When 7-foot, 215-pound senior post player Namdi Okonkwo traveled to the state of Arizona this fall from Dallas, Texas, he was as raw a basketball talent as there is – a long, gangly athletic post with very little organized basketball experience. A lot has changed in a short period of time for this young man. As a senior post player for Westwind Prep Academy’s National Team, Okonkwo has developed a great deal physically and mentally this basketball season – going from a defensive-minded post player with very raw offensive skills, to a now capable offensive talent with excellent defensive timing and athletic prowess. This has…
Author: Anthony Ray
The future was very unclear for Arcadia High School 2012 graduate and current Westwind Prep post-graduate guard prospect Larry Lewis. Recently still uncleared by NCAA academic standards, Lewis had considered his basketball future. As a non-qualifier and frustrated, Lewis had wondered whether he would attend a junior college or even quit playing basketball all together. Well, this week his future looks much brighter for himself, as Lewis received a passing test score on his recent ACT college entrance examination. According to the Westwind Prep coaching staff, the talented 6-foot-3 prep combo-guard prospect received a score good enough to qualify him per NCAA academic…
Recently, it was reported that Westwind Prep Academy 6-foot-9, 235-pound junior post Connor MacDougall (Arizona State commit) had left school – leaving Westwind Prep for undisclosed reasons. While we are unable to report the reasons for MacDougall leaving Westwind’s basketball program at this time, in fairness to he and his family, MacDougall will now look to pick up his academic and athletic future again next year and another program. MacDougall’s desire to leave the Westwind program had nothing to do with Westwind Prep’s academics or basketball program – in fairness to the school and their coaching staff. According to MacDougall’s father, Lonnie MacDougall,…
Mountain Pointe High School (11-8) has been up and down all season long, but is headed in the right direction at the right time of the season. After receiving some serious help recently from the addition of several football prospects to this year’s group of talented players, the Pride has won their last four games of the season and with their biggest win of the season coming Tuesday evening in a big 49-47 win over visiting Mesa High School (18-4). Behind the strong play of 6-foot-6, 195-pound junior transfer forward Chris Davis, the Pride now have a loaded athletic group of…
The match-up between St. Mary’s High School and Pinnacle HS was the most anticipated girl’s match-up of the high school basketball season. Especially since the last time these two teams met during the 2010-2011 season, Pinnacle upset St. Mary’s in what was the last time that the Knights would lose a game to an Arizona team. Heading into Monday night’s contest in this year’s MLK Basketball Classic at Wells Fargo Arena, the headline game of the day’s five different match-ups, St. Mary’s had won an amazing 48-straight games against Arizona high school teams. Are you kidding me? Talk about getting it done.…
Pinnacle High School (15-6) and Desert Mountain (17-3) met on Monday evening for the first time this season in an absolute war between two of the state’s top basketball programs in the Division-I Class. Not only was this match-up an exciting affair, loaded with talented prospects, but the stage was set in this year’s MLK Basketball Classic at Wells Fargo Arena on the campus of Arizona State University. Desert Mountain (DM) came into the game playing their best basketball of the season – winners of their last 12 games in a row. Led by the play of superb 5-foot-11 junior point…
Highland High School (21-2) has been terrific this high school season and looks to be headed for a strong post-season performance. This year’s Highland Hawks are big in size and loaded with talent – winners of their last 6 games in a row on the season, and also winners of 16 of their last 17 games. The Hawk’s only two losses on the season came at the hands of a loaded Mountain Pointe HS team, and also Reno HS in this year’s Las Vegas Holiday Classic over the winter break. Highland has been led this season by the play of the talented…
Highland High School’s girl’s basketball program is one of the winningest programs in the state of Arizona, and much of that has to do with the amazing legacy of long-time veteran head coach Miner Webster. Webster earned his 700th win of his historic 25-year basketball career this week, after a big 44-21 blowout home victory over visiting Mesquite HS (12-10). This season is Webster’s 25th career of coaching and he has compiled an impressive overall record of 701 wins and 106 losses in his career. Webster’s 701st win of his career came Friday evening in another huge blowout of Skyline High School…
On Tuesday evening, Millennium High School (15-3) and Westview HS (14-6) faced off in what was thought to be a big match-up of two of the state’s elite 2014 prospects – Westview’s talented 6-foot-8 junior post Andre Adams and Millennium’s skilled 6-foot-9 junior low-post prospect Elston Jones. Instead, the game would look much differently, as Jones would sit out the game with a knee injury – suffered in a previous game. While Jones would look to return to action in the near future, the match-up with Adams would have to wait for another contest. On this evening, basketball fans would instead see…
The college basketball career for Central High School 2011 graduate, 6-foot-4, 205-pound wing Robert Selmon has been on hold for two seasons now. Still looking to make his college basketball debut, Selmon remains inactive on any college basketball roster. Selmon qualified academically late from Central HS – during the summer of 2011 and after the completion of his senior season. As a result, Selmon elected to attend local juco power Arizona Western Junior College, but decided to leave the basketball program before the start to the season. This season, after electing not to play his freshman season at Arizona Western JC,…