Best In Class

Had it been any other game, Tywon Lawson probably would have sat it out. The 5'11" point guard from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., had rolled his right ankle during a scrimmage on the eve of the Jordan All-American Classic, an exhibition showcasing 20 of the country's top seniors last Saturday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Rated as the top high school playmaker in the nation this year, Lawson had already played in the McDonald's All-American game in March, as well as in the Nike Hoop Summit on April 8. But having committed to North Carolina, Lawson knew that this game was different: His Airness himself--the most famous Tar Heel of all--would be courtside. "There was no way I wasn't playing," Lawson said after totaling nine points and four assists in 13 minutes on a badly swollen ankle. "Not with Mike there."

All-star games are traditionally wide-open affairs, and Saturday's was no different. That the White team defeated Lawson's Black squad 108--95 hardly mattered--the 9,641 spectators were there to see future stars dish no-look passes and throw down jams, and they weren't disappointed. The game featured 22 dunks, sufficiently entertaining the crowd that it could overlook the 35 turnovers.

If the game was sometimes hard to watch, it did offer a revealing glimpse of next winter's college basketball season, especially for fans in Chapel Hill. On hand were two other members of the Carolina class of 2010--6'4" Wayne Ellington of The Episcopal Academy in Merion, Pa., the top-rated shooting guard in the nation, and 6'9" Brandan Wright of Brentwood ( Tenn.) Academy, the No. 1--ranked power forward. No other school had more than two players at the Classic. The Tar Heels' trio and three other highly regarded prospects (forwards Deon Thompson, 6'8", and Alex Stepheson, 6'10", and 6'6" guard-forward William Graves) make up the nation's top recruiting class. They will join a young Carolina team that includes forward Tyler Hansbrough, the ACC rookie of the year, and finished a surprising 23--8 last season.

"My returning players have already talked to me about the freshmen," says Heels coach Roy Williams, whose team is expected to give defending champion Florida a battle for the preseason No. 1 ranking. "I guarantee they'll let them know what we need and expect."

The last time North Carolina added so many precocious prospects to a successful team, the result was a tremendous disappointment. Highly touted freshmen Jeff McInnis, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace arrived in Chapel Hill in 1993 to join a group of unselfish veterans fresh off a national title. Hailed before the season as perhaps the best college team ever, the Heels instead grew divided as the freshmen eclipsed their older teammates. In the end Carolina lost to Boston College in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Of the new Heels, Lawson figures to have the quickest impact. Bobby Frasor played the point for Carolina as a freshman last year, but he's a natural shooting guard; the hyperquick Lawson, who averaged 23.8 points, 9.5 assists and 4.7 steals as a senior at Oak Hill, is perfectly suited to run the up-tempo, pressing game that Williams prefers. Steve Smith, the Oak Hill coach, valued him so highly that when Lawson left the court with foul trouble late in a game last January, Smith had his team--which featured six other Division I--bound players--hold the ball for two minutes until Lawson could return. "He's the best high school point guard since Calvin Murphy," says longtime Five-Star camp guru Howard Garfinkel, 76. "Except Calvin never met a shot he didn't like. Tywon's a better passer."

That's one reason to think it won't take more than one ball to keep all that talent in Chapel Hill satisfied next year. "I'm out there to get everyone involved and keep everyone happy," says Lawson. "That's my job."

The Next Five
Besides North Carolina, which is deemed to have the best incoming group of freshmen, here are the schools that had the strongest recruiting classes.
-- Seth Davis

SCHOOL
KEY PLAYERS

1. OHIO STATE
7-foot Greg Oden, 6'1" Mike Conley, 6'5" Daequan Cook
Oden would be top pick in NBA draft this year if he were eligible, Conley is efficient point guard, and Cook is exciting scorer from wing