NEW ENGLAND PREP REPORT
by Wayne Simone, New England Editor of the HOOP SCOOP

SIMONE RANKS 'EM:  THE TOP PREP PLAYERS IN NEW ENGLAND

THE FRESHMAN CLASS IN NEW ENGLAND IS LOADED!

by Wayne Simone, New England Editor of the HOOP SCOOP

            There are as many as 20 seniors in New England with mid-major or higher talent, but the big story is the surprising number of player who still lack the necessary qualifying grades and/or SAT score to be eligible to play at a four-year school next year as a college freshman.   Among those who have yet to meet the minimum standards set forth by the NCAA are 6'9 Modibo Diarra from Fitchburg (Notre Dame) MA, 6'6 Jason Benton from New Haven (Wilbur Cross) CT, 6'5 Ryan Gomes from Waterbury (Wilby) CT, 6'6 Raheim Lamb from Boston (English) MA, 6'1 Kendall Williams from Hartford (Weaver) CT, 5'11 Anthony Anderson from Lynn (English) MA, and 6'3 Kevin Jeffries from Bridgeport (Kolbe Cathedral) CT.
            The junior class already had four legitimate top 100 players - 6'1 Jr Jermaine Watson from Braintree (Thayer Academy) CT, 6'1 Jr Mark Jones from Norwich (Free Academy) CT, 6'9 Jr Mark Konecny from Waterbury (Holy Cross) CT, and 6'2 Jr Ricardo Freeman from Hartford (Holy Cross) CT, but it changed to five when 6'9 Jr Julian Sensley from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT was reclassfied as a junior again last summer.  How good is Sensley?   He's come on like gangbusters and, as a result, would rank as the #1 senior in New England if we'd left him with his originally class, which is the Class of 2000.   While Sensley is being ranked as a junior for the second consecutive year, he will move straight to our 5th year list next year in accordance with the HOOP SCOOP's editorial policy of ranking players who are in their 9th semester of high school separately. 
            And the same will hold true for 6'9 Soph Torin Francis from Boston (Latin Academy) MA and 6'2 Soph Marshall Strickland from Winchendon (School) MA, both of whom are ranked among the top 20 sophomores in America, when they are supposed to become seniors.  Add a much-improved 6'2 Soph Charles Easterling from Hartford (Bulkeley) CT and 6'7 Soph Nick Caner-Medley from Cape Elizabeth (Deering) ME, who promises to be the best from Maine since T.J. Couette, and the sophomore class starts to look pretty good.  And it looks even better when you consider that it has a decent amount of size and an abundance of good point guards who get recruited at the Division I and II levels.
            But it's the freshmen class that promises to be the next great class in New England!   As a matter of fact, this class features the two top ranked freshmen in the nation by the HOOP SCOOP in 6'5 Frosh Roosevelt Lee from New Britain (H.S.) CT and 6'7 Frosh Lawrence Ryan Carrier from Salisbury (School) CT, who also was recently classified.  If that weren't enough, the class also includes three others - 6'1 Frosh Jamal Warren from Springfield (Cathedral) MA, 6'3 Mike Sawyer from Braintree (Thayer Academy) MA, and 6'7 Frosh Demetrius Nichols from Barrington (St. Andrews) RI - who rank among our top 20 freshmen nationally, and 7'0 Frosh Fernando Bonfin from Trumbull (H.S.) CT.    That's right!  This 7-foot, 290 lbs. Brazilian import is only a freshman!