Words. Austin Burton
All over the country, high school basketball players are headed back to the classroom (or will be soon) following another summer of AAU tournaments, elite skills camps, and national showcase games. The crew at YAY AREA’S FINEST put together a comprehensive highlight of this year’s best rising seniors and the work they put in on the summer circuit.
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Words. Jason Jordan
In the closing seconds of the Boost Mobile Elite 24 game at Venice Beach, Calif., last weekend, Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) point guard Quinn Cook came down awkwardly on his right knee.
The freak accident will cost Cook, a senior who is ranked No. 25 in the new HSH national Top 50, three to four months.
“I’ll be back though,” Cook told HSH Tuesday night. MORE >
Words. Austin Burton
Chicago will always hold a special place in basketball lore. Playground legends from Billy “The Kid” Harris to Will “The Thrill” Bynum, local heroes from Ben Wilson to Kevin Garnett, homegrown pros from Isiah Thomas to Derrick Rose, and adopted sons from Michael Jordan to Scottie Pippen have all played a role in making the Windy City one of the world’s basketball hotbeds and a place where legacies are made.
Next spring, the city will host a new crop of rising stars, as the McDonald’s High School All-American Game returns to Chicago for the first time since 1982. MORE >
Words. Lucas Shapiro
Andre Drummond rose to #10 on the new HSH national Top 50 on the strength of his 2010 summer. The 6-10 center from St. Thomas Moore (Oakdale, Conn.) was everywhere, from Germany with the U-17 USA national team to Florida at the AAU nationals.
In a recent issue of Sports Illustrated, Drummond’s game was compared to a cross between Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett. Here is some of the rising junior’s best work from this summer, where he played with the Connecticut Basketball Club:
Words. High School Hoop
Rule #1 in rebuilding a once-proud college basketball tradition: You have to get talent.
For new St. John’s coach Steve Lavin, that wouldn’t seem like a huge hurdle, since he’s right in the heart of the always-deep talent pool that is New York City. But for a program that has fallen on hard times, convincing high school stars who want to win to sign a Letter of Intent is challenging, no matter the location. MORE >
Words. High School Hoop
The most distinct difference in the HSH/2K Sports national Top 50 player ranking and everyone else’s is that we disregard class. To us, a baller is a baller; doesn’t matter how old you are or when you’re slated to graduate.
Our rankings also aren’t based on what type of prospect you’ll be in the future, what college you pick or don’t pick, or what city you’re from. For this updated version of the Top 50 — the first we’ve done since the Class of 2010 seniors graduated — all that matters is what you did on this summer’s AAU circuit and what you did last season. We had eyes and ears at pretty much every major event, and saw every player on this list multiple times. MORE >
