Author: Anthony Ray

The 15th Annual Arizona Preps Fall Showcase was recently held on Saturday, October 26th at Scottsdale’s Jewish Community Center.  Both boys and girls top-rated prospects in the state participated on the day in front of numerous local, regional and national scouting services in attendance. As the state’s top pre-season event just before the start to the 2013-2014 high school basketball season, each of these top-rated prospects will be ones to watch this up-and-coming high school season.  Here are my top boys performers from this year’s event, continuing with the 2015 junior class . . . Arizona Preps Fall Showcase Top Boys Performers – 2015 Class (In No Particular Order) Sammy Thompkins  6-3 …

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With many of Arizona’s top-rated senior prospects from the 2014 class signing this week, there are still loads of prospects in the state that will be available for college programs during the late signing period.  One of these prospects still available is developing quickly, and will become one of the better prospects this high school season for division-I college coaches to take a hard look in the spring. Desert Ridge High School’s 6-foot-8 senior forward Cameron Chatwin is that guy.  A rapidly-developing wing prospect that emerged on the recruiting scene last high school season, Chatwin has blossomed into a serious division-I prospect…

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Wednesday began the NCAA Fall Signing Period across the state with many of the top-rated boys prospects in Arizona signing their national letters of intent with their respective programs.  I have billed the 2014 class of boys prospects in the state as the top class ever in the state of Arizona.  While there are still many of the state’s top student-athletes in the class still remaining unsigned for the spring evaluation period, many of the top-rated senior prospects got it done on Wednesday. I spent my evening at the home of 6-foot-3 senior guard Tate De Laveaga as he signed his national letter of intent with Northern…

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The Fall NCAA Signing Period began on Wednesday across the country, and Arizona’s top-rated 2014 girl’s prospects took part in the activities.  Many of the state’s top girls prospects would sign national letters of intent on the day, and receive praises from their families, fans and overall supporters in a joyous occasion. Leading the way on the day was top-rated girls prospect, Tempe Prep High Schools talented 6-foot-1 senior guard/forward Camille Zimmerman.  Zimmerman would sign her “Likely Letter” on Wednesday with Columbia University, a member of the famous Ivy League and one of the top academic programs in the country. “Today we held a small…

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She waited all the way until signing day to make it official.  After a long college recruiting process, Seton Catholic High School’s gifted 5-foot-10 senior post Julia Barcello would sign her official national letter of intent on Wednesday afternoon – ending her college recruitment. After considering heavy interest and offers from such division-I college programs as Arizona State, San Diego, Colorado, UC-Santa Barbara and Princeton, Barcello chose to a college program that was strong in academics as well as athletics – signing a national letter of intent with Colgate University and head coach Nicci Hays Fort and her women’s basketball staff. Barcello gained valuable…

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After a big announcement last week when Mesa Montain View High School’s talented 6-foot-10, 235-pound senior post Payton Dastrup gave a verbal commitment to Big-10 power Ohio State, the gifted post prospect has had a change of heart on the first signing day of the fall signing period. Today, Dastrup decided to go with his heart and his gut instinct – changing his mind and signing a national letter of intent with Brigham Young University (BYU).   BYU assistant coach Mark Pope was instrumental in the college recruitment of Dastrup.  “I just felt more comfortable with BYU,” Dastrup told Scout.com.  “After I…

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Mesa Junior College will rank among the top teams in the conference this season, as they return a talented lineup of prospects, which includes several college transfers.  One of the top four-year college transfers on the Thunderbirds’ roster this season may just be the Arizona Community College Athletic Conference’s (ACCAC) top shooting prospect this season.  After a strong performance in a brief freshman season for the University of Nebraska-Kearney, 6-foot-3 sophomore guard Sami Bzai decided to transfer programs and now looks prepared this season to put up big numbers. Bzai ranked as one of the best shooters to come out of the state…

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The 15th Annual Arizona Preps Fall Showcase was recently held on Saturday, October 26th at Scottsdale’s Jewish Community Center.  Both boys and girls top-rated prospects in the state participated on the day in front of numerous local, regional and national scouting services in attendance. As the state’s top pre-season event just before the start to the 2013-2014 high school basketball season, each of these top-rated prospects will be ones to watch this up-and-coming high school season.  Here is Part II of my top boys performers from this year’s event, beginning with the 2014 senior class . . . Arizona Preps Fall Showcase Top Boys Performers – 2014 Class (In No…

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The 15th Annual Arizona Preps Fall Showcase was recently held on Saturday, October 26th at Scottsdale’s Jewish Community Center.  Both boys and girls top-rated prospects in the state participated on the day in front of numerous local, regional and national scouting services in attendance. As the state’s top pre-season event just before the start to the 2013-2014 high school basketball season, each of these top-rated prospects will be ones to watch this up-and-coming high school season.  Here is Part I of my top boys performers from this year’s event, beginning with the 2014 senior class . . . Arizona Preps Fall Showcase Top Boys Performers – 2014 Class (In No…

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Casa Grande High School is quickly seeing a rise in their girls high school basketball program.  After the hiring last season of young and passionate head coach Ursula Doll, the struggling girls basketball program at Casa Grande has seen a dramatic improvement in the development of their girls basketball players. It was no more evident than at this year’s recent Arizona Preps Fall Showcase event when a number of girl’s prospects from the southern Arizona program performed at a high level at this year’s event, and were the talk of the event on the girl’s side of things.  With the Casa Grande girls impressing…

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