Pinnacle High School came up just short of winning last year’s Division-I state championship last season, after losing a first half lead to eventual state champion Corona Del Sol in the second half of a championship nail-biter. In the process, head coach Charlie Wilde and his team learned a lot about their group and saw the emergence of a couple key contributors for the 2013-2014 high school basketball season. One of these emerging prospects during a strong season where Pinnacle finished with a 26-7 overall record was skilled 6-foot senior point guard prospect Trey Ingram. Throughout the high school season…
Author: Anthony Ray
The busy summer recruiting month of July is valuable to Arizona prospects in many ways. Obviously, the most important aspect of the summer is the opportunity to raise a prospect’s exposure to college coaches and, ultimately, improve college recruitment. For Mountain Pointe High School’s 6-foot-6, 215-pound senior forward Chris Davis, the experience gained from playing against the nation’s best prospects was just as valuable. Davis missed the entire spring evaluation period with a foot injury, and, as a result, flew well below the recruiting radar for college programs. Among the top overall prospects in Arizona’s loaded 2014 class, Davis recovered just in time for the summer…
Not too long ago, former legendary three-sport star athlete Carlos Artis broke numerous Arizona state records in basketball, football and track and field while attending Washington High School in northwest Phoenix. Artis made a big name for himself within the state – ranking as the state’s top basketball prospect, the nation’s top wide receiver and also the state’s top track & field athlete. Artis would go one to sign a football scholarship with Arizona State University, while also playing basketball for the Sun Devil program. Artis was most notably known during his college career for catching former NFL quarterback Jake…
Almost as soon as her college recruitment had began to take off, it has come to an end. Mesa Mountain View High School’s ultra-talented and superb 5-foot-10 junior guard prospect Armani Hawkins shocked the girl’s high school recruiting world on Thursday morning when it was announced that she had given an early verbal pledge to the Arizona State Sun Devils. The Sun Devils were the first college program to offer Hawkins a scholarship, and now they will look to be the last as head coach Charlie Turner-Thorne and her women’s basketball staff reeled in one of the nation’s elite prospects. Armani…
While I was unable to attend this weekend’s Southwest Showcase High Academic Showcase at Phoenix College and organized by Ron Coleman, two local 2015 prospects impressed tournament organizers enough to garner Co-Most Valuable Player honors after the event. Brophy Prep High School’s talented 6-foot-3 junior guard Max Kufel and Chaparral High School’s strong 6-foot-5 junior post Ryan Bayster would take home the honors after both turned in very strong performances in the event. While we recently just featured a story on Arizona Preps about the rapid development of Ryan Bayster, the tough, hardnosed post prospect would continue this strong play in last weekend’s…
The 2012-2013 high school basketball season belonged to Corona Del Sol High School in the Division-I Class, but not without a strong fight from a talented Pinnacle HS team, whom would finish as the Division-I state champion runner-ups. Pinnacle will look to compete hard, once again, with the Aztecs this up-and-coming high school basketball season, as they will return one of the state’s most loaded ballclubs. While Pinnacle already looked to be very good this season, the transfer of 6-foot-10, 245-pound senior post Cameron Gilbert could be the difference. There are very few prospects around the West Coast with the…
For Sunnyslope High School’s talented and emerging 6-foot-10 senior post Michael Humphrey, the busy business of college recruiting has now taken shape, as Humphrey has narrowed down his long list of college programs now to five college programs. After a busy month of July where the almost unknown post prospect became a household name among division-I college coaches around the country, Humphrey has decided on five college programs that he will take visits to this fall. I caught up with Humphrey on Saturday evening, and he advised me that he will now make his college decision between UCLA, Stanford, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame and Arizona…
One of the top overall prospects in Arizona’s loaded 2014 class has decided to trim his recruiting list, down to 7 college programs that he will consider for his fall college decision. Pinnacle High School’s sharp-shooting and talented 6-foot-5 senior guard/forward Dorian Pickens advised me this week that he currently plans to make a fall decision, but only after taking official recruiting visits to the schools of his choice. I caught up with Pickens this week while watching him workout in a North Scottsdale training session held by Scottsdale-based trainer BJ Letcher. After the workout, Pickens advised me that he will decide from…
Mesa Mountain View High School’s ultra-talented and superb 5-foot-10 junior guard prospect Armani Hawkins is currently the top-rated underclassman girls prospect in the state of Arizona. A very gifted performer and the younger sister of former Toro’s star guard Arnecia Hawkins (Arizona State), Armani has recently seen her college recruitment begin to soar. I have had Hawkins rated as my top overall prospect in Arizona’s talented 2015 class, since I first saw her take the floor two years ago in a Southwest Showcase event held in Chandler. Now many college coaches around the country are taking notice of the talented guard prospect. Currently, Hawkins is rated by ESPN…
Last season was a coming-out-party for one of the state’s top emerging talents. Maryvale High School’s 6-foot-6 senior forward Jorge Cano had a big junior season for a struggling Maryvale basketball program. While the team suffered their share of losses throughout the season, the play of Cano was a major bright spot for head coach Sebastion Payton. A long-time native of the state of Arizona, Payton has seen his share of top-rated talent come through the state over the past 20 years, and he believes Cano gives his team its best chance to win ball games. “Jorge (pronounced George) is…