Sunday, November 7, 2010
The 2010-2011 High School Season officially got underway on Friday-Saturday here in the Austin-San Antonio area. After 6 weeks of fall showcases and scrimmages the Private Schools kicked things off at Antonian HS in San Antonio in their Antonian College Prep Tip Off Classic.
On thing is clear. There is NO COMPETITION from the other area private school pretenders to Antonian this season. Game, set & match. It's over. Coach Andre Walker's Apaches shredded their opponents racking up over 100 points per game while going deep into their bench. Their combo of size and athleticism is overwhelming. They'll be led by two seniors; 6'7" Jonathan Holmes who's committed to the Texas Longhorns & 6'8" Darius Hamilton who's committed to the Boise State Broncos. Both are impact players at the next level. Toss in nice senior leadership from SG Eric Garza, 2013 PG Justin Brickman & others it's "Katy Bar The Door". Brickman's two older brothers (Jordan-Navy) & (Justin-Long Island) were both D1 players. Justin could be the best of the bunch and has been one of my personal favorites ever since he attended my All American Camp as a 7th grader.
Antonian bookends: (l) 6'8" Darius Hamilton (Boise State) & (r) 6'7" Jonathan Holmes (Texas)
Austin St. Stephen's 59 Austin St. Michael's 58
In their first meeting in several years the old rivals from Austin had to come to San Antonio to meet. Apparently an on the court brouhaha which ended up involving the crowd the last time they met caused cancellation of the annual game between the two. This one ended with St. Stephen's 2011 WG Sterling Green hitting a jumper from the short corner for the win with 5 seconds left. St. Michael's never had a chance to attempt the game winner as they threw the in bounds pass away.
2013 G Carl Austin shows promise for St. Stephen's, so we'll continue to evaluate him. 2012 W Parth Vakil had a one minute span at the end of the 1st half where he looked like an All American dropping three straight from beyond the arc to stun the Crusaders. I'm a big fan of St. Michael's Coach Mackey Smith, but he needs to get a handle on a group which appears selfish and allergic to playing defense in the first outings of the season. They went 1-3 in this tournament. 2011 SG Jake Kocher of St. Michael's (Texas A&M-Corpus Christi) led the Crusaders and all scorers with 27.
2011 SG Jake Kocher of Austin St. Michel's is out to defend his CenTex Scoring Title
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Earlier in the day I was in Austin watching the 4 team public school scrimmages involving Pflugerville, Pflugerville Hendrickson, Austin Lanier & Killeen Ellison.
Pflugerville was the clear winner. Coach Mike Murphy just reloads every season in what has to be the Cen Tex's richest talent base. Everyone knows about 2011 G Deon Mitchell (Northern Iowa). He'll get senior help from 6'5" W Cameron Blue & 6'5" move in Shabazz Muhammad & high energy G Darian Dempsey. However, what caught my eye was the crew of 2013 sophomores that will be in the wings for the Panthers in the coming years.
2013 PG T.J. Williams (l) & 2013 SG Napoleon Oneyeje (r) : Pflugerville's talented 2013 Class
2013 PG T.J. Williams, a real smoothie will be the understudy to Mitchell while W Justin Maas also brings energy & shooting ability to the party. 2013 G Darian Bostic, 2013 G Napoleon Oneyeje & 2013 WG Chris Rodgers could all be varsity contributors at most of the schools in the area but will likely ply their trade at the JV level this season rather than sit at the end of the loaded Panthers bench.
2011 PG Deluxe Deon Mitchell (Northern Iowa) & 2012 Jamal Shabazz of Pflugerville
Pflugerville Hendrickson has a D1 player in WG Jalen Washington and another quality senior in G Jalen Washington. 2013 P 6'6" Wesley Brown will be a good one, but it looks like his role will be rebounding the ball as Hendrickson loves to fire it up. Washington had given his verbal to Mount St. Mary's in the Northeast Conference last week but has since reconsidered and will wait until the April signing period. If he continues to improve his handles and revs his engine then he moves up the ladder to the higher end mid majors.
Killeen Ellison seemed nonchalant in this series of scrimmages but Coach Alberto Jones will have them squared away once the whistle blows to start the season. They've got two D1 players in Senior Devonta Brown (Indiana State) & W Jaleel Williams who will sign in the spring period. He'lll be the jewel of the area's availables in April.
Jalen Washington (l) leads Pflugerville Hendrickson & Jaleel Williams (r) leads Killeen Ellison.
***Uh oh! As if I don't irritate enough folks as it is, I may have unintentionally alienated the San Antonio Central Catholic faithful. I had lunch today with St. George Athletic Director Raymond Kite whose son 6'9" Jarred Kite plays at at Central. He mentioned that the CC boys were cutting and pasting my comments above for distribution/motivation. My bad guys, as I honestly overlooked you . BUT, I'd hate to waste a good apology until I see ya'll in scrimmages this Wednesday at Seguin High. :-)
At that time I can edit my thoughts while dodging rotten vegetables being thrown my way...lol I will say this though, Central has the best pure shooter in San Antonio in 2011 G Cole Martinez, a prmosing BIG in Kite & any team coached by my friend Romy Vela will be no pushover. ***
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