Last spring, former Scottsdale Saguaro High School 2013 graduate Ryan Berg developed into my favorite unsigned senior prospect. After working tirelessly on his body and is craft, Berg reeled in almost double-digit scholarship offers from smaller college programs. While I believed this young man was a division-I talent and expressed to numerous college programs that he was worthy of a division-I scholarship, D-I programs passed on him. Berg would choose to accept a division-II scholarship from Cal Baptist, a member of the PacWest Conference, and his decision has paid off as Berg took the conference by storm this season as a freshman.…
Author: Anthony Ray
It was an unfortunate circumstance for talented and successful 5-foot-10 senior guard Jordan Howard. After gaining serious college interest early on in his college recruitment, resulting in several scholarship offers, Howard would battle an ankle injury during his most important spring and summer (2013), and would eventully lose the interest he had earned a year before on the AAU/club circuit. As a result, Howard would miss out on the opportunity to make his college decision this fall, alongside many of his friends, and have to elect to wait during the late signing period. The wait for the talented guard prospect is now…
Now that we have reached the conclusion to the 2013-2014 high school basketball season, our Arizona Preps’ staff is proud to release our individual awards for the season. The 2013-2014 boy’s high school basketball season was one to remember – filled with loads of talented prospects, many of whom will move on to the collegiate ranks next year. Our selection for this year’s 2014 Arizona Preps Boys Player of the Year is Westwind Prep Academy 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior guard Lyrik Shreiner. “I really worked hard to get where I am now,” said Shreiner. “Thank you Arizona Preps, this honor means a lot,” said Shreiner. …
Westwind Prep International 7-foot prep post Jeremiah April is among the best available post prospects in the West. After developing a great deal over the past year and maturing physically a great deal, April has become a legitimate post prospect for the mid-major division-I level or higher. After a high school career where April was considered a post project and saw his college recruitment tail off late, April ventured to Westwind Prep to improve his game and his body in an attempt to develop as a post prospect for the next level. April has come a long way for himself after…
Westwind Prep Academy 6-foot-7, 230-pund prep forward Terry Winn has found a new home. After giving a verbal commitment to Northern Arizona in high school and then de-committing from the Lumberjacks’ program, Winn has now decided on a new college program for himself. On Wednesday evening, Winn decided to give a verbal commitment to UTEP and head coach Tim Floyd and his men’s basketball staff. Floyd and his staff had ventured to the state of Arizona several times to visit the Westwind program to observe talented senior prospect Lyrik Shreiner, and came away impressed with Winn – enough to offer a…
Mesa Junior College (26-4, 20-2) put it all together when it counted on Saturday evening, winning this year’s ACCAC Division-I Championship with a huge 108-63 victory over Arizona Western JC. Mesa and Arizona Western both stood at the top of the conference standings all season long, but on Saturday evening both teams met up for the conference title – a fitting end to another competitive season in the ACCAC. Mesa caught fire in the match-up as they flat out blew a very talented Arizona Western team off the floor – jumping out to an early lead in the game and now looking…
Phoenix College (24-8, 16-6) won this year’s ACCAC Division-II Conference title with a big 87-69 home victory over Tohono O’odham Community College. Phoenix College finished off a strong season in the ACCAC Conference on Friday evening, led by two players that have performed for head coach Matt Gordon all season long – freshman point guard Brandon Brown and 6-foot-4 freshman wing Derreck Brooks. Brandon Brown, who was selected as this year’s ACCAC Freshman of the Year, finished with 21 points and 10 assists, while Brooks finished with a big game-high 25 points and 9 rebounds in the win. Phoenix College outscored…
It was one of the best high school basketball games in many years and it was also an amazing way to go out for several of Arizona’s best 2014 prospects, as Corona’s 6-foot-3 senior guard Casey Benson (University of Oregon signee) and Pinnacle’s 6-foot-5 star senior guard/forward Dorian Pickens (Stanford University signee) would battle it out down the stretch. Corona would eventually win their third-straight Division-I state title in overtime over a game group from Pinnacle HS, 71-70. At the beginning of the season, I had picked Corona (33-1) and Pinnacle (23-10) as the state’s top two teams in the Division-I…
Desert Vista girls have done it. After an amazing season where they finished with an impressive 30-2 overall record on the season, which included only two losses on the season, both at the hands of Mesquite High School, the Thunder would put it all together against the state’s best teams to win this year’s Division-I state championship on Saturday afternoon. After breezing past Mountain Pointe in the state playoffs, Desert Vista would defeat top-seed Dobson HS in the semi-finals and then blow past a quick Westview team in the state final on Saturday, 53-37. Desert Vista would win their school’s first…
I have been predicting all season long that Shadow Mountain would have the best team in the state for the next two years, but this year’s talented group of young prospects proved that they would be prepared for such a claim a year earlier – winning this year’s Division-II state championship on Saturday with a big 83-58 route of Flagstaff High School (27-4). Shadow Mountain (29-3) had squeaked past Catalina Foothills and Cienega HS on the way to this year’s state championship game, needing late game heroics from 6-foot-2 sophomore point guard Mike Bibby Jr. to win both contests. On Saturday, the…