The 'Off-Season,' from 7-12-04 back to 3-23-04
7-12-04
6-2 blue-chip rising junior point guard (of Group AAA state basketball champion Woodside High in Newport News) Stefan Welsh says that it's 100% sure that he and 6-9 rising junior Vernon "Big Ticket" Macklin of Portsmouth, VA I.C. Norcom High will be going to the same college. And Welsh says that "depending on where (6-1 Woodside High rising senior guard) Calvin Baker goes can have something to do with where Ticket and I go as well."
Calvin Baker is not highly recruited, but averaged 20.9 ppg. for the 29-3 Wolverines, earned First Team All-State honors, and was the Daily Press "Male Athlete Of-The-Year" as a junior. Michigan, Notre Dame, and Tennessee are new schools that have been showing interest in Welsh, who will be taking unoffical visits to N.C. State and Maryland in August. The "Boo Williams 17-and-under boy's basketball team" recently returned from Brazil, where they went 5-2 against semi-pro teams, says Welsh. Welsh says that recently Vernon Macklin did a good job on the nation's top high school player (who is just a rising junior!), 7-0 Greg Oden of Indianapolis, IN in an AAU tournament in Houston, TX.
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7-10-04
The head boy's basketball coach of Group AA Orange County High School near Charlottesville, VA says that 6-2 Brad Starks, who appears on at least one national list of the best players in the Class of 2007, started as a freshman this past season, and hit 7 three-pointers in one game.
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6-22-04
St. Johns, American University, Georgia Tech, Tennessee, and Ohio State have recently sent mail to rising junior 6-4 point guard Devin Johnson of the Richmond, VA Meadowbrook High School basketball squad. His high school team recently competed in the team basketball camp held at the University of Richmond.
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6-12-04
Old Dominion and Wake Forest have joined the list of schools that have offered basketball scholarships to
2nd-team All-State point guard Stefan Welsh, who helped Woodside High of Newport News, VA to the Group AAA state championship this past season as a sophomore.
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6-6-04
Starting defensive back (football) and 2nd-team All-Stater (basketball) Stefan Welsh, a 6-2 point guard on the Group AAA state championship Newport News Woodside High basketball team this past year, recently said that "Virginia Tech has offered me a (basketball) scholarship and I have a list of schools that are showing a great deal of interest as well. I also have a leader, and my list is as follows:
1.)North Carolina (My current leader. Showing some intrest)
2.)Wake Forest (Showing medium interest)
3.)Florida State (Showing lots of interest)
4.)Stanford (Showing lots of interest)
5.)UCLA (Showing lots of interest)
6.)Virginia Tech (Offered)
7.)UVa (Close to a offer)
8.)Clemson (Showing lots of interest. Planning to unofficially visit some time this summer)
As far as my football recruitment is going, coach tells me that UVa is going to offer me when they can as well as Tech. I also have a list for football:
1.)Virginia Tech (Lots Of interest)
2.)UVa (Lots of interest)
3.)Univ. Pittsburgh (Medium interest)
4.)Notre Dame (Lots of interest)
5.)South Carolina (Med interest)
I am planning to just play basketball in college even though I am getting alot of looks as far as football goes."
6-9 rising junior Vernon Macklin of Portsmouth I.C. Norcom High School recently said that he has never seriously considered transferring to powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, and will finish his high school career at Norcom.
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5-28-04
Bruce Croxton, the head boy's basketball coach at Benedictine High School in Richmond, Virginia, says that "most mid-Atlantic mid-major" basketball programs are showing interest in 6-6 rising senior point guard Reid Augst, particuarly
Richmond, Virginia Tech, St. Joseph's, Davidson, Navy, Mount St. Mary's, and Bowling Green. Having seen Reid Augst play many times, I can say that he is indeed a point guard at 6-6, but the fact that he has a half-set shot/half-jump shot is what prevents him from getting ACC offers.
Each time I've seen the "Boo Williams 17-And-Under-Boy's-AAU Basketball Team" play this year, I've noticed rising 6-7 small forward Brian Gilmore from Great Bridge High in Chesapeake, Virginia shooting around, but never dressing. He injured his ankle earlier in the AAU season, but should be dressing soon when the team plays down in New Orleans in an AAU tournament. He's also getting mid-major attention.
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5-23-04
The University of Virginia has offered a basketball scholarship to Associated Press First-Team All-State guard Scotty Reynolds of Herndon, VA High School, a marvelous 6-0 sophomore who can do it all.
Below are the best players among all the teams in the "Nova United Boy's AAU Basketball" program, and the best of these best for the future is J.P. DePaso, a 6-5 freshman in 2003-04 for South Lakes High in Reston, VA:
Erroll Robinson, Jr. Westfield High School, Centreville, VA, Class of 2005 6'2", 2G
Colin Scanlon Flint Hill High School, Vienna, VA, Class of 2005 6'3", 2G
James Eversley Centreville High School, Centreville, VA, Class of 2005 6'6", F
David Carlson Flint Hill High School, Vienna, VA, Class of 2005 6'4", SF
Larry Gbenyon Herndon High School, Herndon, VA, Class of 2006 6'6", F
E.J. Dawson Mt. Vernon High School, Alexandria, VA, Class of 2006 6'1", PG
Chase Miller Oakton High School, Vienna, VA, Class of 2006 5'10", PG
Warren Edney Madison High School, Vienna, VA, Class of 2006 6'5", SF
Tyler Young O'Connell High School, Arlington, VA, Class of 2006 6'8", C
J.P. DePaso South Lakes High School, Reston, VA, Class of 2007 6'5", SF
Danny Jones Herndon High School, Herndon, VA, Class of 2007 6'4", SF
D. J. Bowden Stuart High School, Falls Church, VA, Class of 2007 5'10", PG
E. J. Dawson (see above) earned 2nd-team All-Patriot District honors this past season.
"hoopville.net" says: "From limited viewing,
James Eversley (6'6" SF, Centreville, VA High) looks like he will be a prospect down the road, as he's long and athletic but is rail thin right now...
Larry Gbenyon (6'5" SF, Herndon, VA High) looks similar to his teammate, the aforementioned
James Eversley. Like Eversley, he should be a prospect down the road, long and athletic but needing to get stronger."
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5-18-04
University of Virginia-bound Laurynas Mikalauskas, the rising 6-8 240 senior forward at St. George, VA Blue Ridge School, showed his athleticism by placing 5th in the high jump in the recent "Virginia Independent Schools Track & Field Championships" in Richmond, with a jump of 6-2,
and placing 7th in the shot put with a heave of 42-feet, 6-inches.
William & Mary is one of the schools very interested in 6-3 rising senior combination guard Ryan Scott of Reston, VA South Lakes High. Scott is the son of former George Tech All-American Dennis Scott.
6-6 Mike Scott averaged 23 points-per-game, 14 rebounds, and 4 blocks as a sophomore this past season for Chesapeake, VA Deep Creek High, near the North Carolina/Virginia border, says his coach Leroy Ricks, and has received recruiting interest from Stanford, Old Dominion, and Penn State.
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5-9-04
The "Virginia AAU 17-And-Under Boy's Basketball Championship" game was held today, Sunday, at 2:40 P.M. at the Stuart Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. In the double-elimination 15-team tournament, the heavily-favored "Boo Williams Summer League team" which hadn't lost a game in the tournament, was facing "Team Richmond Black," which had recovered from a first-day loss to win 4 straight. Below is the roster for Team Richmond (every player on their roster was a junior in 2003-04), with each player's jersey number listed, followed by his height, his name, and his high school:
#5 6-1 Tyrese Rice Chesterfield, VA Lloyd Bird
#3 6-6 Reid August Richmond, VA Benedictine
#32 6-4 Jason Wansley Henrico, VA High
#2 5-9 Roy Haliburton Richmond, VA Meadowbrook
#30 6-8 Brian Shin Richmond, VA Monacan
#33 6-6 Greg Redford Richmond, VA Hermitage
#24 6-4 Nick BurdMatoaca High
#12 6-4 Ryan ButlerRichmond, VA Douglas Freeman
#21 6-8 240 Scott GrableAshland, VA Patrick Henry
#22 6-4 John Hannah Fayetteville, NC South View High
#23 6-4 Greg Edmonds (high school unknown)
The starters for Team Richmond Black were
Rice, August, Wansley, Haliburton, and Shin. Boo Williams easily won this game and the state AAU championship by a score of 81-61 in the mostly-empty Stuart Siegel Center. They only led 32-28 at the half, but their size and athleticism wore down Team Richmond Black. Once again, Tyrese Rice didn't play well, hitting on just 5-12 field goal-attempts (3-9 from three-point range), and 3-3 from the free-throw line, for 16 points, but he had a very hard time getting good shots off against the stifling defense of huge 6-6 220-lbs. North Carolina-bound junior point guard Marcus Ginyard of Arlington, VA Bishop Denis O'Connell High. Ginyard is certainly a future NBA first-round draft choice, and North Carolina fans have a lot to look for with him directing their offense in the future.
University of Virginia-bound 6-8 240 junior Laurynas Mikalauskas had a two-handed, backboard-shaking, breakaway slam dunk in the game, and is a powerhouse of a player. Highly-publicized 6-9 sophomore Vernon Macklin of I.C. Norcom High in Portsmouth, Virginia played better than I've seen him play before, showing a nice jump shot out to 15 feet and some shot-blocking ability. 6-10 junior Eric Whitehurst of Virginia Beach, VA Oaktree Academy looks taller every time I see him play. Finally, 6-2 third-team All-Group AAA point guard Stefan Welsh seems to really have improved his jump shot from three-point range.
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5-7-04
I went to see the "Team Richmond Black" 17-And-Under boys basketball team play at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in the "Virginia 17-And-Under Boy's AAU State Basketball Tournament" tonight (Friday). Team Richmond Black, considered the second-best team in the tournament, was shocked by "Dominion Sports," 62-21.
The most impressive player for Team Richmond Black was not first-team All-Group AAA 6-1 junior point guard
Tyrese Rice, but 6-6 junior forward Greg Redford of Hermitage High, who made the Richmond Times-Dispatch second-team All-Met squad this past year, when he averaged 14 points-per-game. Redford has good strength, and is a leaper. Tyrese Rice shot only 6-19 from the field (2-10 from three-point range), 2-4 from the free-throw line, and scored just 16 points in the upset loss. However, it was a double-elimination tournament.
Leading the way for Dominion Sports was 6-5 225 (he looks about 6-6) junior Frisco Sandidge, who led Group AAA Heritage High of Lynchburg to a 24-5 record and the state semi-finals this season, earning first-team All-Region honors. He simply outworked some of Team Richmond Black's more over-publicized players, as Dominion Sports overcame a 43-42 deficit at the end of three quarters to pull out the victory. Tyrese Rice wore a dark blue headband, and a white uniform that had blue numerals and even the player's names in blue on the back of each jersey. Rice does have a nice move, however, where he faces his man, dribbles from one hand to the other, and then to get his shot off, he takes a full step backwards before jumping to release his shot, which gives him space between the defender and himself. With his great range, distance is no problem for him.
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5-2-04
To get straight to the point, the "Boo Williams 17-And-Under Boys Basketball Team" just won the "Southern Invitational Tournament," held on the campus of the University of Virginia a couple of hours ago, by defeating the Pennsylvania/New Jersey-based "Playaz BC," by a score of 70-66 in University Hall. The only reason the game was so close was because for some reason the Boo Williams squad didn't try very hard to get the ball inside, and instead let its guards dominate the ball too much. Still, 6-8 high school All-American Brendan Costner, a junior this season for Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, New Jersey looked great and gave the Boo Williams team all it could handle. He's rated as the nation's 5th-best senior by "hoopmasters.com" for next year!
Boo Williams fell behind by 7 at the half, despite an outstanding first half by bullish University of Virginia-bound 6-8 240 junior Laurynas "Big Country" Mikalauskas, who showed he could play facing the basket, post up with his back to the basket, get the tough rebounds, and even lay in a difficult on-the-run layup on a full-speed fast break. With Boo Williams behind 66-64, University of North Carolina-bound 6-6 junior point guard Marcus Ginyard missed the front end of a one-and-one, but the Playaz made the mistake of fouling 6-4 All-Northwest Region sophomore point guard Eric Hayes, and he calmly made both shots, despite having one of the younger "Playaz" teams standing behind the basket support, screaming at him to miss. But Hayes shot over 90% from the foul line this year in leading Potomac High of Dumfries, Virginia to a 29-0 record before they lost in the Group AAA state title game, and he's a foul-shooting machine.
Hayes then grabbed a rebound off of a Playaz missed shot, was intentionally fouled, hit two more free throws, and that was in effect the game. I noticed that 6-10 sophomore Vernon "Big Ticket" Macklin of Portsmouth, Virginia I.C. Norcom High needs to learn to post up more: not having him as a consistent inside threat hurt Boo Williams. He played, but wasn't a factor on offense, in my opinion.
The most intriguing player on the Boo Williams team is first-team All-State 6-0 guard Scottie Reynolds, a sophomore at Herndon, Virginia High. He has every spin move and reverse dribble in the book, is a leaper, has lightning-quick hands, can play both guard positions, and almost never turns the ball over: he seems to see everything on the court before it even happens. He moved in to the starting lineup for Boo Williams for the second half of this game, replacing 6-7 junior forward Terrance Woodbury of Norfolk, Virginia Granby High.
Earlier in the afternoon, I saw
Boo Williams defeat the "Hunting Park Warriors" from Pennsylvania by a score of 68-56. Although the
Boo Williams squad seemed tired and didn't play great defense, their superb starting backcourt of 6-6 JR Marcus Ginyard and 6-3 SO Stefan Welsh, plus their back-up backcourt of future "Parade High School All-Americans" (along with Welsh) of 6-4 SO Eric Hayes and 6-0 SO Scottie Reynolds was just too much their opponent to handle. This game was also played in University Hall.
Even earlier today, I went to see 7-2 215 JR center Matt Hewson of Hylton High in Woodbridge, Virginia play for the "DC Blue Devils" at the North Grounds Recreation Center on the campus of the University of Virginia. He wore jersey number 11, and his team beat the New Jersey "Shore Shots" by a score of 81-64. Hewson is being widely recruited by schools such as Villanova and Connecticut, and he grabbed 6 rebounds in just 9-and-a-half minutes of play. However, he scored just two points, and tries to block everything that moves, resulting in instant foul trouble. Still, he's aggressive, appears to be still growing, and could help the right college program. I also saw, for the first time, 6-3 (probably 6-2) 210-lbs. combination guard Ryan Scott, who was a junior this year for South Lakes High in Reston, Virginia. His father is former NBA player Dennis Scott. He's certainly a Division 1 prospect, with a textbook jump shot, but only time will tell if he gets any ACC offers. Wearing number #32, he was Hewson's teammate on the D.C. Blue Devils.
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5-1-04
The "Southern Invitational Tournament" is being held in Charlottesville, Virginia on April 30 to May 2, and today I went to see the best team, the "Boo Williams Summer League" 17-And-Under basketball team, play twice. The Boo Williams 17-And-Under team is always one of the better ones in the country, and it draws primarily players from the area of Virginia that stretches from Hampton, Virginia to Chesapeake, Virginia. However, it also draws players from other parts of the state: this year, it seemed to have a monopoly on most of the top sophomores and juniors in the state of Virginia! As the Boo Williams 17-And-Under team went through it's pre-game warm-ups with each of it's players able to dunk easily, and drawing applause from the crowd even before the AAU game began, in something that resembled a dunking exhibition, I was struck by how easily this team could beat an all-star team from all of the Division 1 colleges in the state of Virginia, despite the fact that Boo Williams had 4 high school sophomores on it!
However, I scout individuals, not teams, so here's the roster of the Boo Williams team, starting with each player's jersey number, height, and year in school in 2003-04:
#1 6-6 JR Marcus Ginyard(Arlington, VA Bishop O'Connell)
#3 6-0 SO Scottie Reynolds(Herndon, VA High)
#5 6-2 SR Ruell Pringle(Virginia Beach, VA Landstown)
#10 6-4 JR Thomas Prawciliauska(private school-not known)
#11 6-4 SO Eric Hayes(Dumfries, VA Potomac)
#12 6-2 SO Stefan Welsh(Newport News, VA Woodside)
#21 6-10 SO Vernon Macklin(Portsmouth, VA I.C. Norcom)
#22 6-7 JR Terrance Woodbury(Norfolk, VA Granby)
#23 6-8 JR David Jefferson(Nofolk, VA Lake Taylor)
#31 6-10 JR Eric Whitehurst(Virginia Beach, VA Oaktree Academy)
#33 6-7 SO Duke Crews(Newport News, VA Woodside)
#44 6-8 JR Laurynas Mikalauskas(St. George, VA Blue Ridge School)
The starters on this team are
Ginyard, Welsh, Macklin,
Mikalauskas, and Woodbury. Indeed, this team has so much talent that there are probably 1-2 future NBA players on the bench! At University Hall I saw Boo Williams defeat the "EBO/Boston Saintz" by a score of 88-41, and earlier in the day, at an intramural building called the "North Grounds Recreation Center," I watched Boo Williams beat up on the "Wilmington Warriors/gold" from North Carolina by a score of 77-35.
Essentially, Boo Williams has most of the players that I spent 4 months during the season traveling around the state of Virginia to scout, except that they're all on one team now, all were wearing the Boo Williams jersey that had one word, "VIRGINIA," on the front, and they are all in Charlottesville for this weekend. Their shorts said "BWSL" (Boo Williams Summer League) down the sides, and they wore plain white warm-up t-shirts with the word "Converse" on the back.
Whew. It's hard to evaluate each player all over again, since I spent the basketball season already evaluating them, but one player on Boo Williams who I had not seen this year is University of North Carolina-bound Marcus Ginyard, who, as a 6-6 220-pound point guard, has the physique that may make him most NBA-ready to play-for-pay one day. He could be one of the nation's top 10 high school players next year. He doesn't have a lot of scoring ability, but with his size and power, stealing the ball from him is out of the question, he sees the floor, is unselfish, and has a nice jump shot. Add him to a long list of blue-chip players who will have left the state of Virginia to head south to play for ACC schools in the state of North Carolina.
Scottie Reynolds, who recently earned first-team All-State honors in the highest classification in Virginia as a mere sophomore, showed that on any team, he's a natural scorer, whether driving to the basket or shooting from the corners. If you haven't seen him play, he's a 6-1 version of former University of Virginia basketball player Bryant Stith. He may be short for a shooting guard, but I'd compare him to 6-1 former Louisiana State University scoring machine Chris Jackson, who later changed his name to Mahmoud Abdur-Raouf in the NBA. Vernon Macklin showed why he's considered to be one of the top 5 10th-graders in America, with his blinding quickness and great leaping ability, although he needs to bulk up. He's still growing, and I could easily imagine him going straight to the NBA out of high school by the time his senior year is over. David Jefferson exhibited his text-book jump shot facing the basket. University of Virginia recruit
Laurynas Mikalauskas has good hops, and was a bull around the basket, as one would expect from someone who's 6-8 240 and throws the shot-put on his high school's track and field team. If you're going to muscle with him around the basket, you'd better wear a mouthpiece. Hopefully, he'll be the physical force around the basket that Elton Brown has rarely been.
Eric Whitehurst is a player I had heard much about, but had never seen. He appeared to be the tallest player on the Boo Williams roster, despite what heights players may be listed at, and has outstanding skills. Although just a sophomore, Stefan Welsh is good enough to start ahead of outstanding players like
Scottie Reynolds and Eric Hayes: what more needs to be said? Welsh
can do it all: rebounding, playing defense, shooting, driving, playmaking, etc. He had the best move of either game, when he drove straight-on toward the basket, ball-faked to the right after picking up his dribble, and kept going to the left side of the basket before laying the ball in off of the backboard. It's not hard to see why he's going to be a national recruit.
6-4 sophomore point guard Eric Hayes could be destined for the NBA one day: his height, long arms, floor sense, and passing ability remind many of former University of Maryland star and present-day NBA point guard Steve Blake. Terrance Woodbury is an ACC prospect who can do a little of everything, and is a great athlete, as is 6-8 Duke Crews, who is transferring from Hampton, VA Phoebus High to Newport News, VA Woodside High. Crews is without question, good enough to play in the ACC one day, as are at least 10 of the players on the Boo Williams team.
Sadly, however, each year the best players (Alonzo Mourning, J. R. Reid, J. J. Redick, etc.) on Boo Williams seem to head to out-of-state schools.
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4-25-04
7-1 14 year-old high school freshman
Karan Bajwa of the Carlisle School in Martinsville, Virginia recently wrote when asked how tall doctors tell him he'll be: "I'm still growing and the doctors measured that I'm going to be 7'5 when I'm done growing. So that's a good height for a center."
The Associated Press Group AAA All-State Boy's Basketball Team, composed of the largest high schools in Virginia has these underclassmen: 6-1 junior combination guard Calvin Baker of Woodside High in Newport News made the first-team, as did 6-1 junior
point guard Tyrese Rice of Chesterfield's Lloyd C. Bird High, and so did 6-1 sophomore (!) shooting guard Scottie Reynolds
of Herndon High School. Outstanding 6-2 Woodside High School sophomore point guard Stefan Welsh was a second-team pick. I'd say that this team is a lot more accurate than the team that the coaches picked.
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4-20-04
Qavotstaraj Waddell, also known as "Q," is now as of today a transfer student at Coastal Christian School of Virginia Beach, Virginia. The 6-10 240-lbs. center played his freshman and sophomore years for Booker T. Washington High in Norfolk, then played for Coastal Christian as a junior, and then played for First Colonial High of Virginia Beach this past season, earning 3rd-team All-Beach District honors. He also runs track.
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4-18-04
One of the regional NIKE High School Football Camps for rising seniors was held from 8:45 A.M. to 2:45 P.M. on the campus of the University of Virginia in Charlottesville today. I was there. The campers were given NIKE Dri Fit Compression Clothing to take home, but did not eat lunch. The general public and media were allowed to attend, but it was in the high 80's out, and not many people wanted to suffer through that kind of sun and heat. One of the counselors was recent UVa captain Muffin Curry. The head coach of Huguenot High in Richmond, Richard McFee, was one of the camp coaches. Unfortunately for UVa fans, no part of the camp was held at Scott Stadium: it was all held on the practice fields at University Hall. NIKE had a handwritten sign up that read: "What will your son get out of this camp? Meet at 12:15 at the fieldhouse to find out." Other than seeing how they match up speed-wise to other players who play their positions, it's hard to imagine that a player could get anything out of something like this. In addition to running the 40-yard dash, the players also ran something called a "pro shuttle."
7-1 high school freshman center Karan Bajwa
of the Carlisle School in Martinsville, Virginia, writes: "I came here 5 weeks ago, so I'm still adjusting to the American life. I didn't receive any college mail yet. I arrived at the late time of the season, so I didn't play any game for Carlisle. I'm really looking forward on playing my first game next year. My parents are from India, and are tall for Indian people. My dad is 1.86 m=6 feet 3 inch. My mother is 6 feet tall. But my parents took very good care of us and that's is the main reason why we got so tall. My parent didn't play basketball but my father was a pro-hockey player for the Indian National team. My little brother Robinder Singh Bajwa just turned 12 and is about 6 feet 2 inch. He's going to be a great basketballplayer. He has all the skills of guards, forwards, and centers.
I don't know when my next AAU game is, but if I know I will let you know. I hope to hear from you soon."
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4-10-04
I have the only known photos of 6-7 200 freshman forward
J. C. Chaney of George Washington High School in Danville, Virginia that appear anywhere on the internet. He is shown in the photo at below right, wearing his AAU number 32. I went today to the
Charlie Webber AAU Invitational Tournament, which was held at various sites in Washington, D.C., so I could see
J. C. Chaney play, as I had heard a lot about him. He has a nice three-point jump shot, and an assortment of inside moves, but as a mere freshman, he was over his head playing in this 17-and-under tournament, as most high school freshmen would be. Still, he looks like a future ACC-caliber prospect. Two other photos of Chaney appear when you click on his name on the player list on the left side of this web page.
His team, the "Lynchburg Master's Hoops" boy's basketball 17-and-under AAU team, composed of players who live in the Danville-Lynchburg area, played twice today, and lost both games to teams that had hard-to-stop inside games and better point guards. The Lynchburg team lost 61-54 to the New England Playas at, yes, 8:30 in the morning!, which I was 
there for, and then at night at 5:20 P.M. they lost 43-37 to the "Metro All-Stars," which was a team composed of players from Washington, D.C. and southeastern Maryland.
The games were played at NCAA Division III Gallaudet University, which is a combination university/high school campus for the deaf. As is the case with many AAU tournaments, the people running this tournament, not the Gallaudet University gracious hosts, did kind of a poor job: there were no available rosters. In other words, unless you knew who you were coming to see before you arrived in D.C., and what the player looked like, how would you know who you were watching play? You wouldn't, of course. If AAU tournaments required the teams to hand out copies of their rosters to everyone in the gym before a game, or forfeit, this would take care of this problem. Fortunately, I knew from a physical description what J. C. Chaney looked like, and then during the game I had to go over to the scorer's table to verify that number 32 was indeed him. This was a "dead" period in recruiting, so there were no college coaches there to tell me which one was him.
J. C. Chaney's team wore light gold uniforms with black numerals, and he wore red-and-black sneakers, black ankle braces, and white socks. He has strong calves which give him the look of a big-time prospect. His presence of facial hair indicates that he may be done physically maturing/growing, but there's nothing wrong with that. Another player I saw for the third time was outstanding 6-5 junior guard Jose Garcia, who the University of Virginia is making a big recruiting mistake by not saving a scholarship for. Instead, coach Pete Gillen has handed out scholarships to players who aren't of ACC-caliber (good enough to finish in the top 5 in the newly-expanded ACC next year). Jose Garcia is a leader: he has endless energy, movement, rapid-fire encouragement and leadership on the court, plus he's capable of playing three positions, which present-day University of Virginia player Gary Forbes is not. No wonder schools such as Louisville have offered Garcia a scholarship already. Garcia had a rough shooting night against the Metro All-Stars in the second game, shooting 5-14, but he can do a little of everything on a basketball court, and has all the one-on-one moves. I expect to see him in the NBA one day.
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4-8-04
The 14 year-old, six-foot ten-inch son of Ralph Sampson (the former University of Virginia three-time national college basketball "Player-Of-The-Year") is also named Ralph Sampson, and he gets private basketball instruction at the Suwanee Sports Academy in Gwinnett, Georgia. He lives with his father in nearby Duluth, Georgia.
7-1 260-lbs. high school freshman (at the Carlisle School in Martinsville, Virginia) Karan Bajwa, emails me that "My name is Karan Singh Bajwa. I'm 15 years old. I'm born in a city called Groningen in the north of Holland. I got one older brother (17 yr) and one younger brother named Robinder Singh Bajwa (12 yr). I started playing basketball when I was 13 years old. I was playing for the North-National-Team from Holland after 2 weeks playing. In april 2003 I was selected to join the National Team from Holland U16."
6-5 junior guard Jose Garcia of St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia says that the University of Virginia is no longer recruiting him, which means that UVa isn't involved with a single blue-chip rising senior now.
The top underclass vote-getter on the recently released "Washington Post All-Met Boy's Basketball Team" was smooth 6-0 sophomore guard Scotty Reynolds of Herndon, Virginia High, who has a fantastic shooting touch from 25 feet on in. He made the third team. Earning fourth-team honors were 6-5 North Carolina-bound junior Marcus Ginyard of Denis J. O'Connell High in Arlington, Virginia, and 6-3 junior guard Ryan Scott of South Lakes High in Reston, Virginia. Scott is the son of former Georgia Tech All-American Dennis Scott, but he is not close to his father and does not live with him. On the recently announced "Virginia High School Coaches Association Group AAA Team," Scotty Reynolds was a second-team pick, along with outstanding 6-1 junior point guard Tyrese Rice of Chesterfield, VA Lloyd C. Bird High, and making the first team was excellant 6-1 guard Calvin Baker of state champion Woodside High of Newport News, VA.
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4-03-04
7-1 260-lbs. 15 year-old high school freshman 
Karan Bajwa of The Carlisle School in Martinsville, Virginia iss a member of The Netherland's 16-And-Under National Team, composed of players born in 1988. It's known as the "Voorlopige National Heren '88 (Kadetten/U16 Selectie)." His regular team is MPC-Celeritas, which is part of the Donar basketball club. I have not seen him play yet, however.
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3-31-04
The former men's basketball National Player-Of-The-Year at the University of Virginia, Ralph Sampson, has a son named Ralph Sampson, who was recently listed as being six-foot-ten and 14 years-old on the roster for the AAU Atlanta Suns, which are coached by former University of North Carolina All-American basketball player Charlie Scott. Ralph Sampson, III is in the 8th grade. Former University of Virginia men's basketball coach Terry Holland told me in an email that, "It is my understanding that he (Ralph Sampson's son) is staying in the Atlanta area but I am sure there are people who are trying to talk him into coming back up this way. My best guess would still be that he (Ralph Sampson's son) will stay there in Atlanta for at least the next year."
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3-28-04
Just arrived at Carlisle School in Martinsville
Virginia, after this season, was
7-1 260-lbs., 15 year-old freshman Karan Bajwa.
Karan Bajwa has an older brother, Wikrum
Bajwa, who was a 6-11 220 junior for Holy Cross
High in Lynchburg this year, and frankly, Wikrum Bajwa looked like a Division III player. But Karan Bajwa is supposedly
much better. So remember the name: Karan Bajwa. Both tan-skinned brothers are from The Netherlands. The Carlisle
School is coached by former Martinsville High School and University of Maryland
guard Jeff Adkins. Both brothers play on the same AAU
team with 6-5 junior Jose Garcia of St. Anne's-Belfield
School in Charlottesville. It was Garcia who told me
about Karan Bajwa. Jose Garcia says that Wikrum has improved a lot over the past two months due to instruction being given him by their AAU coach, but that Karan Bajwa is much better than his older brother Wikrum Bajwa. They have AAU basketball practice
tomorrow at Faith Christian, which is south of Lynchburg.
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3-23-04
John Richardson, the head boy's basketball coach at Woodside High School in Newport News, VA, which went 29-3 this season in winning the largest-classification (Group AAA) state championship in the state of Virginia in March, says that there are "no formal
(scholarship offers yet, but a great deal of interest" in 6-2 sophomore point guard Stefan Welsh, who's one of the best high school point guards in the nation, in my opinion, regardless of class.
from 3-19-04 back to 2-7-04
