It is now time for the very busy and exciting club basketball season in the state of Arizona. As we now prepare to kick off the spring evaluation period for college coaches around the country and also players all over the country, let’s take a hard look at one person that has and continues to change the game in Arizona. There have been many people over the years that have made significant impacts to the game of basketball in the state, but Trevor Browne High School graduate John Ortega is quickly putting himself in a world all of his own.…
Author: Anthony Ray
In exciting fashion on Friday evening on the campus of Phoenix College, the Pima Aztecs overcame their season rival – defeating #11 nationally ranked Phoenix College 102-99 to capture the Region-I, Division-II title. It is the program’s first region championship since 2009, also Pima head coach Brian Peabody’s first championship since he came to Pima in four seasons. In a very even matched contest, Pima (21-11), the #2 seed in the tournament, held a narrow advantage over #1 seed Phoenix College (25-7) at the half, 51-49. In the first half, Phoenix would start the game on an impressive 13 to 2…
While he has seen his share of college recruitment over the past year, college coaches have been reluctant to extend a scholarship offer to 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Kwintin Williams. After recently putting himself in a position to qualify academy from the junior college ranks, many college programs are now taking serious notice of Williams. This week he received a scholarship offer from a rising program in the Big-12 Conference. After taking an official recruiting visit last weekend to Cal-State Northridge, this week Williams received an offer from Texas Christian University (TCU) and their basketball staff. Williams advised me that he…
One player that our staff definitely missed on this high school season is Dysart High School’s talented and gifted 6-foot-9 senior post Mikel Beyers. We caught our first glimpse of Beyers in this year’s recent Arizona Spring Showcase, organized by tournament director Chad Groth. I came away very impressed with this young man’s ability and potential for the future. Beyers is an underrated prospect in big-time proportions, as he is coming off a stellar senior season for Dysart High School, but has gone almost unnoticed by most college coaches around the country. This high school season, Beyers put up terrific…
It was another amazing high school basketball season in the state, where there were many more top-rated teams and players in action in a growing state. After our staff’s relentless hard work in covering many of the state’s games this high school season, we have compiled our list of top players and coaches of the year. Here are our selections for this year’s Boy’s Basketball All-State Teams, led by our Player of the Year, Hillcrest Prep Academy’s 7-foot-1 senior post DeAndre Ayton. Ayton has led his Hillcrest Prep team this season to a very competitive record on one of the…
Now that the 2016-2017 high school basketball season has come to an end, here are this year’s All-State Teams for the Canyon Athletic Association (CAA ) for high school girls basketball in the state, led by the CAA Girls Coach of the Year – Rose Peterson (pictured) of Arizona Compass Prep, and also the CAA Player of the Year – Marrisa Ulate of Arizona Compass Prep. Here are the All-State Teams for Division-I and Division-II girl’s basketball in CAA in the state of Arizona . . . CAA High School Girls Basketball Division-I All-State Team Position Player Name Player School…
Now that the 2016-2017 boy’s high school basketball season has come to an end, we learned many things about Arizona basketball throughout the season. There were numerous top performers and numerous teams that emerged this high school season – some for this season and some for this season and the future. While Basha High School was completely dominant this season, and turned in one of the best seasons ever in the state, Shadow Mountain High School was even better – going undefeated this high school season, and finishing with an undefeated 27-0 record. Shadow Mountain blew out all of their…
Now that the 2016-2017 high school basketball season has come to an end, here are this year’s All-State Teams for the Canyon Athletic Association (CAA ) for high school boys basketball in the state, led by the CAA Division-III Boys Coach of the Year – Jace Romero of Skyline Prep, and also the CAA Division-III Player of the Year – Nigel Shadd of Tri-City Christian. Here are the All-State Teams for Division-I, II & III boy’s basketball in CAA in the state of Arizona . . . CAA High School Boys Basketball Division-I All-State Team Position Player Name Player School…
The Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) has completed their regular season for the 2016-2017 junior college basketball season. As a result, the coaches in the conference have made their selections for Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and each of their All-Conference and All-Region selctions for the conference. Here are the All-ACCAC selections for this season, led by the Coach of the Year, Laura Hughes of Cochise College, and the conference’s Player(s) of the Year, ACCAC Division-I Player of the Year – sophomore post Veronica Preciado of Eastern Arizona JC, and the ACCAC Division-II Player of the…
The Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) has completed their regular season for the 2016-2017 junior college basketball season. As a result, the coaches in the conference have made their selections for Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and each of their All-Conference and All-Region selctions for the conference. Here are the All-ACCAC selections for this season, led by the Coach of the Year, Matt Gordon of Phoenix College (3rd time selection), and the conference’s Co-Player(s) of the Year – Deion James (pictured) of Pima Junior College and Dallas Polk-Hilliard of Cochise Junior College . . . ACCAC…