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Recapping five star-filled events
Our focus this week is upon three recent postseason high school all-star games, a couple of club tournaments (primarily for underclassmen) of note, and a host of signings, with the spring national signing period having begun on April 11 and ending May 15 at midnight. All-star gamesSince the McDonald's All-American Game (see our report from last week) was played, the Nike Derby Festival Classic (April 6 in Louisville, Ky.), the Capital Classic (April 7 in Washington, D.C.) and the Roundball Classic (April 9 in Evanston, Ill.) all offered plenty of big-time performers. Here are brief reports on each. Nike Derby Festival Classic: Led by team MVP Dajuan Wagner's 25 points and eight assists, the Purple team edged the White team by a 173-169 count. Many players put up big numbers, but the most impressive were the following (in order): Wagner, a 6-2 Memphis PG/WG signee from Camden (N.J.) High; 6-1 Louisville (Ky.) Moore PG Carlos Hurt, a Louisville recruit who was MVP for the White team with 20 points and 14 assists; 6-6 Lakewood (Calif.) Mayfair WG/SF Josh Childress, a Stanford signee who contributed 26 points for the Purple and also won the 3-point shooting contest; 6-6 Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei PG/WG Cedric Bozeman, a UCLA recruit who knocked in 26 points for the White; and 6-9 St. Louis Chaminade PF/SF David Lee, a Florida signee who contributed 21 points and nine rebounds for the White. Capital Classic: Executive director Bob Geoghan's always excellent event saw the United States All-Stars pull away in the final quarter for a 96-76 victory over the Capital All-Stars, as U.S. MVP Chey Christie paved the way with 20 points (8-11 FGs) and four assists. Our choices as the premier performers were as follows: Christie, a 6-5 Clemson WG recruit from Biloxi (Miss.) High; 6-3 Marion (Mass.) Tabor Academy PG/WG Jermaine Watson, a Boston College signee who slashed his way to 19 points and added four assists for the U.S. All-Stars; 6-2 Baltimore Southern PG/WG Melvin Scott, a North Carolina recruit who was MVP for the Capital All-Stars with 12 points (four 3-pointers), two assists and two steals; 6-9 Kettering (Ohio) Archbishop Alter PF/C Adam Waleskowski, a Florida State signee who provided 10 rebounds, five blocked shots, seven points and four steals for the winners; and 6-0 Beaver Falls (Pa.) Blackhawk PG Brandon Fuss-Cheatham, an Ohio State recruit who amassed 10 points and six assists for the U.S. All-Stars. Roundball Classic: Sonny Vaccaro's fine game was a barnburner, with the East nipping the West 151-148 behind the stellar play of team MVP John Allen (29 points, 12-17 FGs). Individuals who particularly stood out were the following: Allen, a 6-6 Seton Hall SF signee from Coatesville (Pa.) High; 6-11 South Holland (Ill.) Thornwood C Eddy Curry, an NBA-bound 290-pounder who racked up 26 points and shot 12-for-14 from the field for the East; 6-11 Brunswick (Ga.) Glynn Academy PF/C Kwame Brown, a Florida recruit (but will he enter this year's NBA draft?) who was West MVP with 19 points, 12 rebounds, five blocked shots and five steals; 6-4 Flint (Mich.) Northwestern WG Kelvin Torbert, a Michigan State signee who tallied 22 points for the West; and 5-11 Sugar Land (Texas) Willowridge PG T.J. Ford, a Texas recruit who nearly had a triple-double for the East with 14 points, 14 assists and eight rebounds. AAU tournamentsTwo early spring tournaments held the weekend of April 6-8 each had outstanding fields of underclassmen. The larger of the two was the Boo Williams Invitational in Hampton, Va., but the Charlie Weber Invitational at Villanova University also featured some truly superb young prospects. Boo Williams Invitational: Paced by tournament MVP Rashad McCants, this event was won by the Charlotte (N.C.) Royals, who trounced The Family (Mich.) 78-49 in the title contest. The all-tournament team was led by McCants, a powerful 6-4 junior WG/SF from Asheville, N.C., who attends New Hampton (N.H.) New Hampton School. Also named all-tournament were 6-2 Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill Academy junior PG Justin Gray of the Royals; 6-10 Raleigh (N.C.) Broughton junior PF Shavlik Randolph of the Raleigh Heat; 6-5 Roanoke (Va.) Cave Spring junior WG J.J. Redick (already verbally committed to Duke) of the Boo Williams (Va.) All-Stars; 6-6 Pontiac (Mich.) Northern junior SF/WG Lester Abrams of The Family; and 6-5 Detroit Rogers junior SF/WG Ricardo Billings of The Family. Note that approximately half of the nation's top 50 juniors (rising seniors) played in the Boo Williams Invitational, including top-15-caliber prospects such as 6-1 Latta (S.C.) High PG Raymond Felton (verbally committed to North Carolina) of the Raleigh Heat; 6-8 Bloomington (Ind.) North PF/C Sean May of Bloomington Red; and 6-4 The Colony (Texas) High WG Bracey Wright of Team Texas. Sophomore Kendrick Perkins, a strong 6-11 C from Beaumont (Texas) Ozen, showed outstanding promise for Houston Hoops. Charlie Weber Invitational: The big story here was the sensational play of 6-10 Orlando (Fla.) Cypress Creek junior C/PF Amare Stoudemire, a potential superstar who was ineligible to play high-school ball as a junior but obviously continued to work hard on his game. He averaged 30 points, 12 rebounds and eight blocked shots in leading Fastbreak USA to three consecutive victories. Among other highly regarded juniors in this event were 6-11 Winchendon (Mass.) Winchendon School C/PF Sani Ibrahim; 6-10 Rochester Hills (Mich.) Rochester C/PF Paul Davis (who has given Michigan State an early verbal commitment); 6-8 Charlotte (N.C.) West Charlotte PF/SF Curtis Withers; 6-7 Memphis (Tenn.) Ridgeway SF/WG Derrick Byars; 6-1 Birmingham (Ala.) Parkway Christian PG Jeremy Monceaux; and 6-1 Macon (Ga.) Northeast WG/PG Michael Ford. Regional notesSpring signings and college transfers of note are indicated below, by geographic region. 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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