Article 293: Fireside Chat: Marcus Lee

February 28, 2012

If Marcus Lee's recruiting has not exploded on the national scene, then it will as summer approaches. Lee is a 2013 prospect who is the No. 4 ranked prospect according to NorCalPreps.com. The versatile forward has helped his Deer Valley team to a 20-7 record as they battle in the North Coast Section playoffs.

At 6-foot-8 and 195 pounds, Lee is a versatile forward who is comfortable playing face-up or back to the basket. As a result, he can help any college program with his flexibility in playing various positions.

When NorCalPreps.com last spoke to Lee at the end of last year, he already had an impressive list of colleges. Here is his updated list of colleges and conferences with his opinion of the conferences. Colleges in bold have extended offers to Lee.

Atlantic Coast (Boston College and Virginia Tech): "Playing in the ACC is a challenge. They have top teams every year. They reload with All-Americans and they have great coaching. I love a challenge and they have some of the best players every year."

Big Ten (Northwestern): "They have a lot of solid teams. Northwestern has been a surprising team. When you have Michigan St, Ohio St, Purdue, Michigan, and Indiana in your league, there are no days off. They bang hard. There is always a battle in the post."

Big 12 (Baylor, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas, and West Virginia): "This is a very athletic league. You have the Texas teams who are always tough - and Kansas, Missouri and Baylor who have been dominant. Texas is always good and I love the location. This league will make a push in the tourney!"

Big East (Georgetown, Notre Dame and West Virginia): "They always have great teams. There are definitely no days off. They are very tough but disciplined teams."

Big West (Pacific, San Diego State, UC Irvine, and UCSB): "They compete every year. Great locations."

Colonial Athletic (Virginia Commonwealth): "Every year they have a Cinderella. It's exciting to think about helping an under dog and shocking the world. Shaka the world!"

Ivy (Harvard): "You get a chance to get a great education and compete all year."

Mountain West (UNLV): "They are picking up some steam."

Pac-12 (Arizona State, Cal, Colorado, Oregon State, Stanford, USC, Washington, and Washington State): "These are the schools I grew up around. Stanford and Cal are in my backyard. Every school feels local. UCLA is every kids dream. You have to love the opportunity to support the West Coast."


SEC (Florida, LSU and Texas A&M): "They are tough and they run. I like the feel of this conference. I think I can bang with the bigs and still get out and run."

WAC (Boise State, Fresno State, Nevada, UTEP and San Jose State): "I've been seeing a lot of guys go to the WAC from my area. I know some guys from Deer Valley that have gone to SJ state."

West Coast Conference (Loyola Marymount, San Francisco, Santa Clara, and St. Mary's): "They are great local schools. My family could watch a lot of these games."

The summer before a prospect's senior season could really help propel a recruit's stock. Lee plans to play for both the California Supreme and San Jose Hoosiers during the summer. Cal Supreme will give him an opportunity to play in the Elite Youth Basketball League run by Nike that has some of the nation's top competition. As for the Hoosiers, he likes their foundation and they have some of the best workouts that Lee has participated according to him.

With a booked basketball schedule, Lee still plans to play in his second sport of volleyball after the basketball postseason ends. He wants to avenge a De La Salle loss from last season in making a run for NCS in volleyball. Ironically, if the seeding holds true in basketball, Lee may get to have a basketball matchup with De La Salle in NCS as well.

With his exploits in both basketball and volleyball, Lee will definitely be getting several headlines in the next several months leading up to his senior year. If he is not already a national prospect, this Antioch, California prospect will be by the end of the upcoming AAU summer.

Article 292: Just Diew It

February 27, 2012

For prep basketball prospects, height and size are often key indicators for college coaches in the evaluation process. But for some of these players, their physical development may lag behind their peers. As a result, they may not get the playing time or exposure to make the necessary impressions on recruiters.

Head Royce combination guard Ryan Diew, fits into this category. Diew entered the Oakland-based program at 5-foot-6 and 95 pounds as a freshman. As a result, he languished on the junior varsity for his first two years. During this past summer, Diew blossomed to a more prototypical guard size at 6-foot-2 and 155 pounds.

Despite being undersized until this, his current junior season, Diew has always had solid basketball fundamentals. His father, Ryant Diew, played collegiately at Pacific and Cal State Hayward (now Cal State East Bay) as a 6-foot-4 shooting guard with a stint playing professionally overseas. In addition, the elder Diew is a coach for the Oakland Rebels club, which the younger Diew has been a member since the 2nd grade.

Diew utilized trainer Anthony Eggleton of Ant's Mind and Body and trainer Will Powers of Will Powers Basketball Training to help with his physical development during his high school career. In addition, Diew has a tremendous work ethic and got the proverbial growth spurt to give him the confidence to compete. The elder Diew recognizes how these factors have helped his son's development, "I owe everything to those guys. Both of them took my son under their wing and really built him up. His upside is extremely high and I really feel the best is yet to come for him. He's pretty much how I was at his age, and I turned out ok."

Being the son of a former player and club coach, Diew has solid fundamentals that are highlighted by his lockdown defense and shooting. With a wingspan of 77 inches, he is often in passing lanes and disrupting the opponent's offensive flow. His perimeter shooting is solid as he is at 38 percent for three pointers and 45 percent overall and can extend his range beyond 25 feet.

The Jayhawks finished the year with a 19-8 record and were runner-ups in the Bay Counties League East as Diew averaged 17.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 2.3 steals per game during his first year on varsity. More importantly, he recently led his Jayhawks to the BCL-East championship as they avenged two regular season losses to Bentley and Diew was named the Tournament MVP. In his first NCS playoff game, he had 30 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists in a 72-61 victory over Bay School. Bentley was able to avenge this BCL-East playoff loss in a following North Coast Section playoff rematch 62-45.

As the postseason wraps up and Diew enters his final high school summer, this late bloomer will benefit from another summer with the Oakland Rebels, who plan to make out of the Bay Area stops at the Spring Spectacular (Las Vegas), Pangos Sweet 16 (Long Beach), Adidas Invitational (Indiana), Bigfoot (Las Vegas), and adidas Super 64 (Las Vegas). Last year's Rebels 17U team had a fairly successful excursion across the country as Eric Green (formerly of Tracy West High but now with St. Mark's Prep in Massachusetts that has Arizona committed Kaleb Tarczewski and Michigan committed Nik Stauskas) signed with Holy Cross, Tanner Giddings (Windsor High) signed with Fresno State, Paris Davis (Skyline High) and Rodney Cook (Bethel High) were selected Oakland Athletic League and Solano County Athletic League players of the year respectively.

Even though Diew has not yet received recruiting interest, his academics will be more than ready to make him college eligible. He has a 3.5 GPA and will take the May SAT exam as his best subject is Math and his intended major is in some Engineering discipline. He wants to play for a fast paced offensive scheme and prefers to be in a slower paced geographic setting.

At last summer's West Coast Exposure Basketball Camp in Walnut Creek, Diew was one of the more impressive participants. In the one on one competition, He was nearly unstoppable in his perimeter shooting and dribble drive to the basket against would-be opponents. His performance at the camp and his attendance at a small Division V program would categorize him as an under the radar prospect.

For players who are overlooked due to size or playing for smaller programs, the challenges to succeed are great in magnitude. But do not expect this Jayhawk to relent, as he will "Just Diew It."

 

Article 291: Boys BB Weekly Spin

February 23, 2012

In this week's Weekly Spin, we look at the big picture questions regarding the section playoffs as teams fight for NorCal playoff bids. Some of the questions the NCP staff takes on are breakout players, surprise teams and the top matchups to watch for. Also, see the top performers from of the postseason.

Who are some breakout players to watch for?

Steve Hu: Last season, Castro Valley was senior laden and was a postseason favorite. This year's team has sophomores Derrick Clayton and Jalen McFerren, both of whom can start a special three year run for the Trojans in this year's North Coast Section Division I playoffs. These two will have a potential matchup with section favorite De La Salle to avenge last year's season ending loss. Clayton projects to be a versatile wing like former Trojan Juan Anderson while McFerren is a good sized point guard like former Trojan Roderick Bobbitt.

El Camino Real is also known as Route 82 and runs from San Jose to San Francisco. El Camino high went 23-4 and is in South San Francisco and ironically is not on El Camino Real. But the Colts have juniors Michael Smith and Elijah White who are undersized at the forward and point guard positions but put up over 15 points per game each. The junior tandem could potentially have semifinal and final matchups with San Francisco based WCAL opponents St. Ignatius and Sacred Heart Cathedral.

Cameron Schott: One player who has been performing all year and could finally breakout in the Central Coast Section is senior forward Thomas Peters from Mitty. The 6-foot-5 Peters has been a nice compliment to Aaron Gordon, and could use the bigger stages to pick up some recruiting interest. Peters has had minor recruiting action, but that could change if the Monarchs are able to keep moving forward. Also in the Division II bracket is Leigh guard Trevor Peterson. The 6-foot-4 shooter averaged 19.1 points per game for the Longhorns in the regular season, including a 46-point showing against Santa Teresa last week. His three-point shot can be deadly when he gets in a groove and has the looks of a collegiate basketball player.

In the NCS, another second option is beginning to emerge. Junior point guard Kendall Smith from Deer Valley had a great regular season, but might be overlooked because of the attention given to fellow junior Marcus Lee. Smith averaged 16.4 points, 9.5 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.1 steals during the regular season, and possesses nice size at 6-foot-3. The junior looks like he can become a Division I point guard.

For the Sac-Joaquin Section, senior Bethel point guard Rodney Cook is one of the top unsigned seniors in the area. Cook led his Jaguars to a 21-6 regular season record and a first place 9-1 mark in the Solano County Athletic Conference. He had a 31-point showing against Vallejo last week to clinch first place and took home the SCAC Most Valuable Player honors.

Douglas Benton: Miramonte 6-foot-5 junior forward Kiran Shastri has averaged 22 points per game with seven rebounds as the Matadors went 18-8 and finished in second in the Diablo Foothill Athletic League. He is quickly rising in the class of 2013 and could use a potential run to the section finals in the NCS Division III playoffs to cement his case. Also keep an eye on Antelope's Isaiah Ellis. The junior forward has good length and is a defensive presence inside to complement the perimeter weapons for the Titans. He is another prospect who could enter the 2013 rankings this spring or summer.

Which teams could surprise and win a section title?

Steve Hu: Palo Alto High can surprise in CCS Division III as a six seed and it has nothing to do with Lin-sanity. The team has a good trio of double digit scorers in Aubrey Dawkins, EJ Floreal, and Israel Hakim as the Vikings potentially could face WCAL opponents St. Francis, Serra, and Archbishop Mitty all the way to the finals. Do not expect the Vikings to dethrone the Monarchs but it would not be surprised to see them make it to Santa Clara University for the championship game.

University High is a three seed in NCS Division V and has flown under the radar this year. But if preparation is key in the post season, then preparing for the Red Devils multi guard set and spread the opponent out offense will be difficult. The team is a junior laden team that may not peak till next season but has the pieces in junior guards Harold Getz and Chris Mah to make a run this postseason.

Cameron Schott In the CCS, the Division II bracket is Mitty's to lose, but Palo Alto and Leigh are two public school teams who may pose a threat to the three West Catholic Athletic League powers. Palo Alto's trio of EJ Floreal, Israel Hakim, and Aubrey Dawkins has the potential to pull off a couple upsets and Leigh can beat anyone if Peterson is knocking down his threes.

For the NCS, De La Salle will face some tough competition to win the Division I title. Deer Valley is a team that creates match-up problems with 6-foot-9 Lee and top scorer Olajuwon Garner adds perimeter scoring for the Wolverines. Watch out for Deer Valley to possibly pull off the upset.

The SJS Division I bracket is wide open. Pleasant Grove, a six seed, is a major threat, but 13th seeded Oak Ridge might be the Cinderella in the bracket. Led by Lafayette signee Bryce Scott, who averaged 21.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game in the regular season, the Trojans' 14-12 record is mainly due to the tough Delta River League schedule. They are battle-tested, and even beat top seeded Sheldon earlier this year. I wouldn't expect them to beat Sheldon again, but they have the potential to reach the semis. Jesuit and Franklin will also be threats to take home the title.

Douglas Benton: The SJS Division I field is one of the deepest brackets in Northern California and that's maybe no more evident than Burbank as a No. 9 seed. The Titans have been ranked in the NCP Top 20 for much of the season and will provide an interesting match-up for likely Sheldon in the second round. It will be a tall order for Burbank to win, but it still makes them a daunting No. 9 seed that can get on a run. With Sacramento moving up to Division II, the Division III race is wide open and team like Center is capable of getting on a roll and making a run at No. 1 seed Foothill-Sacramento. Overall, expect many of the favorites in the different sections to take home titles.

What matchups are you most looking forward to watching?

Steve Hu: The SJS Division I bracket may have the most loaded teams and that is heavily thanks to the Delta River League with Sheldon, Jesuit, and Pleasant Grove. Throw in Franklin Elk Grove and the quarterfinals has a Franklin and Pleasant Grove matchup that could be have the winner facing Jesuit in the semifinals in the bottom half of the bracket. The top half of the bracket assumes Sheldon to roll through and have a potential rematch with any of the aforementioned three teams.

The NCS Division I bracket has a potential semifinal matchup of Deer Valley and Freedom. Freedom lost both Bay Valley Athletic League regular season games by six to Deer Valley. Unlike last year, NCS will give NorCal spots to all four semifinal teams in Division I. But seeding will be at stake in a potential third matchup between the two league rivals. The teams are fairly evenly matched up with both team's exterior and interior players. The two earlier games were offensive shootouts and another matchup should not differ.

Cameron Schott: The CCS is always intriguing during playoff time, since the public schools get the chance to show if they are able to compete with the WCAL teams. If Palo Alto wins their first matchup, they would face St. Francis. This would pit Dawkins against his former Lancers and could possibly be an upset. There could also be a third meeting between Serra and Mitty in Division II, with this one to take home the title. The teams split their meetings in the regular season, and the 'tie-breaker' would have much higher stakes.

For the NCS, the Division I bracket has plenty of intriguing potential matchups. There is an abundance of 2014 talent, with Shon Briggs from Heritage, McFerren and Clayton from Castro Valley, and Elliott Smith from Freedom. Team-wise, the lower half of the bracket features three BVAL. How will the results in the playoffs differ from the ones in the regular season?

The bottom half of the SJS Division I bracket looks to have multiple exciting matchups. Franklin and Pleasant Grove could meet in the second round, which would be a game that most thought would come later in the tournament. The winner of that would most likely play Jesuit (unless there is an upset) which would be another intriguing matchup. This bracket is full of talent.

Douglas Benton: While CCS Division II and III titles look to stay in the WCAL, Division I could be a different story with programs like Piedmont Hills and defending champion Santa Teresa able to challenge top seed Bellarmine. The top NorCal contenders figure to come from the Sacramento area and the East Bay, but this should be a fun bracket to follow.

With the NorCal playoffs expanding in recent years, it has taken some of the excitement from the section playoffs in needing to just reach the semi-finals. The SJS Division I field will bring some of this excitement with possible match-ups like Franklin-Elk Grove and Pleasant Grove playing on Friday for a NorCal spot and a trip to Power Balance Pavilion. This will be the most excitement from the first week of action.

Scanning the Region

Oregon head coach Dana Altman was at Foothill College on Saturday night to watch Gordon and his Mitty teammates beat Sacred Heart Cathedral 50-47.

Briggs, one of the top 2014 prospects in Northern California, had a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds in Heritage's 66-50 win over Berkeley. Berkeley's Langston Morris-Walker ended his prep career with 23 points in the loss. He will play at Oregon State next year.

Brandon White is a 6-foot-11 senior post from King's Academy and scored a game high 17 points in a 60-45 win over Pacific Grove. Next up for King's Academy is Seaside on Thursday.

Kyiron Thomas continued his recent strong play with 25 points in a 78-43 win over Pitman. Sheldon will next play Burbank on Friday.

Yuba City went on the road, despite being a league champion, to beat Del Campo 74-65 behind 32 points from senior guard Matt Hayes. The Honkers will take on McNair this Friday.