Cream Rises to the Top at NIKE All-American Camp

by Clark Francis, Editor & Publisher of the HOOP SCOOP

                    George Raveling, Don Crenshaw, and all of the rest of the people who run the NIKE All-American Camp have to be thrilled right now.  If you will recall, adidas won the battle of the shoe company camps in 2001 and 2002, but this year the race for supremacy was almost too close to call.  And NIKE, which had only one 5th year player in 6'3 Isaiah Swann from Chatham (Hargrave Military) VA ranked among our top 50 in camp, would have won the battle easily if the adidas ABCD Camp hadn't used a plethora of 5th year players to get it over the top.   However, the next two years it probably won't matter, because the big strength of the NIKE All-American Camp was the depth provided by it's overabundance of outstanding underclassmen, as is evident by the fact that nine of the top 25 and 14 of the top 40 players in camp are expected to be back again next year.  Or looking at it at different way, 12 of the HOOP SCOOP's top 20 juniors - 6'3 Jr Louis Williams from Snellville (South Gwinnette) GA, 6'11 Jr Luke Zeller from Washington (H.S.) IN, 6'8 Jr Tyrell Biggs from Ramsey (Don Bosco) NJ, 6'4 Jr Monta Ellis from Jackson (Lanier) MS, 6'9 Jr Keith Brumbaugh from Deland (H.S.) FL, 6'8 Jr Richard Hendrix from Athens (H.S.) AL, 6'9 Jr Tyler Hansborough from Poplar Bluff (H.S.) MO, 6'3 Jr Tiki Mayben from Troy (H.S.) NY, 6'7 Jr Julian Wright from Flossmoor (Homewood-Flossmoore) IL, 6'9 Jr Josh McRoberts from Carmel (H.S.) IN, 6'7 Jr Martell Webster from Seattle (Prep) WA, and 6'1 Jr Greg Paulus from Syracuse (Christian Brothers Academy) NY attended the NIKE All-American Camp this year, plus 6'5 Jr Marcus Ginyard from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA and 6'0 Jr Eric Price from Blairstown (Blair Academy) NJ both play for the DC Blue Devils club team program and, as a result, will likely be at the camp a year from now.  And NIKE's superiority appears to be even more dramatic in the Class of 2005, as 12 of the HOOP SCOOP's top 15 sophomores - 6'11 Soph Greg Oden from Indianapolis (Lawrence North) IN, 6'9 Soph Derrick Caracter from Scotch Plains (H.S.) NJ, 6'8 Soph Brandan Wright from Brentwood (Academy) TN, 6'9 Soph Vernon Macklin from Portsmouth (Norcom) VA, 5'10 Soph Demon Carter from LaPlace (Reserve Christian) LA, 6'9 Soph Durell Arthur from Dallas (South Oak Cliff) TX, 5'9 Soph Nic Wise from Katy (Cinco Rancho) TX, 6'2 Soph Ramar Smith from Detroit (Martin Luther King) MI, 6'6 Soph Tracy Smith from Detroit (Martin Luther King) MI, 6'2 Soph Jerry Smith from Wauwatosa (East) WI, 6'7 Jr Jonathan Mitchell from Mt. Vernon (H.S.) NY, and 6'9 Soph Curtis Kelly from New York (Rice) NY - play for NIKE club teams programs and nine of those sophomores (Oden, Caracter, Wright, Macklin, Carter, Arthur, Wise, Mitchell, and Kelly) gained valuable playing experience at this year's camp.
                    Speaking of this year's camp, the cream really did rise to the top as nearly all of the big name seniors, like 6'9 Al Jefferson from Prentiss (H.S.) MS, 6'9 Brian Johnson from Arlington (Bishop O'Connell) VA, 6'3 Joe Crawford from Detroit (Renassiance) MI, 6'3 Daniel Gibson from Houston (Jones) TX, and 6'6 Malik Hairston from Detroit (Renaissance) MI, and 6'9 D.J. White from Tuscaloosa (Hillcrest) AL, lived up to their reputations.  According to our Ohio Editor Chris Johnson and Tennessee Correspondent Andre Whitehead, both of whom were in attendance at the NIKE Camp during the two playing days prior to my arrival, White was the best player in camp on the first day.  However, White was sidelined early on the second day with a fractured hand and, as a result, he is nothing more than a footnote to our rankings.  Then, it was Jefferson's turn to step up and claim the #1-ranking on the second day, followed by Johnson on the third day.  Ironically, the second best player in camp on each of the first three days was 6'8 Rudy Gay from Severn (Archbishop Spalding) MD, who has taken his game to another level this summer, as is evident by the fact that he has moved up from #35 to #8 in our national rankings since the beginning of the summer camp season.  So when Gay stepped up and put on his best performance on the final day of camp, it was an easy call ranking him #1 in camp.  Gay is best described as a combo forward.  Remember, he is extremely effective inside due to his strength, athleticism, and tenacity, but he also is dramatically improved on the perimeter due to his shooting range and perimeter skills.  Also evaluating the value of their stock were Swann, who jumps from #22 nationally in the Class of 2003 to #4 on our 5th year list, 6'2 A.J. Price from Amityville (H.S.) NY, who moves up from #23 to #17 in the Class of 2004, 6'7 Corey Brewer from Portland (H.S.) TN, who moves up from #67 to #28 in the Class of 2004, 6'5 Josh Shipp from Los Angeles (Fairfax) CA, who moves up from #110 to #31 in the Class of 2004, 6'8 Kalen Grimes from Hazelwood (Florrisant Central) MO, who moves up from #67 to #38 in the Class of 2004, 6'7 Eric Vierneisel from Algonquin (Jacobs) IL, who moves up from #96 to #49 in the Class of 2004, 6'7 Jr Martell Webster from Seattle (Prep) WA, who moves up from #24 to #14 in the Class of 2005, and 6'9 Jr Tyler Hansborough from Poplar Bluff (H.S.) MO, who wasn't on the list before, but now is ranked #10 nationally in the Class of 2005.

Final Ranking of the Top Players at the NIKE All-American Camp
(June 7th, 8th, 9th, & 10th)
(Rankings are based primarily on camp performance)
by Clark Francis, Chris Johnson, Andre Whitehead, & Mel Wulfekamp

TOP PLAYERS AT THE NIKE ALL-AMERICAN CAMP

TOP CENTERS AT THE NIKE ALL-AMERICAN CAMP

TOP POWER FORWARDS AT THE NIKE ALL-AMERICAN CAMP

TOP WING FORWARDS AT THE NIKE ALL-AMERICAN CAMP

TOP SECOND GUARDS AT THE NIKE ALL-AMERICAN CAMP

TOP POINT GUARDS AT THE NIKE ALL-AMERICAN CAMP