The early NCAA signing period or “Fall Signing Period” is upon us and scheduled for November 13th and will run until November 20th. While the state of Arizona has not been known for having a large number of fall signees annually, this year numerous members of the state’s 2020 Class have given early pledges to college programs – setting up a busy Fall Signing Period for the state. Arizona’s 2020 Class is a very talented group of prospects, but several elite members of the group decided not to play their final year of high school, and instead elected to go…
Author: Anthony Ray
Arizona Preps is very proud to announce that Gerad Punch, a former top performer in Arizona high school basketball at Brophy Prep, has joined the Arizona Preps’ staff. Punch graduated from Brophy Prep in 2003, and after a terrific high school basketball career at the program, he signed a division-I scholarship with one of the top academic schools in the country, Furman University. Punch would play for the program for (4) years and graduate on time in 2007 with a Bachelors degree in Business Administration. Punch would then play professionally in various leagues across Europe for (6) seasons, before eventually…
Arizona Preps is very proud to announce that Derrace Samilton, a journalism student with Arizona State University, has joined the Arizona Preps’ staff of writers as an intern through ASU. Samilton will be a valuable addition to the team and comes to our staff in a similar manner as former Arizona Preps intern and staff writer Chris Buchanan, now an assistant coach with the University of Portland. Derrace Samilton recently started interning for Arizona Preps in the fall of 2019, just in time for the organization’s 20-year anniversary. A native of Seattle Washington, Derrace has been living in Arizona since 2011. Currently he is…
The start to the 2019-2020 Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) junior college season is upon us, after the annual JUCO Jamboree took place last weekend @ The PHHacility – showcasing each of the teams in the conference in front of numerous college coaches in attendance. The Arizona Preps’ staff was in attendance for this year’s event, and witnessed a terrific performance in the event by Scottsdale Community College 6-foot-4, 200-pound sophomore guard Boogie Anderson. In the event, Anderson led his Scottsdale JC team to a strong performance, and, in the process, proved that he is definitely among the elite…
Cesar Chavez High School has been one of the state’s most consistent and winningest basketball programs in Arizona over a 20-year span, as the program has consistently posted winning season after winning season under Head Coach Gary Lee’s leadership. Lee has been coaching the program for more than 20+ years, and while the program has had tremendous success over the years, this high school season will be a big one for the Champions as they look to win the 6A State Championship. Under Lee’s leadership, Chavez has been the state champion runner-up in 2009 and 2012, and also has reached…
There have been numerous prospects move to the state of Arizona since the end to the high school season last year. While many of these top-rated prospects have been at local prep programs, St. Mary’s High School recently received a nice addition of their own when 6-foot-9, 250-pound sophomore post Bear Cherry landed at the Knight’s program. Bear Cherry is the younger brother of current Arizona State sophomore forward Taeshon Cherry, and so the younger Cherry and his family moved to Arizona to be closer to Taeshon, via San Diego, California. The move will be a very good one for…
With the start to the new junior college season upon us, there will be many new faces in the conference this season to observe, as players look to lead their respective junior college programs to the top of the ACCAC this season. Arizona Western Junior College had a strong season last year, finishing with a 25-9 overall record on the season and winning the ACCAC Conference Championship. After several of the program’s top prospects from last season have been lost to graduation and signed nice division-I scholarships for themselves, this year’s team will now be led by the leadership of…
Chaparral High School is coming off a terrific season last year where Head Coach Dan Peterson and his program reached the 6A State Championship game, before falling at the hands of two-time 6A State Champion Pinnacle HS. The runner-up finish has the Chaparral program wanting to get back there, but the program lost key players to transfers this off-season. The emergence of 6-foot-11 sophomore post Adrame Diongue will change everything though this season for the Firebirds. There isn’t another prospect in the state that is similar or even has the attributes of Diongue. A mere sophomore, this young man is…
The AZ Compass Prep program retooled in a major way over the off-season and will return with one of the country’s most talented prep lineups in the country this season. While the team is absolutely loaded this season, one of the program’s most gifted and talented prospects will be 6-foot-5 junior guard Josh Primo. A recent native of Huntington, West Virginia, and originally a native of Canada, Primo transfered from Huntington Prep, and now invades the state of Arizona and becomes one of the elite prospects in the West for the 2021 Class. While the Compass program was very excited…
Scottsdale Community College had their best season to date last season under hard-working and tireless Head Coach Mark Bunker. Bunker led the program to a runner-up D-II finish in the conference and a 20-12 overall record on the season. A big reason for the team’s success last season was the play of terrific 6-foot-2, 190-pound sophomore point guard Donald Carter. Carter had a very strong freshman campaign, and will be back this season to build on his accomplishments. Carter returns this season in the ACCAC as the clear overall leader for his Scottsdale team, but also as one of the…