Westwind Prep has made many changes over the last year after hiring basketball guru Jeff De Laveaga to take over the struggling program. After several years of success at the program and many prospects moving on to major colleges throughout the country, under the leadership of former Director of Basketball Operations Gary Trousdale, the school decided to go into a different direction in 2011, as Trousdale left the program. After a year spent under the direction of Kenny Carrillo, the school's basketball program was left without leadership once again, after Carrillo decided to part ways with the program.
In the spring of 2012, school Superintendent Debra Slagle decided to make a major change, hiring De Laveaga to take over the program - a program struggling with leadership and also needed a major overhaul academically with the NCAA's standards. Slagle replaced much of her student body and brought in a very dedicated and focused staff to deal with the academic side of things, and she brought in De Laveaga to take the basketball program into it's next phase - back to respectability nationally among college coaches and basketball scouts.
De Laveaga immediately got to work, staying up countless hours and hitting the phones at a very high rate.
"Sleep is overrated," says an always focused De Laveaga.
De Laveaga hired a talented staff of coaches and brought in superb, Scottsdale-based trainer Padraig O'brien to help train his players. With the staff now in place, De Laveaga organized his high school team, which will participate in the AIA this season, organized a post-graduate team (will play other post-grad teams and local junior colleges) and implemented a National High School team that will compete with the likes of national high school champion Findlay Prep (NV) this season.
While Westwind Prep had already changed the landscape of Arizona basketball in the state under the direction of Trousdale, De Laveaga created something that many basketball enthusiasts in the state and many around the country had only dreamed of doing - creating a national team that can compete at the highest level and raise the play and college recruitment of the participants on the team.
Amongst great scrutiny throughout the state, nothing new for De Laveaga, he has brought in some of the nation's top talent to a program that many believed could not make it financially this season. Through his vision and tremendous work ethic, De Laveaga has organized a group of prospects that college coaches have flocked to the state to catch a glimpse of this fall.
Each of the prospects that De Laveaga has brought in have flourished already in the early stages of the season, as each player has developed physically through a serious weight training regiment, and have also developed as players through competing against a high-level of basketball talent on a daily basis. For many of the players in the program, their day begins at 5:30AM daily, and does not end until late in the evening. As a result, players are getting better and fast.
Last weekend, Westwind Prep's 6-foot-8 junior forward Zylan Cheatham proved just how much he has developed, as he showcased his tremendous ability in front of some of the top basketball scouts in the West at the Arizona Preps Fall Showcase. Cheatham is now looking to make a jump in the national rankings among the 2014 class, and is also regarded by some as the top prospect in Arizona's loaded class.
Westwind Prep 6-foot-1 senior point guard John Marshall will sign a division-I scholarship with Southern Utah this fall, after meaning basketball enthusiasts in the state were critical of his potential as a division-I prospect before coming to Westwind. Horizon HS 6-foot-2 junior transfer guard Tate De Laveaga has added 10 pounds of muscle to his once thin frame since the summer, and now has received several division-I scholarship offers.
6-foot-9, 235-pound junior post Connor MacDougall, a recent transfer from Desert Vista HS, shocked the basketball world recently when he gave an early verbal pledge to the Arizona State Sun Devils, after developing a great deal as a player under the leadership of De Laveaga.
No player has developed more than 7-foot, 210-pound senior post Namdi Okonkwo, a native of Dallas, Texas. Okonkwo came to Westwind as a gangly, but athletic post prospect with very little skill level and a raw approach to the game. Okonkwo now has a resemblance to a potential high-major division-I post prospect, as he runs the floor, blocks shots at a high rate and plays with a much-better purpose on the floor.
On the post-grad team, De Laveaga and head coach Gabe Stevens have created recruitment opportunities for a group of post-grad prospects that did not have them before coming to the school. Arcadia HS graduate, 6-foot-2 prep guard Larry Lewis, after giving a verbal commitment to USC as a sophomore, fell into recruiting oblivion after failing to qualify academically for the Trojans. Now Lewis is regarded again as a top-rated college prospect for the 2013 class, and is working hard in the classroom to improve his recruiting profile. Westview HS graduate, 6-foot-2 prep guard Kevin Davis has flourished at Westwind, already receiving strong division-I interest and a recent division-I scholarship offer from the University of Texas San Antonio. Davis was an unknown college prospect a year ago. Amphitheater HS graduate, 6-foot-6 prep forward Charles Benson has flourished as well at the program, and now has become a solid low-major division-I prospect.
These are just a few of the student-athletes at the program that are receiving immediate results at Westwind Prep, and many more will see them as the year progresses - including Boulder Creek HS 6-foot-4 transfer guard Josh Braun. After injuring his knee last spring and seeing his college recruitment tail off as a result, Braun is now recovering nicely and will look to pick up his basketball career and his college recruitment by January - just in time for college programs looking for a top-rated prospect during the late signing period.
While Westwind Prep has taken their share of criticism by the local AIA and many basketball enthusiasts across the state since the school decided to revamp their basketball program years ago, the school has achieved serious results. Take a look at former Westwind Prep graduate Greg Smith, now playing significant minutes for the Houston Rockets (NBA), or Jamaal Franklin, one of the nation's top prospects at San Diego State and a future NBA first-round pick, Tony Snell, another one of the nation's top college prospects and a future NBA draft pick from the University of New Mexico. These are just a few of the top-rated prospects that have come through the Westwind program and are now doing big things.
While change is always tough to swallow, especially in a state that has seen very little of it over time, understand that the staff at Westwind Prep is not looking to hurt the state - but only to help develop it and put basketball in the state in a respectable place among other states around the country. Our state has too much basketball talent in it not to have a program such as Westwind Prep - giving Arizona's youth just another option to achieve desired results.
Of course, Westwind Prep is not an option for every player, but it is now a viable option for those that desire to have it.
