Arizona Preps recently announced our NEW partnership with Zipps Sports Grill in Arizona. The local growing chain of Sports Restaurants has partnered with Arizona Preps to provide awards and scholarship opportunities for Arizona's top boys and girls student-athletes throughout the state each month.
Zipps Sports Grill is one of the state's premier and most popular sports grills, and combines homemade food, friendly service and drinks, with top-notch entertainment in your neighborhood. The chain has (14) different locations in the valley, and we encourage the entire Arizona basketball community to visit their locations today!
Zipps is supporting the Arizona High School basketball community a great deal, as they are working with Arizona Preps to create Player of the Month and Player of the Year awards for boys and girls high school basketball players in the state. The awards are decided by the Arizona Preps' staff, and are mailed each month to the recipients of the award. The awards will include food at the Zipps' locations.
Zipps was also a major sponsor for last year's 22nd Annual Arizona Preps Fall Showcase, which was loaded with many of the state's top high school varsity and prep programs.
Our next selections for the award and final selections from the COVID-19-stricken 2021 high school basketball season include our selections for Players of the Year (boys and girls) for the 2021 season. Our selections for this exciting annual award include our Player of the Year for Prep or National High School programs, and also our selection for AIA and CAA High School programs - two different awards.
Our staff's selection for the Player of the Year among National and Prep programs in the state is PHH Prep's hard-working and consistent 5-foot-10 senior guard Ally Stedman (Pepperdine signee). Stedman was terrific in her play all season for the PHH Prep program - playing big in big games consistently. She proved her value as a player for the PHH Prep program and that she is among the very best performers in America's 2021 senior class of prospects - well deserving a much higher national ranking. Stedman helped lead a very loaded PHH Prep program to this year's Grind Session National Championship for girl's prep programs - the first of it's kind for the Grind Session.
Early in the recruiting process, Stedman gave a verbal commitment and ultimately signed a national letter of intent with Pepperdine University, where she will look to play immediately, as she is a college-ready talent with an advanced overall skill-set. Stedman is a very skilled guard prospect that is able to play equally from either guard spot on the floor. She is a true point guard when she plays the point position on the floor, able to create scoring opportunities for herself, but primarily looking to get her teammates involved and creating scoring opportunities for them. She sees the floor very well and finds the open teammate almost every time down the floor a - a very willing passer and floor general that is vocal. As a shooting guard, Stedman is a pure shooter of the basketball and, if left open, makes defenses pay consistently. She is also able to create scoring opportunities off the dribble, and has excellent body control in the paint, where she is a very strong finisher.
Stedman advances the ball up the floor fast with the pass, and is strong in the open floor. She thrives in a fast-paced system, but also is strong in the half-court set. She is also a good rebounder from the guard position and has good overall size for a guard prospect. She is a very good defender on the ball and also plays passing lanes as well. Stedman has quick hands and slides her feet defensively to get her hands on passes for deflections quite often. She plays boths side of the ball and is a complete two-way player.
Stedman is also an excellent student and will be a great fit for Pepperdine, as the Waves are actually getting a major steal in Stedman, who I believe to be a high-major prospect. Congratulations to Stedman on a terrific high school career, and for being selected as our Player of the Year.
Our staff's selection for the Player of the Year among Arizona high school programs in the state (AIA and CAA) is Tucson Sahuaro High School's 6-foot-1 senior guard/forward Alyssa Brown (UNLV commit). After giving a verbal commitment last fall to UNLV, and after an amazing junior season where she poured in ridiculous numbers - averaging 31.1 points, 9.7 rebounds and 3.9 steals per game, and also setting the state's single-season scoring record, Brown returned for her senior season and did it all again in amazing fashion. Brown was absolutely amazing throughout her high school career, and posted the most amazing numbers we have seen in Arizona history for girl's basketball.
As a senior, Brown (pictured) poured in 30.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, 3,9 steals and 1.9 blocks per/game. Brown led her high school deep into the state playoffs again as a senior, and also finished her illustrious high school basketball career as the state's #2 All-Time Leading Scorer in Arizona history. Had there been no pandemic this high school season, Brown would have surely become the state's all-time leading scorer!
While Brown was an early signee for the UNLV women's coaching staff, she is an absolute steal for the Mountain West Conference. This young lady, had she waited until the late signing period, would have been recruited hard by every women's college program in America. She is an elite-high major Division-I talent and could have played at such programs as UCONN, had she waited, so UNLV is getting a future pro-level talent.
Brown is an absolute beast as a player. What can't she do? This young lady is super-skilled with an ability to score inside and out - able to handle the basketball, create scoring opportunities for herself and her teammates and also score the basketball at a very high level. She posted such amazing and impressive overall numbers throughout her high school career, because of the many facets to her game that produce numbers. She can handle the basketball from the point position on the floor and make plays, while also being able to play every other position on the court, as needed and produce at a high level. Very seldom do we see prospects like Brown, and she is as good an individual talent as I have ever seen in Arizona high school basketball - reminding me of former Arizona superstar and current UC-Riverside women's head coach Nicole Powell. Like Powell, Brown can play every position on the court and does whatever it takes to help her team be successful.
Brown is a very good shooter with excellent range on her shot. She can score from deep and also put the basketball on the floor and create off the dribble. She is a very strong finisher and is very aggressive in her overall approach as a player, and amazing attribute for her. She competes hard on both ends of the floor and is a complete player. She is a very strong rebounder as well and gets to the free-throw line, as she does not mind physical contact. Mrs. Versatility and an amazing overall talent.
Both Stedman and Brown will have terrific futures and excellent careers at their respective college programs. Congratulations to both of these two excellent performers on being selected by our staff as the Player(s) of the Year.
