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Class of 2001 is second to none
Posted: Wednesday July 05, 2000 04:05 PM
We're honored to have the opportunity to write about college basketball recruiting on a regular basis for CNNSI.com, starting with this contribution. The crucial 24-day summer-evaluation period (July 8-31), when college coaches can observe high school prospects in action at major camps and club-team tournaments, starts at the end of this week. We will provide frequent reports from the major events, starting with the adidas ABCD Camp at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, N.J., and the Nike All-America Camp at in Indianapolis, which begin Friday. This is an especially exciting time to write about the premier high school prospects, since the prep Class of 2001 (rising seniors) is as strong as any crop we've viewed during the past 27 years.
Yes, we believe the rising seniors compare favorably with the best previous group, the incredible Class of 1979, which featured 7-4 Ralph Sampson, 6-0 Isiah Thomas, 6-9 James Worthy, 6-8 Dominique Wilkins, 7-1 Sam Bowie, 6-8 Clark Kellogg, 6-11 Steve Stipanovich, 6-8 Antoine Carr, 6-6 Derrick Hord, 6-9 Terry Cummings, 6-10 Thurl Bailey, 6-5 Ricky Ross, 6-2 John Paxson, and many other notables. That class had everything: great talent at every position, height galore, loads of depth and eye-catching athleticism. So does the Class of 2001. Some of the names may not yet be familiar to you, but they will be. We're particularly high on the rising seniors we currently rank as Nos. 1-7 nationally. Each is a potential (the key word) superstar capable of consistently dominating games at the highest level of competition. So who are they? Three stand outLet's start with the top three, who probably should be ranked 1A,1B and 1C, rather than 1, 2 and 3. They are: 6-3 Camden (N.J.) High point guard/wing guard Dajuan Wagner; 6-11 South Holland (Ill.) Thornwood center Eddy Curry; and 7-1 1/2 Compton (Calif.) Dominguez center Tyson Chandler. Each could wind up entering the NBA draft following his high school graduation, although Wagner has given an early verbal commitment to Memphis. Some devil's advocates assert that Wagner -- whose father, Milt (now on John Calipari's coaching staff at Memphis), helped Louisville to the 1986 NCAA title -- needs to play consistently hard and pay more attention to the defensive end of the court. They are correct, yet we saw Dajuan score a camp-record 50 points in 25 minutes of play in one game against excellent competition at the 1999 Nike All-America Camp. At the same venue, we also watched him score on four consecutive clutch possessions while being guarded by the Class of 1999's No. 1 backcourt defender, 6-1 New Yorker Omar Cook, who will replace NBA-bound Erick Barkley this fall as St. John's starting point guard. Going one-on-one with the ball, Dajuan makes it look easy -- because it is, for him, just as it was for a guy known as MJ. Down the road, we expect the 290-pound Curry to legitimately become the next Shaquille O'Neal. Frankly, at the same stage (as a rising high school senior), Eddy is clearly ahead of where Shaq was. Curry, like Shaq, can carry his weight and still have plenty of bounce and mobility. Additionally, the suburban-Chicago phenom already possesses not only huge, sure hands but also a jump shot and jump hook far more reliable than what O'Neal had in high school. Again, some naysayers emphasize that Curry doesn't always exhibit maximum effort when the competition isn't high-level. Our reply: He's 17 years old, and it wouldn't be fair if he had nothing to improve upon. Eddy lists Illinois, Connecticut, Georgetown, Duke, DePaul and Michigan among others as collegiate possibilities. Chandler, at 220 pounds and nearly 7-2, is extremely fast and agile, but not nearly as strong as Curry. Tyson is arguably the best shot-blocker in a class full of prime rejectors, and his smooth jump shot to mid-range is even better than Curry's. With added strength, some polish on his post moves and refinement of his jump hook (or development of a sky hook), Chandler could be the next Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. We must stress that these comparisons are not at all far-fetched. Just as Curry is the most powerful prep insider since O'Neal, Chandler is the most mobile player his size since Sampson, who (of course) came after Abdul-Jabbar. Tyson says he's "65% likely" to enter the 2001 NBA draft. If he doesn't, he's interested in Arizona, UCLA, Michigan, Syracuse, Kansas, Kentucky, Florida and perhaps others.
A quartet of contendersThe others in the prep Class of 2001 whom we consider to be potential superstars are, ranked 4-7 nationally: 6-4 Flint (Mich.) Northwestern wing guard Kelvin Torbert ; 6-11 Brunswick (Ga.) Glynn Academy power forward Kwame Brown; 6-7 York (Pa.) Crispus Attucks small forward James White; and 6-9 St. Louis (Mo.) Chaminade power forward/small forward David Lee. All four are expected to play at least a year or two collegiately; Brown gave an extremely early verbal commitment to Florida nearly a year ago. The only players we've ever seen who could hang in the air on their jump shots as long as Torbert (and hit the shot) were David Thompson and Michael Jordan. Michigan State is the team to beat for Torbert, with Connecticut, Cincinnati, Syracuse and others in the hunt. Brown, a sturdy 235-pound athlete, handles the ball as well as any 6-11 player in memory, but he needs to hone his jump shot before heading for the NBA. White is very slender but a spectacular leaper who brandishes a good (not great) jump shot to three-point territory. He plans to announce his collegiate choice at some point this summer; North Carolina and Duke are the current co-favorites. Lee, a southpaw and an excellent student with a 3.8 grade-point average, is the most talented Caucasian prospect in the USA in the past decade. His quickness around the basket is truly stunning. Finalists for Lee's future services are Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Florida and Stanford. Many other rising prep seniors merit our attention. We'll write about as many as we can in subsequent weeks, and also update you on the play of the seven potential superstars mentioned above.
Regional notesBesides Wagner and Brown, 17 others from our pre-summer national top 100 rising seniors have already announced verbal commitments. They are identified below by the geographic region of the university that has received the commitment. The player's ranking is in parentheses. EAST
SOUTH:
MIDWEST
SOUTHWEST
WEST
Brick Oettinger is talent evaluator for the Prep Stars Recruiter's Handbook and recruiting columnist for the ACC Area Sports Journal. For more information on either publication, call 1-800-447-7667.
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