One of the few Fairfax stars who left the West Coast behind, Sean Higgins, turned out pretty well himself, helping bring Michigan its only national title.Tilton’s latest McDonald’s All-American, Wayne Selden, is headed to Kansas, where he’ll try to remind the country that former Rams don’t spend all their time playing defense.For all that Georges Niang has made some noise offensively at Iowa State—and Gerard Coleman will do the same when he becomes eligible at Gonzaga—Tilton’s most successful hoopsters have been decidedly defense-first types.Alex Oriakhi helped win a national title at UConn with rebounding and shot blocking, and even as a senior at Missouri last year he wasn’t a particular offensive force.Neither, for much of his brief college career, was Few schools of any size can match the national shadow cast by little South Kent. 1-rated recruit for the class of 2014.If you’re looking for big-time players in very small packages, Christ the King is a great place to start.The Queens-based program did plenty to advance New York City’s reputation as a cradle of point guards, turning out Derrick Phelps (North Carolina), Speedy Claxton (Hofstra) and Omar Cook (St. John’s) in quick succession in the 1990s.The Royals are still producing some of the college game’s best small guards, including recent Florida star Erving Walker and current UConn standout Omar Calhoun.Remarkably, Christ the King’s girls program is even more extraordinary than the boys’ version, having produced three of the women’s game’s greatest stars: Chamique Holdsclaw, Sue Bird and Tina Charles.Versatility has been a hallmark of recent St. Benedict’s players, a virtue best exemplified by Villanova combo guard Corey Stokes.Lamar Patterson, a perfect fit in a glue-guy role at Pitt, is another former Gray Bee who fills up plenty of columns on the stat sheet.It’s no great surprise that most of the Newark school’s alumni wind up in the Big East, even if (as Louisville’s Samardo Samuels could point out) that covered an awful lot of geography before realignment.Meanwhile, the latest potential star from St. Benedict’s is heading to a school that’s leaving the Big East, as Tyler Ennis tries to become Jim Boeheim’s next great point guard at Syracuse.Simeon stars of the past stayed pretty close to home, whether it was Nick Anderson at Illinois or Bobby Simmons at DePaul.
PLAYING. 1 in Los Angeles and James was already a household name before he played his first high school basketball game. The star of defending champion Louisville has done even better in his current Cardinals jersey than he did in his old one.Notre Dame Prep turns out so many top-tier prospects that when former Crusader Khem Birch transferred from Pitt to UNLV, the Panthers just plugged in another Notre Dame alum to replace him.Seven-foot New Zealander Steven Adams (one of many successful international players who have come through Notre Dame) turned in a fine freshman season before jumping to the NBA.The Crusaders are no strangers to one-and-dones, as their most famous alum is one-year wonder Michael Beasley of Kansas State.Next season, though, they’ll be well represented in the college ranks by a pair of upperclassmen, St. Louis junior Grandy Glaze and Cincinnati senior Sean Kilpatrick.Hargrave alum P.J. Russ Smith. Posted at 10:54 PM, Jan 11, 2019 and last updated 2019-01-11 23:54:00-05 OMAHA, Neb. In addition, an impressive history helps a school here, but only if it’s backed up by recent productivity.Mount Vernon’s place on this list owes a lot to an extraordinary history that goes way back to 1975 All-American Gus Williams of USC.In the decades since, the program has generated such iconic college stars as Rodney McCray of Louisville and Ben Gordon of UConn.More recently, the Knights have been doing their best work in Morgantown, with current West Virginia reserve Jabarie Hinds being the latest Mount Vernon success story.He has a long way to go, though, before he equals the Mountaineer career of former Big East Player of the Year contender Kevin Jones.A rising star on the Florida scene, Montverde Academy has turned out a slew of supporting players for high-level programs in recent seasons.Florida State shot-blocker Solomon Alabi and Texas A&M point guard Dash Harris both wore Eagles uniforms in high school, as did Villanova sniper James Bell.The future is looking even more impressive for the Eagles, who produced a pair of McDonald’s All-Americans this season.Dakari Johnson (Kentucky) and Kasey Hill (Florida) are both safe bets to make their marks in the SEC before their college careers are done.After a few years of notoriety as "the team with Michael Jordan’s son", Whitney Young has become one of the hotter programs in the country in recent seasons.Although its history doesn’t go much beyond former DePaul standout Quentin Richardson, the team is definitely on its way up.Oregon State’s Ahmad Starks and Ohio State highlight machine Sam Thompson have both turned in impressive college performances, and the best is yet to come. More highlights from Sierra Canyon’s 91-44 win over Montgomery High in San Diego.Here’s his first high school dunk for Sierra Canyon:St. Augustine was hanging close with #1 Sierra Canyon, and then this happened from Bronny James (Sierra Canyon has eight out-of-state trips on the calendar this year, including a game against St. Vincent-St. Mary’s, the alma mater of LeBron James. High School Girls' Basketball Recruiting Aubrey Griffin.
By Ricky O'Donnell Nov 23, 2019…