With the recent end to the 2015-2016 high school basketball season, Arizona’s 2017 class of prospects is now preparing to take center stage on the spring and summer AAU/club circuit. One prospect in the class that now has seen his recruiting stock increase a great deal amongst our Arizona Preps’ basketball staff is Student Choice Prep Academy 6-foot junior combo-guard prospect Elijah Mead. Mead is a lesser known prospect in the 2017 class – a player that most basketball enthusiasts in the state still have not seen since he does not play for an AIA high school program. Mead and…
Author: Anthony Ray
Legendary Arizona basketball product Mike Bibby is as big as it gets for basketball in the state of Arizona. After gracing the Arizona basketball hardwood as a player in his younger years, then winning a national championship for the University of Arizona as a college superstar, Bibby returned to the state of Arizona, after a long and terrific NBA professional career, to lead his former high school program back to dominance and two Division-II state championships. It is a rare find in today’s world of professional basketball where star athletes today move on to the big stage and often forget…
The Area Codes Spring Showcase took place recently at Mesa High School with more than 60 different prospects in participation – each looking to gain exposure to college coaches, scouts and media in attendance. Organized by tournament director Chad Groth, the Arizona Preps’ staff was in attendance for this year’s event to bring you our top individual performers from this annual event. Here are my top individual performers from this year’s event . . . Top Senior Performers – 2016 Class Myles Thompson 6-0 SR PG American Leadership Academy – 2016 Class Thompson (pictured) is a big-time athletic talent that…
Tucson, AZ – The Pima Community College women’s basketball team (25-7) captured the Region-I, Division-II championship on Saturday at the West Campus. The No. 1 seeded Aztecs defeated No. 2 Mesa Community College 78-54 – snapping their three game losing streak to the Thunderbirds in the Region-I, Division-II title game. This is Pima’s first region championship since 2011. Up 13-10 in the first quarter, freshman Sydni Stallworth (pictured) hit back-to-back three-pointers. The run carried into the second quarter, as the Aztecs took a double-digit lead after going on a 13-2 run in almost seven minutes to take a 26-12 advantage. …
Phoenix College head coach Matt Gordon, his experienced staff and his talented teams have been the class of the ACCAC’s Division-II ranks for many years now – winning three consecutive ACCAC Division-II titles and 7 titles in 11 seasons. This year would be much different for Phoenix College, as they would lose many players from last season’s dominant team, including the league’s best player in Brandon Brown, now a starting point guard for Loyola Marymount. As a result, Gordon and his staff would perform another excellent coaching job this season, coaching a much less-talented team of players to another excellent…
Now that the 2015-2016 junior college basketball season has concluded, let’s take a look at this year’s selections for the women’s All-ACCAC selections – led by the 2016 Division-I ACCAC Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, Brijanee Moore (pictured) of Central Arizona JC and the 2016 ACCAC Coach of the Year, Todd Holthaus of Pima College. Here are this year’s All-ACCAC selections and All-Region selections for Division-I and Division-II for women’s basketball in the ACCAC . . . Division I Player of the Year: Brijanee Moore – Central Arizona Division II Player of the Year: Sydni Stallworth…
The 2015-2016 junior college basketball season in the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) is winding down. Here are this week’s Players of the Week in women’s basketball in the conference . . . ACCAC D-I Player of the Week: Jazzlynn Brewster – Eastern Arizona Jazzlynn Brewster had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 steals in Eastern Arizona JC’s win over Phoenix. ACCAC D-II Player of the Week: Naomie Klah – Chandler-Gilbert Naomi Klah scored 25 points, collected 4 rebounds, 6 assists and 2 steals against Central Arizona. Join the Forum discussion on this post
Now that the 2015-2016 junior college basketball season has concluded, let’s take a look at this year’s selections for the men’s All-ACCAC selections – led by the 2016 ACCAC Player of the Year, Andre Nikita (pictured) of Arizona Western and the 2016 ACCAC Coach of the Year, Matt Gordon of Phoenix College. Here are this year’s All-ACCAC selections and All-Region selections for Division-I and Division-II . . . Coach of the Year: Matt Gordon – Phoenix Player of the Year: Andre Nikita – Arizona Western Freshman of the Year: Karriem Simmons – Central Arizona All-ACCAC 1st Team Andre Nikita -…
Mesa High School (27-4) started off the 2015-2016 high school basketball season with a huge win over 4-time defending Division-I state champion Corona Del Sol on the Jackrabbit’s home floor – handing the Aztecs their first loss to an Arizona opponent in years. So it was only fitting that #2 seed Mesa would be the one to win it all Monday evening at Gila River Arena in front of a large crowd of Mesa faithful. Mesa would come from behind to win this year’s exciting and prestigious division-I state championship, with a nice 51-48 victory over a tough and gritty…
How sweet it is to go out on top. After winning the division-II state title two years ago (2014 state title pose pictured), Shadow Mountain (27-5) would return back to form this year, after just missing the state final game last season. Last season, Shadow Mountain would play much of the season without the services of their star point guard, 6-foot senior point guard Michael Bibby Jr. Bibby would suffer several injuries over the past two years, since Shadow Mountain’s last state champhionship. This season, Bibby would return to form as well – leading his team to another state championship…