FLORIDA PREP  REPORT 
by John Adkins, Florida Editor of the HOOP SCOOP & Director of the Tallahassee Wildcats AAU Program
Published January 16, 2002

ADKINS RANKS 'EM:  THE TOP PREP PLAYERS IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA

SLEEPERS, ATHLETES, & THE FUTURE HIGHLIGHT THE SUNSHINE STATE
by Clark Francis, Editor & Publisher of the HOOP SCOOP

                    The state of Florida features the #1 senior in America in 6'9 Amare Stoudemire from Orlando (Cypress Creek) FL, as well as another player who should be a lock for the McDonald's All-American Team in 6'5 Rashad Anderson from Lakeland (Kathleen) FL, who is widely regarded as one of the top 3-point shooters in the senior class nationally.  However, it seems Stoudemire, Anderson, and 6'8 Yusef Baker from Orlando (Evans) FL, a gifted-power forward who ranks among our top 70 nationally, have been around forever and, as a result, its the unsigned players in the senior class, like 6'5 Marcus Morrison from St. Petersburg (Lakewood) FL, 5'11 Jose Juan Barea from Miami (Christian) FL, 6'8 Jason McGriff from Palm Bay (Bayside) FL, 6'1 Carlos Rivera from Miami (Christian) FL, 6'5 Mike Williams from Tampa (Plant) FL, and 6'5 Anthony Paez from Ft. Myers (Lehigh) FL that get us excited.  Morrison, who emerged as a legitimate top 100 senior nationally at the City of Palms Classic in Ft. Myers, FL, is a big time athlete with explosive quickness, great body control, excellent 3-point range, and good handling and passing skills.  Barea is probably too small to get ranked among our top 100 nationally, but what he lacks in size, he more than makes up for with his speed, quickness, 3-point shooting, decision-making, and toughness.  In other words, Barea plays like a tough hardnosed player from Miami, FL, but in reality he's only been in this country a short time after immigrating from Puerto Rico.  McGriff is an excellent athlete and an outstanding rebounder, but he also is a question mark academically.  So he appears to be prime junior college material.  Rivera is explosive in the open court and he can shoot the lights out, but his ball handling and decision making may be good enough for him to project as a point guard in the Sun Belt Conference.  Williams is another incredible athlete, but this lefty wing forward is also a big time wide receiver in football.  Paez is another gifted athlete who impressed us at the City of Palms Classic with his ball handling, defense, and ability to get to the basket.  
                    The top spot in the junior class is really up for grabs, as 6'10 Jr Akini Adkins from Tallahassee (Leon) FL, 5'10 Jr T.J. Bannister from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL, and 6'4 Jr Dwan Youmans from Jacksonville (Arlington Country) FL all are ranked among our top 30 nationally.  However, Adkins, who was dramatically improved when we saw him at the Charlie Weber Invitational Tournament at College Park, MD last fall, gets the nod due to his size, athleticism, and tremendous potential.  Adkins is also an outstanding student and tremendous person off the court, but needs to get bigger and stronger in order to utilize excellent shot blocking, defending, and rebounding skills.  His offensive skills and post moves also continue to get better and better, so it should come as no surprise that Adkins, who is ranked #13 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, already has schools like Tennessee, Alabama, LSU, North Carolina, Florida State, Florida, Louisville, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Connecticut, Oregon, Illinois, and Texas on his list.  Just like Adkins, Bannister, who is ranked #25 nationally in the junior class by the HOOP SCOOP, as well as #3 among point guards in the junior class, is also an outstanding student (3.9 gpa).  However, on the basketball court Bannister is a point guard who reminds you of a less explosive version of Kevin Johnson.  Not only does he always keep the ball low to the ground and push the ball in transition, but Bannister also has great ball handling and passing skills, which makes it extremely difficult to press him.  So all Bannister needs to do now is continue to work on outside shooting.  Currently schools like Stanford, Duke, North Carolina, Florida, Miami-FL, Georgia Tech, Louisville, and Kentucky are showing the most interest, but you can bet Bannister's list will get longer before it gets shorter.  Youmans is a world-class athlete who jumps out of the gym and locks you up defensively.  However, Youmans needs to dramatically improve his outside shooting, if he wants to be a 2-guard at the highest level.  But it may not matter, because schools like Florida and Miami-FL are interested in converting him into a point guard at the college level.
                    Our Florida Editor John Adkins thinks 6'5 Franklin Young from Tallahassee (Florida) FL, who has great instincts, good athleticism, sound fundamentals, also should be ranked among our top 50 nationally.  But after the top four it is almost too close to call among 6'4 Jr Carlton Christmas from Orlando (Evans) FL, 6'8 Jr Wesley Green from Eustis (H.S.) FL, 6'8 Jr Ivan Lopez from Miami (Christian) FL, 6'8 Jr Renaldo Balkman from Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL.  Christmas teams at Evans High School with 6'8 Yusef Baker to form one of the best inside/outside punches in the state.  Green is extremely athletic and very skilled inside, but he doesn't play very hard and is very up and down.   As a result, Brandon Bender comparisons may be order.  Lopez is a little undersized, but he runs the court, is active on the boards, and does all the dirty work inside for Miami Christian.  We haven't seen Balkman, who is currently a 4th year junior and, as a result, will be ranked as a 5th year player next year, along with 6'3 Danny Morrissey and 5'11 Pat Beck, both of whom also are currently listed as juniors at Bradenton (Pendleton School) FL.  However, he is putting up ridiculous numbers and, as a result, some people, including Donnie Wilkie, who is the director of the City of Palms Classic, think Balkman might potentially be the best junior in the state. 
                    The next great class in the state promises to be the sophomore class, which not only is already a lot deeper than the junior and senior classes, but also features three legitimate top 20 players nationally in 5'11 Jr Darius Washington from Orlando (Edgewater) FL, 6'5 Jr Cornelius Ingram from Hawthorne (H.S.) FL, and 5'11 Soph Alex Gordon from Pensacola (H.S.) FL.  Washington, who is ranked by the HOOP SCOOP as a top five sophomore nationally, established his national reputation while playing in both the 15-Under and 17-Under Divisions at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions last spring.  We're talking about an explosive athlete and a scoring machine who thrives in transtion.  However, Washington also has a tendancy to be out of control and many question whether he makes good enough decisions to ever be a true point guards.  Plus, he may be the classic example of what can happen when you receive too much attention and notoriety too early in your career.  As a matter of fact, Washington played for the Atlanta Celtics last summer and now the word on the street is that he is planning on following in the footsteps of 6'3 Antonio Lawrence, who is now at Fresno (San Joaquin Memorial) CA, by playing for Darren Matsubara on the Fresno, CA-based EBO-EA Sports adidas team next summer.  Whether Ingram will live up to his expectations is also a question mark, because football is his #1 sport.  Not only are we talking about a world-class athlete, but we're talking about a guy who can write his own ticket as a quarterback prospect and, as a result, we're not sure if he has the same love for the hardwood that he has for the gridiron.  However, Ingram is averaging almost a triple-double in basketball, as he hits the outside jumper, goes strong to the basket, and dominates on the boards.  All he needs to do to is become a little more focused, but that should come with maturity.   Gordon, who is best described as a scoring point guard with big time athleticism, speed, and quickness, is the sleeper of the three.  He also is one of the reasons why we think the Tallahassee Wildcats AAU team will be so good this summer.  As a matter of fact, it wouldn't be a major surprise if Gordon eventually moved ahead of both Washington and Ingram in our rankings.
                    The sophomore class also featured two outstanding big men at Homestead (Berkshire) FL, but the school  was recently sold and the basketball program has been shut down.   Actually 6'11 Soph Abdul Portillo had already returned to Puerto Rico prior to when all this happened, but, at last report, 6'8 Soph Christian Weddbon was still in school at Berkshire.  But who knows where he will end up.  We also don't know where Berkshire head coach Rolando Dela Barraera , who has always been an excellent source of information about players in South Florida, as well as a great teacher and developer of talent, will surface.  But we do know Dela Barraera would like to get another high school job in South Florida.    Most of Dela Barraera's other top players, including 6'10 Kevin Young, 6'5 Ismael N'Jaye, and 6'3 Jr Brian Mason have transferred to Ocala (Shores) FL.  The state also has two outstanding freshmen in 6'6 Frosh Zarronn Cann from Brandon (H.S.) FL was the #1 player at Jim Haley's Rookie Sensation's Camp in Ocala, FL in October, and 6'8 Frosh Keith Brumbaugh from Deland (H.S.) FL, who established his national reputation when he was dominant against the Boo Williams Summer League Team in the 17-Under National AAU Tournanent last summer in Orlando, FL.  However, the guy who already is the talk of the state is 7'1 Jason Bennett from Jacksonville (Arlington Country Day) FL.  Not only is Bennett widely regarded as one of the top two 8th graders in the America, along with 6'7 Derrick Character from Scotch Plains, NJ, but he already is starting on the varsity and has improved dramatically during the 12 months.  As a matter of fact, Keith Ferenaz, who runs a NIKE AAU program in Jacksonville, FL and is a former assistant coach Arlington Country Day, tells us that Bennett already has incredible moves for somebody his size and age.  "He spends an hour a day on individual instruction," says Ferenaz.  "So he already has developed great footwork, can do things, like pass out of the double-team, and can get up and down the floor.  He's also already a physical specimen, but he has the understanding of the game and he's skills on the perimeter.  He doesn't have the shooting range, but in many ways he reminds me of Sam Bowie."

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