On Wednesday evening, two Arizona junior college programs that are headed in two different directions faced off, as Mesa Junior College hosted Central Arizona Junior College. Mesa CC is off to an excellent start this junior college season, behind the leadership of new, first-year Head Coach Lester Neal, while Central Arizona JC will be looking for a new head coach soon, after releasing former Head Coach Tramaine Aaron of his coaching duties earlier in the day. Mesa JC (5-1, 1-1) would bounce back from a loss to South Mountain JC last week on their home floor, while Central Arizona JC…
Author: Anthony Ray
Tuesday evening saw possibly the state’s top two AIA programs go at it in fine fashion, and early in the high school season – making for an excellent match-up for the state’s basketball enthusiasts to enjoy. This was a state playoff level match-up between #1 ranked Perry High School and a surging Liberty High School team, that is very game and prepared to make a state title run this season. Perry is the state’s top AIA program – coming off winning a 6A State Championship last season, and also winning the Welcome To The Jungle Gilbert Holiday Hoops Tournament last…
The Mesa Fear The Hop Tournament is exciting every year, and has become a nice tradition for pre-season basketball in the state, during the Thanksgiving week. With (16) of the state’s top high school programs featured last week during the event, a strong ALA Gilbert North program would win this year’s Tournament Championship, defeating a very talented Desert Mountain team in the event final, 76-73, led by the Tournament MVP, 6-foot senior guard Dylan Novak. Here are the All-Tournament selections from this year’s exciting Mesa Fear The Hop Tournament . . . Mesa Fear The Hop All-Tournament Team Mesa Fear…
Mesa Fear The Hop Tournament – It was an exciting week of pre-season basketball action around the state, and the Mesa Fear The Hop Tournament was as exciting as ever, as the week was filled with top performances, led by two programs – ALA Gilbert North and Desert Mountain High School. Both teams stormed their way to the tournament’s final game on Saturday evening, making for a terrific Tournament Final between two of the state’s top up-and-coming programs. These two talented groups would face off in front of a nice crowd of fans, supporters and media on Saturday evening at…
The AZ Compass Prep National basketball program continues to rise and soar, as if this program could do anything more. After setting out to build a top-rated national basketball program just a little more than (6) years ago, the AZ Compass program has quickly become a highly acclaimed and recognized basketball program nationally. After having several NBA Draft Picks, landing a big Nike Elite contract and reaching a previous #1 national ranking, the program is back on top nationally again, after a HUGE performance this week. AZ Compass Prep knocked off the nation’s #1 program, Montverde Academy (FL), and then…
From our Arizona Preps’ entire staff, we would like to wish everyone in the Arizona basketball community a Happy Thanksgiving and also a Happy Holidays, as Christmas begins to approach. But first, we would like to thank all of our supporters – the high school and prep players, coaches, scouts, media and, of course, the many parents that make it all possible. Arizona Preps has been covering Arizona high school and junior college basketball since 1999! To all the high school, prep school and junior college coaches and players in the state, we would like to give thanks to all…
It is a new day at Desert Mountain High School for numerous reasons, and this season looks much different and very rewarding for the Desert Mountain High School basketball program. After finishing with a 15-11 record a season ago, and falling in the 5A State Playoffs to Canyon View High School, the program has returned this high school season with some serious new young talent. The program will also now be coached by Mitch Armour, who takes over the program after coaching Skyline High School in Mesa, Arizona. This season will begin a new era at Desert Mountain, as the…
With the beginning of the high school and prep seasons now here, and after a busy summer and fall, we have updated and now release our NEW Individual Player Rankings. We begin our new rankings for Arizona’s 2023 Senior Class of prospects. The 2023 Class is very loaded with some gifted prospects, many who have already committed or signed national letter of intents to play college basketball. Top-rated prospects in the class helped themselves in our new rankings with strong performances this summer and fall, as prospects emerged throughout the process and now are in the conversation for much higher college recruitment.…
With the new 2022-2023 high basketball season set to begin this week around Arizona, there will be many programs looking to put it all together this high school season and win it all. For Centennial High School, they will be looking to defend their 5A State Title from a year ago, but are just as hungry again to win it all. After finishing with a very impressive 25-5 overall record last season, a lot has now changed for the program this season, as New Head Coach David Grace takes over the helm, and will now look to lead this year’s…
While numerous top-rated prospects have signed National Letters of Intent with their respective college programs during the NCAA Early Signing Period, one of my favorite prospects in Arizona’s 2023 Class has found his fit for college as well, as Liberty High School’s talented 6-foot-5 senior forward Caden Hunter decided to pull the trigger for himself – signing a national letter of intent with Pima Junior College and Head Coach Brian Peabody and his staff. Hunter is one of my top sleeper prospects in Arizona’s 2023 Class, so Peabody and his staff are getting a good one. Hunter made a very…