By Adrienne Goodson
This holiday season was festive for any basketball fan in America. I was thoroughly impressed with the T-Mobile Invitational as well as some other Christmas Tournaments I caught pieces of. Oak Hill (#1) and St. Anthony’s (# 6) are my favorites to watch. It was even more interesting after seeing some of the names mentioned by Aggrey Sam and Kelvin Powell in Punks.
Names like PG Shel’a White (Norfolk Collegiate), Center Chay Shegog (Brookepoint), and Center Lynetta Kizer (Potomac) are the most mentioned female players in Virginia but I particularly like Tiffany Davis of Hampton High School. She put on a show down in New Mexico last weekend. The 5’9 guard can shoot, drive, slash, pull-up, whatever… She’s bad to the bone no doubt but in the meantime, Notre Dame Academy of Middleburg, VA sits in 1st place.
The talent is out there and the future of the WNBA and NBA looks truly promising. That young buck Brandon Jennings “Got Game”. Oak Hill just keeps producing em’. If I could sum it up real quick I’d say, he’s smooth like Rod Strickland and explosive like Allen Iverson. The Wildcats of Arizona will love him like Stoudamire.
St. Anthony is a feeding tube for men’s basketball. The talent that Coach Hurley has produced goes unmatched. Dave King (’84) was the man back in the day. The baddest point guard to come outta Jersey City. He was virtually unstoppable. Aggrey Sam has three of St. Anthony’s monster squad in his Top 75. Mike Rosario (Rutgers), Tyshawn Taylor, and Jio Fontan (Fordham) are all proven prospects in 2008 but down the turnpike to Elizabeth and Newark. St. Patrick’s (#2) and St. Benedict’s (#9) have a few ballers of their own. Power forwards Quintrell Thomas and Samardo Samuels (Louisville) are making noise as well.
The High School Punks are geared up, laced up, and running plays. Some will hoop but there will be some whose style of play goes beyond their class. The Class of 2008 will be a class to remember because these kids will be the Cynthia Cooper, Andrea Stinson, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille of the next generation. Stay tuned this season will be bananas not to mention what lies ahead in March.
