2000-2001 McDONALD'S ALL AMERICAN TEAM

     ANALYSIS OF MCDONALD'S ALL-AMERICAN  TEAM SELECTIONS

by Clark Francis, Editor & Publisher

                        While there are always things you can second guess and/or question, it appears that the Selection Committee for the McDonald's All American High School Basketball Team and the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Morgan Wootten, who has the right to add four additional players to the 20-man team the committee selects, deserves an "A" this year for a job well done.  Evidence of this comes from the fact that the two lowest ranked players, according the HOOP SCOOP, 6'1 Chris Thomas from Indianapolis (Pike) IN and 6'9 Anthony Richardson from Raleigh (Leesville Road) NC, both not only should be very competitive in the game, but also have NBA-like talent and potential.  This is in direct contrast to 7'6 Neil Fingleton from Worcester (Holy Name) MA and 6'1 Luke Ridnour from Blaine (H.S.) OR, both of whom were non-factors in the game a year ago.    Speaking of the game a year ago, three players on the team - Fingleton, who was ranked #168, 6'9 Brian Boddicker from Duncanville (H.S.) TX, who was ranked #103, and 6'3 Scooter Sherrill from Mt Ulla (West Rowan) NC, who was ranked #109, were not ranked among our top 100 nationally.  In contrast, everybody on the team this year is ranked among the HOOP SCOOP's top 50. 
                    Another important criteria we look at are the political picks.  We understand that three of the four players that Wootten added onto the team were Richardson, 6'3 Daniel Ewing from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX, and 6'1 Maurice Williams from Jackson (Murrah) MS.  Williams is currently ranked #21 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP and he was higher than that before we saw him at Slam Dunk the Beach in Lewes, DE, where he didn't play well in late December.  So obviously he should be on the team.  Ewing, who is ranked #32 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, was Duke's only signee last fall.  So obviously he will be a big local draw.    Remember, the game is played at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday, March 28th.   So will Richardson (be a big draw), despite the fact all the local schools passed on him, because they were scared of his academic situation.  However, that may come back to haunt Duke, North Carolina, and N.C. State, because this multi-dimensional athlete reminds us of a poor man's DerMarr Johnson and the main reason we've got him so low is inconsistency.  One night he'll be tremendous, but the next he'll be hardly notable.  The fourth political pick we can only speculate upon.  However, our guess is that it was Thomas, who is politically correct, if you are interested in having more than two white players on the team.  If that was their sole motive, 6'1 Brandon Fuss-Cheatham from Beaver Falls (Black Hawk) PA should have been the next in line, but we think Thomas, who is actually racially mixed (his mother is white and his father is black), made the team for another reason.  Remember, he was ranked among the top five freshmen and top 10 sophomores nationally by the HOOP SCOOP, but he never grew and he didn't get a lot better.   He is a great outside shooter, good passer, excellent ball handler, and deceptively quick in transition.  However, Thomas really needs to improve when he's away from the ball. 
                    So how did Thomas make the team?  The fact that Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey was a former assistant coach at Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD and is still very close to Wootten certainly didn't hurt his chances.  But our guess is that he also was living off his earlier hype. And that's the one major problem that still needs to be addressed in future years in the selection process.  How do you factor in a player who is having a great senior year, but who wasn't ranked that high last summer or earlier in his career.    Remember, most of the people on the selection committee don't see everybody nationally during the high school season?  The perfect example is 6'5 John Allen from Coatesville (H.S.) PA, who was ranked in the 30-40 range last summer, but who was the best player based on performance at Slam Dunk to the Beach in Lewes, DE in late December and, as a result, now is ranked #10 nationally by the HOOP SCOOP. 
                    In other words, if you want to ensure yourself a spot on the McDonald's All-American Team, it is much more important to establish your reputation as one of the top high school players in the nation when you are a sophomore or junior and/or during the summer before your senior year, like Richardson and 6'8 Wayne Simien from Leavenworth (H.S.) KS, both of whom were virtually unknown nationally before last summer.  We also find it interesting that 6'0 Jonathan Hargett from Ft. Washington (National Christian) MD and 6'9 Julian Sensley from Oakdale (St. Thomas More) CT didn't make the team.   But in both cases their politics wasn't right.    Sensley is a 5th year player, he signed with the University of California, and nobody from St. Thomas, which year-in and year-out might be the best prep school in the nation now that Max Good is gone from Pittsfield (Maine Central Institute) ME, ever seems to make the team McDonald's Team.  Hargett, who is bound for West Virginia, has had his share of off the court problems, plus he previously played for the infamous Joel Hopkins at Durham (Mt. Zion Christian) NC, which is a major taboo in many circles all by itself. 
                    Certainly being a good kid and playing for the right high school program and/or attending the correct college, like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, and, now maybe Notre Dame, can also help one's chances of making the McDonald's All American Team.  But this year the school with the most players on the team is the University of Florida.    However, there was no politics here, because all three of the Gators' signees - 6'8 David Lee from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO, 6'11 Kwame Brown from Brunswick (Glynn Academy) GA, and 6'7 James White from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA - were believed to be locks before the balloting ever began.    The only other college to land more than one player on the team this year was Kansas with Simien and 6'1 Aaron Miles from Portland (Jefferson) OR.     DePaul, Minnesota, Florida State, North Carolina, Stanford, N.C. State, Duke, Michigan State, Kentucky, Memphis, UCLA, Louisville, Notre Dame, Alabama, and Texas all landed one McDonald's All American each and four players on the team - 7'0 Tyson Chandler from Compton (Dominguez) CA, 6'9 Ousmane Cisse from Montgomery (St. Jude) AL, 6'11 David Harrison from Brentwood (Academy) TN, and 7'0 DeSagana Diop from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA - are still unsigned and/or uncommitted. 
                    Unfortunately three of four just mentioned unsigned seniors may not play in the game.  Apparently Chandler, who is all but a lock to enter his name into the NBA draft next spring is more concerned about getting picked as a high lottery pick in the draft than proving to any of us that he's got the heart and desire necessary to make it big at the highest level.    In other words, if he doesn't play well against Brown or Harrison, it could hurt his draft position.  So once again one has to ask are talking about one of the great big men in the history of the game or the next Ralph Sampson?   Diop is a total physical specimen, but still has a long way to go in terms of becoming a dominating force inside and learning the American game.  So he probably won't bypass college and go straight to the NBA.  Instead, his problem is that he's been sidelined the rest of the year with a stress fracture.  Nobody seems to know exactly what the status is with Cisse.  However, we do know that he's been sidelined since we saw him at Slam Dunk the Beach in late December and apparently his injury is more severe than we'd originally been led to believe.  As a result, all the talk about Cisse going straight to the NBA may be premature, especially if he's going to require any surgery in the off-season (we're getting unconfirmed reports about this possibility being the case).
                    So if three of the highly touted big guys - Chandler, Diop, and Cisse - don't actually play in the game, the inside matchups may prove to be a little disappointment.  Let's first look at the center position, where Curry should get the best of Harrison.    However, if Curry doesn't come to play, which often is the case, we may be in for a surprise, because Harrison is excellent at scoring around the basket.  If Cisse plays, the edge has to go to the East, because Brown and Cisse are both so naturally talented and gifted athletically.  However, without Cisse, the West would have a big advantage with Rickert, Lee, and Simien.  As a a result, there is already talk about Rickert being moved to the East.  The wing forward spot with Richardson and White on the East and 6'9 Jawad Williams from Lakewood (St. Edward) OH and 6'6 Josh Childress from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA on the West should not decide the game either way.  Nor should the point guards with Thomas, Williams, and 6'1 Carlos Hurt from Louisville (Moore) KY on the East and Miles, 6'5 Cedric Bozeman from Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA, and 5'11 Terrance Ford from Sugar Land (Willowridge) TX on the West.
                    So clearly the best position in the game is the two-guard spot and the East has a big advantage with 6'6 Julius Hodge from Bronx (St. Raymond's) NY, 6'3 Rashaad Carruth from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA, and 6'2 Dajuan Wagner from Camden (H.S.) NJ.  Ewing, 6'4 Kelvin Torbert from Flint (Northwestern) MI, and possibly Bozeman aren't enough to conpensate for the outside firepower that Hodge, Wagner, and Carruth will provide.  However, the bigger question will be who is going to stop Wagner from posting up inside?  Maybe Torbert can, but physically and/or athletically Wagner should have a field day against anybody else for the West (Ford, Miles, Bozeman, Ewing, Childress, or Williams) who tries.  In other words, we think that will be the difference in the game - the East should win easily.    However, before you bet the ranch, remember this an all-star game where team play and coaching often goes right out the window.  As a result, anything can and often does happen!

Editor's Note:  James White doesn't rank among our top seniors, because he is a 5th Year Player.  However, if he were ranked among seniors he would be included among the top 10 seniors.  

.