Author Archives: Clark Francis

THE HOOP SCOOP'S UPDATED RANKING OF THE TOP RECRUITING CLASSES FOR THE CLASS OF 2020

Each player listed below is ranked on a 1-10 scale, whereby, a top-five player nationally is worth 10 points, a top-10 player nationally is worth nine points, a player in the 11-40 range nationally is worth eight points, a player in the 41-70 range nationally is worth six points, a player in the 71-100 range nationally is worth four points, a player in the 101-300 range nationally is worth three points, a player in the 301-1000 range nationally is worth two points, & anybodynot ranked among the top 1000 players nationally is worth only one-point. 

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THE HOOP SCOOP'S RANKING OF THE TOP 25 HEAD COACHES IN THE HISTORY OF THE GAME

It's aways an interesting question:  Which teams in college basketball have signed the most McDonald's All-Americans?  Well, with the recent announcement of this year's McDonald's All-American Team, we can tell you exactly how things stack up right now, as Duke edges out North Carolina for the #1 spot with 80 players versus 79 players, followed by Kentucky, UCLA, Indiana, Arizona, Louisville, Michigan, and Syracuse, which check win with 71, 42, 41, 30, 23, 23, 21, and 21 players respectively. 

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If you let bad teams hang around long enough, they can gain confidence, get some momentum, and come back and beat you.  Well, Arlington (Bishop O’Connell) VA is not a bad team (they are just very young) and that is exactly what happened when they were matched up against Santa Ana (Mater Dei) CA in the first game of the day on the final day of action at the Spalding Hoop Hall Classic, which has been held the last five days at Blake Arena at Springfield College in Springfield, MA. 

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Great guards more often than not are the key to success at the high school level and this was especially the case for Chatham Hargrave Military Academy) VA, which totally dominated Orangeville (Prep) ON after our arrival for the third game of action earlier today at the Spalding Hoop Hall Classic, which is being held over the Martin Luther King Day weekend at Blake Arena on the campus of Springfield College in Springfield, MA.

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We pick things up with the third game on the third day of action at this year’s Spalding Hoop Hall Classic, which is being held over the Martin Luther King Day weekend at Blake Arena on the campus of Springfield College in Springfield, MA.  And there were several important momentum shifts in this game, as is evident by the fact that Hyattsville (DeMatha) MD jumped out to a 12-point lead early, later trailed by as many as five points early in the 4^th Quarter, and finally went on a 16-3 down the stretch to emerge with a 57-49 victory against Chicago (Simeon) IL.

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We attended the ARS Rescue Rooter National Hoopfest, which was held over the weekend at Briarcrest Christian High School in Memphis, TN, and it doesn’t get any better than the last four games in this event on Saturday.  We begin with the game between Memphis (Lausanne) TN and St Louis (Vashon) MO and the big story here was the total dominance in the paint by 7’0 Jr Moussa Cisse, who led the former to a 68-50 win over the latter and, in the process, finished with 31 points, 16 rebounds, seven blocked shots, 11-17 field goals, 2-2 3-pointers, and 7-11 free throws.

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We pick things up with the Consolation Bracket Championship Game on the final day of action in this year’s Beach Ball Classic, which is being held at the Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, SC.  And the big story here was the lights out 3-point shooting in the first half by 6’6 Brase Dottin and 6’3 Soph Cameron Thrower, who were 6-8 from behind the arc and were primarily responsible for the 40-19 advantage that North Hollywood (Harvard-Westlake) CA held over Brockwell (Izard County) AR at the intermission.  

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We pick things up with the second game of the day on the fourth day of action at this year’s Beach Ball Classic, which is being held at the Convention Center in Myrtle Beach, SC, and this was a game of runs and momentum shifts. 

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I arrived in Myrtle Beach, SC just in time earlier today to see the four quarterfinals games in the winner’s bracket of this year’s Beach Ball Classic, which is being held at the Convention Center.  And we pick things up with just over a minute to play in the first quarterfinals game when 6’3 Tyler Beard from Chicago (Whitney Young) IL knocked down a big 3-point basket to cut the lead to three against Roebuck (Dorman) SC. 

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There were two important takeaways in the first game of the day, which also was the Third Place Game in the Kyran Bowman Bracket, on the second day of action in the 2019 John Wall Holiday Invitational at Broughton High School in Raleigh, NC.  The first takeaway was the 28-point performance, which also included seven rebounds, four assists, two steals, 10-19 field goals, 4-7 3-pointers, and 4-4 free throws, by 6’6 Jr Lucas Taylor from Wake Forest (Heritage) FL. 

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The big story in the first game, which was the final Challenge Round Game of the tournament, on the final day of action in this year’s  Culligan City of Palms Classic, which has been held for the last six days at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers, FL., this the fact that 5’10 Jr Zion Harmonfrom Benton (Marshall County) KY did not play, but his team still was able to emerge with a 56-50 victory over Sarasota (Riverview) FL.

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Baltimore (St. Francis) MD redeemed itself after a mediocre performance two days ago in the semi-finals of the Signature Series with a game winning lay-up by 6’4 Jahmal Banks to beat Orlando (West Oaks) FL, 67-56, and take home Third Place in this tournament within the tournament at this year’s Culligan City of Palms Classic, which has been held this past week and will conclude on Monday with the Championship Game at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Fort Myers, FL. 

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We are kind of glad that we decided to sleep in this morning, because it looks like Philadelphia (Roman Catholic) PA sleepwalked through the first Consolation Bracket Semi-Finals Game, which tipped off at 8:30 AM and was the first game on the fourth day of action in this year’s Culligan City of Palms Classic, which has been held this last four days and will conclude on Monday with the Championship Game at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Ft.

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We pick things up with the third game of the day, which also was the first quarterfinals game of the tournament, on the third day of action in this year’s Culligan City of Palms Classic, which is being held this week and early next week at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Ft.

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The first game on the second day of action in this year’s Culligan City of Palms Classic, which is being held this week and early next week at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Ft. Myers, FL, was pretty much a rerun from yesterday, as St.

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Things started out with a bang when the #20 and #33-ranked teams in Ronnie Flores’ most recent Fab 50 National High School Team Poll Powered by Ballislife.com went head-to-head in the first game on the first day of action in this year’s Culligan City of Palms Classic,  The tournament will be held for the next six days at Suncoast Credit Union Arena on the campus of Florida Southwestern State College in Ft.

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We pick things up with the second game on the final day of action in this year’s National High School Hoops Festival, which is being held at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, MD, and the big story here was the clutch outside shooting by 6’5 Jr Jakal Robinson from Ft.

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The first game of the day on the first day of action in this year’s National High School Hoops Festival, which is being held at DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, MD, did not feature any memorable performances and was never really in doubt, as  Upper Marlboro (Riverdale Baptist) MD coasted to a 67-50 win over Washington (Coolidge) DC.

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We attended the 2019 Phenom Hoops National High School Showcase, which was held over the weekend at Ravencroft High School in Raleigh, NC, and there were six major takeaways from this event.  The first takeaway is that 6'2 Soph Jaden Bradley from Concord (Cannon School) NC and 6'5 Soph Jalen Hood-Schifino from Lincolnton (Combine Academy) NC, who are currently two of the top three sophomores in the state, are big time prospects and they have future McDonald's All-American written all over them. 

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