Field House, and the win was capped in the final seconds by one of Michael Jordan's most legendary dunks , a swooping breakaway rock-the-cradle jam, silencing the building except for a collective "oooooooohhhhh.". Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. In fact, Oden was ranked as USA Today's top high school player since the 1982-83 season, which means he was ranked higher than the likes of Kevin Garnett and LeBron James. She also won awards including Iowa Miss Basketball, Gatorade State Player of the Year, and the McDonalds All-American title. High school basketball player videos, pictures, profiles, and high school basketball recruiting information. Best High School Basketball Player in Every State - Stadium Talk He was a 14-time All-Star and a member of the NBA's 50th Anniversary All-Time Team. News on all your favorite celebs, reality TV, and movies. Inside Her Life! Damon Bailey was LeBron James before LeBron James, in the sense that he was so hyped up as a high school prospect and he drew tens of thousands of fans to see him play. High school boys basketball: Orem beats Lehi in 5A quarterfinals He added six rebounds, four assists and one steal in 32 minutes, attempting double-digit 3 . Consensus college player of the year Michael Jordan doing it was one thing. But then Jackie decided he was too good to go to the University of Tennessee and declared for the NBA Draft. We take an in-depth look at the greatest high school hoopers ever, and how their stats compare. I left the game that night feeling lucky to have seen that caliber of player in person but also anguished knowing that I'd be seeing a lot more of Antawn Jamison in the future." Now, I've got a moment to compare with that. On the day before his senior year at Simeon High School, Wilson was shot and killed, sending shockwaves through the city of Chicago and the rest of the country. There's no big tragic story behind Williams' failures; he appears to have not been good enough, at least for any teams to believe in him to sign him and actually play him. As a sophomore in 201718, Caitlin averaged 27.1 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 2.3 steals, leading her squad to a 204 record and the state quarterfinals. Due to complicated eligibility issues, Cooke opted to listen to agents instead of going to college, but every team passed on him in the 2002 draft. As a senior he led the Mustangs to a 25-2 record and a state championship after an undefeated regular season and semi-finals appearance the previous year. Between 1995 and 2005, these nine future NBA All-Stars (including two future Hall of Famers) decided to skip college and head directly to the league. He was rated the No. Nonetheless, she has a chance to be selected by a WNBA team in the upcoming days, and if that occurs, she will make almost as much as the stated sums. Despite never playing high school or college ball, Joe The Destroyer Hammond was perhaps the greatest basketball player to ever come out of Harlem. She was an incredible shooter and I had NEVER seen handles like that, ever." And, man, he was mean out there, almost menacing, grimacing and snarling as he imposed his will on you. The 'Punks'section of Slam Magazine and maybe ESPN's 'SSA'were the primary ways we caught wind of big-time hoopers elsewhere. That means getting to see them play in high school. He went in the second round of the 1994 draft to the Pacers, his hometown team. The ball had hit the rim and was rising toward the top of the backboard; Williamson snatched the ball, his head easily above said rim, before gravity had a chance to take effect. These prodigies are so unique that when we catch them early on, it's always more special than if we discover them with the rest of the masses. The No. Fields subsequently went undrafted by the NBA in the late 1990s, never achieving the greatness of his teammate KG. After being named Mr. Basketball USA in 1990, Bailey joined Knight in Bloomington, Indiana. For every teenage phenom that comes along, there are many who go into the pros at a young age and they clearly aren't ready for the added responsibilities that come with being a pro athlete. By James Edward jedward@deseretnews.com. They will all be in the Hall of Fame one day and are considered some of the greatest players in NBA history. Standing about 6-8 and about 230 or 240 pounds, he looked like a grown man, and I had no clue who he was. Therefore, in most of these cases, as you shall discover, college probably would have been a good idea for the player in question. Unfortunately, once Wagner reached the NBA his body started to fail him as he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and ended up having to remove half his colon. Oden lived up to his billing in college, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to the National Championship game. Here's a Butler that no NBA team wanted serving them. Oh, what could have been. She also finished the season with the fourth-highest points per game average in Iowa history. His unstoppable offensive drives, clutch defense, dominating physicality and sheer will to win are an almost incomparable combination; and only playing some great Spurs and Warriors teams in the NBA Finals over the years has prevented "The King" from owning more than three crowns at this point in his career. ARLINGTON, Texas - For Arlington Martin High School, Tuesday was the biggest game of the post-season.. 1 player in the nation according to Rivals for the Class of 2010. Top High School Basketball Scorers of All Time | Stadium Talk But before all that, center/power forward Butler was an excellent post player,twice being Mississippi's "Mr. Basketball" (2002 and '03). With National Signing Day coming on Wednesday, Sporting Newsasks that question. He dominated the Georgia basketball scene that year, leading. USA Today has named its top high school player since the 1982-83 season. Bryant lead the "Aces" to the Pennsylvania state title in '96, and in 2010, the school named their new gymnasium for the hoops legend. J.J. Redick was one of the best players in Duke basketball history, and he was one of the kings of the college basketball world at the time. Top 50 high school basketball players of all time - MaxPreps 3. Selby would start just 11 games at Kansas and the team seemed to perform better when he didnt play. woman jumps off carquinez bridge 2021 best high school basketball player that never made it. Cooke did have good times, first at Lane High in Brooklyn and then he moved on to La Salle Academy in Manhattan. It didn't take long to see that it was. Conversely, the five listed as becoming bigger stars in the pros somehow exceeded the hype that was bestowed on them coming out of high school. He died of natural causes back in 2015 at the age of 89. He was the No. Michael Dyer Dyers freshman year at Auburn not only brought NFL potential but also a national championship. The WCAC was the best high school league in the country, as at least 3 teams were nationally ranked. Guard. Go figure: The best high school player performance I saw was on campus when I was a college student attending a game at Evanston's Welsh-Ryan Arena, in Chicago's second-ever City/Suburban Showdown. 2. After bouncing around myriad high schools in two states, he enrolled at a private school in Orlando for his senior season. The Trail Blazers saw Oden's career dwindle, with his knees never being able to hold up. 3. He then suffered the Portland-itis that so many other Blazers have suffered as recurring injuries kept him off the court. Caitlin began playing basketball when she was a freshman in high school and quickly established herself as one of the top players at her school. Like the last one, Chris Andersen in 2006, Mayo will get the chance to apply for reinstatement after two years. Lopez stayed local with his college choice at went to St. Johns where he was solid but unspectacular. Swift then transferred to the dully named Highland High School where he had to win a court battle to be eligible to play. Not only was the wiry Jamison taller than most on the court, he was quicker too. 'Man among boys'was not a cliche with him. When you've put on the "classic" uniform of basketball franchises like Lokomotiv Mineralnye Vody and Bnai HaSharon, who needs the Celtics or the Lakers? Get your votes in by noon Friday for our high school boys basketball player of the week for Feb. 20-25: Cast your vote in the poll at the bottom of the article or click here to vote.. Trey . 3 ranked played in the Class of 2001 and had a solid year in college as he averaged over 21 PPG for Memphis. They arent All-Star caliber players but they still made tens of millions of dollars and proved right in their decisions to skip college. Smith dominated at Chicago's Martin Luther King high school as power forward/center, and was drafted by the San Antonio Spurs with the 29th overall pick in the 1999 NBA Draft, but was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks. At O'Dea, Wrenn averaged astronomical per-game-numbers for an entire season; 22 points, over eight boards and seven assists. But I had seen what I needed to see: the most impressive display of human athleticism Ive ever witnessed in any athletic competition or showing. She started every game she played in as a freshman in 201617, contributing to her teams 195 record and trip to the state quarterfinals with game averages of 5.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 2.25 steals. Blake is a football player for Iowa State and is also an athlete. There's almost nothing else to remember from Chris Washburn's basketball career, except him posing with Len Bias after they were picked back-to-back in the 1986 NBA Draft, or maybe him lounging on the Warriors' bench before or after one of his suspensions. It's baffling to think that at one point, Sebastian Telfair shared a Sports Illustrated cover spot with LeBron James and the two were hyped as the two players set to take over the NBA.