RFH Collective: High School Basketball

Showing posts with label High School Basketball. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

RFH Book Review: Heaven is a Playground

It’s generally assumed that the process of getting young ballers from the projects to college and possibly the pros is a dirty business wrought with sleazy agents and predatory middle-men looking to make a buck off unsuspecting kids. Movies such as He Got Game and Through the Fire show what the superstars – both fictional and real – of Lincoln High in Coney Island went through as they navigated the process: dodging agents, accepting offers and hearing promises of fame and fortune in the NBA. Stories of the mythical Worldwide Wes floated around the internet for years until he finally surfaced with CAA last summer, as his influence on John Calipari-bred stars such as DaJuan Wagner, Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans and John Wall wreaked of shady dealing. Needless to say, it’s a tricky world that has yet to produced a real consensus about whose interests are being met. But before all that, before Worldwide Wes, before Spike Lee and before Sonny Vaccarro, there was Rodney Parker in Foster Park, Brooklyn. And during the summers of 1973 and 74, 24-year-old Rick Telander hung with Rodney as he scouted the courts for kids with enough game to get a prep school or college to take them in. It was a different world, and Heaven is a Playground details it beautifully.

The Best of the One-and-Done Era: 2006-Present

The Best of the One-and-Done Era: 2006-Present

The one-and-done era in college basketball has taken coaching careers to the next level (Coach Cal, Thad Matta), brought down programs (U.S.C, Indiana), and changed the way the blue bloods (Kansas, Duke, UCLA) plan their recruiting classes. Unlike the high school to the NBA era, coaches must now plan to balance their recruiting classes between one year wonders and three to four year program guys. Recently, UCLA and UNC have been most successful at achieving this balance.

The Bruins have utilized some great one-and-done type talent like Kevin Love, Jrue Holliday , and Russell Westbrooks (2yr player but still a one and done type) while also recruiting solid program guys like Darren Collison, Josh Shipp, and Alfred Aboya.

Although UCLA has had great success in the one-and-done era, no program has mixed and matched short term talent with long term program builders. UNC has kept a keen eye on program guys (Hansbrough, Ellington, Lawson, Deon Thompson, Tyler Zeller) who also are talented. The secret to the Tar Heels success, however, is their ability to incorporate one-and-done players. Both Marvin Williams and Brandan Wright were key components to slick Roy’s two national titles. Without further ado here is my all-time one-and-done teams.

All-Time One-and-Done Teams

1^st Team

Name	College	High School	Notes
Greg Oden	Ohio State	Lawrence North (IND) #1 Rivals	1^st team AA. Nat’l title runner up.
Kevin Durant	Texas	Montrose Christian (MD) #2 Rivals	Nat’l POY
Michael Beasley	Kansas State	N.D Prep (MA) #1 Rivals	Nat’l POY
O.J Mayo	U.S.C	Huntington (WV) #4 Rivals	1^st team PAC 10
Derrick Rose	Memphis	Simeon (ILL) #3 Rivals	3^rd team AA. Nat’l title runner up.

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Wednesday, May 25, 2011

RFH Book Review: Heaven is a Playground

Saturday, April 2, 2011

The Best of the One-and-Done Era: 2006-Present