In fact, Oden was ranked as USA Today's top high school player since the 1982-83 season, which means he was ranked higher than the likes of Kevin Garnett and LeBron James. Buta lack of inner motivation proved to be a distraction, and the closest Ryan ever came to the NBA was a tryout he had with the then-New Jersey Nets in 1990. Ethan Roseman, Bishop Chatard: The freshman guard had 18 points, five assists, four rebounds and a steal as Chatard rolled to a 67-38 win over Tech. She has gained recognition for her exceptional gaming senses. Only twice has a player won the award two times: LeBron James and Greg Oden. She was an incredible shooter and I had NEVER seen handles like that, ever." When you're known by just two letters--as in "KG"--you have to be something special. Unfortunately, instead of showcasing his abilities in the NBA, Mitchell was seduced by a life of crime and ended up in prison. She is 5 feet 11 inches tall and 70 kg, and she has a slim build. Caitlin might have a future plan to reveal it, and if she does, regular readers will be aware of it. Best move: Uses a hesitation dribble to free the defender then shoots a 3-pointer or blows past for a lay-up. But it became clear very soon that Bailey had peaked in high school. There's no big tragic story behind Williams' failures; he appears to have not been good enough, at least for any teams to believe in him to sign him and actually play him. When Roselle Catholic boys basketball coach Dave Boff originally envisioned his team for the 2021-22 season, he thought he would have at least two of the top players in the state -- if not the nation. Go figure: The best high school player performance I saw was on campus when I was a college student attending a game at Evanston's Welsh-Ryan Arena, in Chicago's second-ever City/Suburban Showdown. It's unfortunate Ebi didn't make it in the NBA. By. By James Edward jedward@deseretnews.com. Trey Buchanan, Westfield: The junior guard had a career-high 32 points on 10-for-15 shooting from the 3-point line in a 59-32 win over Frankfort. From there, it soon became clear that not all was right with Smith and he clearly wasn't ready for the rigours and responsibilities of being a professional athlete. 7. Telfair was arguably the most famous basketball player in the New York City area in the early 2000s. Said former Lynwood coach Bill Lee:Ive seen Jerry West, Oscar Robertson, and Michael Jordan and Ive never seen anyone better with the basketball. That is, until July 1, 2016 when he was banned from the league for two years for drugs. Favorite . In addition, she also retains the award of Iowa Gatorade Player-of-the-Year in 2019 and 2020. Get your votes in by noon Friday for our high school boys basketball player of the week for Feb. 20-25: Cast your vote in the poll at the bottom of the article or click here to vote. But the team played with just five eligible varsity players after a fight during a game last . There weren't. Wagner, Cason Wallace, Amari Bailey and Nick Smith headline standouts across the country. Oden lived up to his billing in college, leading the Ohio State Buckeyes to the National Championship game. But when the Nets told Ryan to hone his skills in the NBA's former minor league, the CBA, Black Jack gave up his pro playing aspirations and gave up on the game altogether. Malone didn't need college; his last two years in high school, his team didn't lose a single game, taking back-to-back state titles in Virginia. Here are SN's staff picks: "I will always be indebted to my sophomore year biology teacher for noting my passion for basketball and asking if I'd like to go along with him to see the 1976 Dapper Dan Roundball Classic. Williams was a star with two different high schools in Mississippi and Texas and was ranked in the top 20 prospects of 2009. The first high school player to be drafted straight out of high school was Tim Duncan of Rock Hill High School in South Carolina. Unless youre a diehard basketball fan, you probably dont know about the majority of these players. Since he was never a senior, we dont have his senior rankings but he was ranked the 7th best junior in the nation and had college offers from UNC, Louisville and UCLA. Maggette was smooth and fun to watch doing everything on the floor." -. How Tall is POP Star I Cant Breath Singer Bebe Rexha? Luke McBride, Norwell: The senior became Norwells all-time leading scorer with 24 points and eight rebounds in a 48-46 win over Homestead. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Tracy McGrady are all examples of when the prep-to-pro process works out. Wagner was the No. He was a two-time All-Star in the Israeli League and at the age of 26 he could still get one more opportunity in the NBA. The most vivid thing I remember was how fast Jamison would get his shot off after catching a pass. It certainly seemed at the time as if only Jordan himself could even have matched that any time in our lifetimes. He started in the McDonald's game and the Capital Classic, then nearly on a par with the McDonald's game in national prestige. Caitlin has 214 assists, which is the most by a newbie in programme history. Others achieve college stardom. But before we get to that, here are a couple more losers: Here's a perfect example of a young hoopster who should have attended the college he committed to; in Ndudi Ebi's case, it was the University of Arizona, a strong basketball program. Oden was already being called the next Patrick Ewing or the next Tim Duncan when he was just 16 years old. Jalen was good, but it was not quite as good as his dad playing with a bum wrist against Feehan, and posting 42 points." For us, we remember when we saw these players for the first time. Needless to say they did it without Butler, who never did learn much about that work ethic. During a summer camp Cooke, the then No. Caitlin keeps her focus on her goal at all times. Caitlin began playing basketball when she was a freshman in high school and quickly established herself as one of the top players at her school. In his 1985 recruiting class he was perceived to be better than Glen Rice, Danny Ferry, Sean Elliott, Pervis Ellison, Rod Strickland and Roy Marble - all who went on to have NBA careers. Fans would always wonder, what if? IHSAA boys hoops: Avon defeats Danville 61-49. How Tall Is Celebrity Singer Paula Abdul? That pretty much sums up the professional "career" of Cisse, who lead Montgomery Catholic High School in Alabama to a state title in 1999. Led the Tigers to a 28-5 record heading into the Class 4A sectional final. 'Estaban.' Ward didnt even become a starter until his senior season and by then the luster off his Naismith award had worn away. Chris Washburn's one moment makes him my choice." Maggette, a Fenwick (Oak Park, Ill.) star on his way to Duke and the NBA, dominated Deerfield with 27 points, 15 rebounds and three steals. Will Spellman, Center Grove: Spellman had 18 points, six rebounds, four blocked shots and three assists as Center Grove defeated Brownsburg 61-60 in a top-10 matchup. 8. Nothing made me feel older than to watch his son, Jalen, playing in the Sweet 16 and Elite Eightfor Villanova at the Garden (different building, of course) this past year. But Maggette was the best all-around player on the floor against a favorite team that had Kentucky recruit Ryan Hogan. In the state tournament shortly thereafter, Burnson had perhaps the greatest performance in Massachusetts high school basketball history: 42 points against Bishop Feehan in the state tournament at Boston Garden. Which is a shame because the guy was insanely talented. There's a reason the NBA stopped letting kids straight outta high school join the league--because most have been disappointing, as this list will demonstrate time and time again. Favorite athlete: Stephen Curry. And it's really not close. played in two separate stints for the Harlem Globetrotters, arguably the greatest California streetball legends of all time, drug kingpin and superstar basketball player, fair share of ESPNs 30 for 30 documentaries. Lance . No, that isn't comedian Carrot Top, that's NBA flame-out Robert Swift, a great high school player that managed to get Garces High School (Bakersfield, CA) ranked in the USA Today top 25 teams during the 2002-03 season. 5. Bryant lead the "Aces" to the Pennsylvania state title in '96, and in 2010, the school named their new gymnasium for the hoops legend. However, he can thank Calipari for not giving him the option of returning to Memphis as Wagner made over $8 million in the NBA and he wouldnt have made a dime had he gotten sick while in college. True, Washburn is now a cautionary tale, and always will be. That was kind of the case with Suntino Korleone Young, whose name seems to derive from the Godfather character Santino 'Sonny' Corleone. Layups, jumpers, dunks; they were off his fingertips like electrostatic sparks. Despite his stock at an all-time low, he declared for the draft and was taken in the second round by the Grizzlies. There's not much to write about LeBron that hasn't already been published; he's one of the preeminent talents the NBA ever has, or ever will, produce. However, since breaking Duke's all-time scoring. McCain grew up in Sacramento and spent a majority of his life in the . The top-two ranked, Al Harrington and Rashard Lewis, combined to play 32 NBA seasons and appear in over 2000 games. My friend gave me the kind of look one would expect from a person who had just seen a human defy physics. J.J. Redick was one of the best players in Duke basketball history, and he was one of the kings of the college basketball world at the time. I had the unfortunate pleasure of guarding her while I played for Dorman High School. Those players were: 1. As the top-ranked recruit in his class, Ward was expected to be the next Chris Webber but he wasnt even the next Juwan Howard or Jalen Rose. Except now he's got Magic Johnson's head on Karl Malone's body, and it's even more frightening." ', Was I wrong about any of that? But I had seen what I needed to see: the most impressive display of human athleticism Ive ever witnessed in any athletic competition or showing. Howard opted to forego college and head straight for the draft where he was the number one overall selection by the Orlando Magic. But, Wrenn was a troubled soul, who made emotional--rather than logical--decisions, and spent an uneventful college career bouncing from UConn to Washington, so his making it to the NBA was never really in the cards. Some context: less than three months before the Capital Classic, in mid-January 1984, top-ranked North Carolina beat fifth-ranked Maryland at Cole Field House, and the win was capped in the final seconds by one of Michael Jordan's most legendary dunks , a swooping breakaway rock-the-cradle jam, silencing the building except for a collective "oooooooohhhhh.". Here's a Butler that no NBA team wanted serving them. Hes looking at a future of second-rate foreign leagues and G-League appearances. He would spend the next three years shuffling between the NBA and the G-League and played a total of 80 NBA games. The only thing I could think was, There can't be eight players better than him. Bennett ended the 2016-17 season in Turkey but was cut after his team won the championship. Jared McCain is a prominent face in high school basketball. 1 forward in the Class of 2012 while attending Findlay Prep in Nevada. She was the most sought-after student at her high school and rose to fame as a result of her performances in high school athletics. (Michael A. Schwarz-USA TODAY Sports) Dwight Howard created a legendary resume in high school, especially his senior year in 2004. The Trail Blazers saw Oden's career dwindle, with his knees never being able to hold up. After being named Mr. USA Basketball in 1990, Knight recruited Bailey to play for Indiana. Cell phones throughout that crowd were set in video mode and trained on Williamson before he even finished his stretches. We understand this problem because we have gone through the entire Best High School Basketball Player That Never Made It research process already, which is why we have put together a comprehensive list of the Best High School Basketball Player That Never Made It available in the market today. Copyright 2023 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. Texas (575 Athletes) California (399 Athletes) Florida (389 Athletes) Illinois (308 Athletes) New York (299 Athletes) Georgia (294 Athletes) It didn't take long to see that it was. Yet, for all the incredible individuals who left their mark on the NBA, there are those who, while talented enough to play in the league, never got the chance. Either way, while these talented basketball players never made it to the National Basketball Association, they certainly had the game required to do so. Her date of birth is not known. We wound up matching up against his team late in the tournament. By 18, Telfair was on the cover of Sports Illustrated and just months later he was drafted by the Portland Trail Blazers. She has been one of the basketball players in the United States who is on the rise. Selby was one of the best players to ever come out of the DMV area and he was the No. Wren basketball wins first ever boys state championship, beats Crestwood 56-49. 11 overall by the Detroit Shock in the 2007 WNBA Draft, Ivory Latta was a huge star at York High School. Players who made the most successful jumps from high school to the NBA, The paths of KD and Kyrie: How one month changed three franchises and two superstar legacies, Morant to miss two games after video with gun, Grizzlies' Clarke tore Achilles, out for season, 'Not going out this way': Nets, down 28, stun C's, Kerr touts 5-0 homestand: Dubs 'turned a corner', KD: Mavs tilt, Kyrie meeting 'just another game', Sources: Dragic joining Bucks for rest of season, Nets filling out big-man depth with Noel signing, Isaac has surgery on adductor, done for season. For every teenage phenom that comes along, there are many who go into the pros at a young age and they clearly aren't ready for the added responsibilities that come with being a pro athlete. Montverde Academy . Brad Pinkerton. Bassy remains the only pure point guard to be drafted straight out of high school and the movie He Got Game was loosely based on Telfair among other players. It was impossible to watch anybody else on the court. Unfortunately, once Wagner reached the NBA his body started to fail him as he was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and ended up having to remove half his colon. Swift was going to hoop for USC, which probably would have been been the smarter decision. 'Whatever seed we are, we're ready': Is there room for Cleveland among the East elite? Selby became the highest-ranked player to ever join Bill Self at Kansas but his college career got off to an inauspicious start after he was suspended for receiving improper benefits. For the last three seasons hes played for three different teams in the Chinese Basketball Association. It should be noted that the tragic tales of the likes of Hank Gathers and Benji Wilson will be left off the list, as their circumstances went far beyond anything basketball related. Such was the case when my Tampa Raptors, a rag-tag, best of the rest team, consisting of a band of players not good enough to be scooped up by Nike or adidas' summer outfits. He made a small Catholic high school in California one of the top 25 teams in the country and after a strong showing in the 2004 McDonalds All-American game, Swift went pro. McBride now has 1,822 career points going into the sectional. Like Antoine Walker and Juwan Howard before him, Smith was thought to be the next All-Star big man to come from Chicago. Dr. A's weekly risers and fallers: Jeremy Sochan, Christian Wood make the list, NBA Power Rankings: Kevin Durant's return could rock the West. I already knew I wanted to be a sportswriter; seeing all those great players on one night made me realize I wanted to write about basketball more than any other sport. Swift then transferred to the dully named Highland High School where he had to win a court battle to be eligible to play. We will revisit some of these players as we look at 15 high school phenoms who never made it in the NBA. He also had 14 points, eight rebounds, six blocked shots and three assists in a 57-46 win over Columbus North. For those of us who did attend a university, we know the unmatched experience and knowledge that going to college provides a young person's mind, and life in general. The basketball player was born to Brent and Anne Nizzi Clark, her sisters. Mar 1, 2023, 4:15pm PST. He wound up whacking me in the head and I saw three goals as I stood at the free-throw line. In the history of the NBA draft, 45 players have been taken directly out of high school. USA Today has named its top high school player since the 1982-83 season. The 6'4" wing guard was equally good off the court where he maintained over a 3.0 GPA and is also an accomplished piano player. So I've seen nearly every great basketball talent as a high schooler for the past four decades: Ewing, Mourning, Garnett, Davis. This is what I wrote in Sporting News after seeing LeBron James play as a rising junior at the 2001 ABCD Camp in New Jersey: 'Some baby boomers who've got me by a few years make a big deal of the first time they saw The Beatles on 'The Ed Sullivan Show.' Tyreke Evans 3. Watch James make one routine trip down the court and the whole package hits you at once: the size, the skills, the awareness, the competitiveness. The two brothers she has are Blake and Colin. Lopez left school ranking sixth all-time in Big East history in points but when you are on the cover of Sports Illustrated as a teenager, more was expected of him. "Growing up in Charlotte in the mid-90s, it was impossible to ignore the hype surrounding a local basketball star named Antawn Jamison. Fat chance. He died of natural causes back in 2015 at the age of 89. It featured Rashad Anderson, UConn's all-time leading 3-pointer shooter and former USC standout and first-round NFL Draft pick wide receiver Mike Williams, but he was easily their best player. Cooke did have good times, first at Lane High in Brooklyn and then he moved on to La Salle Academy in Manhattan. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. That's like saying a Lamborghini isn't as impressive because it's sharing the road with Volvos and Subarus. Walker thought that his play in high school would warrant a draft selection in the pros but that wasnt the case and he ended up lasting just one month as an undrafted free agent with the Rockets. Unfortunately, Gathers also had an abnormal heartbeat and it proved to be something even he couldnt overcome. The NBA has been home to plenty of elite ball handlers, but in all fairness, point guard Marques Hayenes was on another level. It wasn't the best decision for each one, but for a select group of superstars, skipping college paid off. West began his pro career with the Los Angeles Lakers in 1960. Heck, there was no YouTube. In fact, in a summer league game, Lewis dropped 52 points against a bunch of Los Angeles Lakers he was still in high school at the time. He went in the second round of the 1994 draft to the Pacers, his hometown team. She also received the most weekly Player of the Week honours in the Big Ten Conference with five. "Normally, when a kid is thinking about something like this, you'll hear about it, said Youngs high school coach. Some of these high school phenoms did decide to go to college but they still werent able to relive the glory from their high school days. MORE: Have you seen the legend of Mac McClung? Those in the Columbus area who remember watching Weaver play in the '90s will tell you 100 variations of thissame legend. Williams wound up being a "Summer League" player, when real ballers want to hoop in the winter and spring. He turned 17 at the end of his freshman year and had to sit out his entire senior year because he was too old to qualify for high school play. The National Basketball Association is known for its history ofphenomenal players. And Washburn took off and threw down the exact same dunk. Despite being an unathletic, overweight and undersized power forward, the Cavs thought he was worthy of the top pick of the 2013 draft. In February2017, I dragged a friend from Charlotte down to Sumter, S.C., an unsuspecting town in the middle of the state. After bouncing around myriad high schools in two states, he enrolled at a private school in Orlando for his senior season. AIKEN For the first time in its history and in coach Fran Campbell's 39-year stint at the school, the Wren boys . It turned out Oden was the one whose body couldn't handle the NBA, as he was seemingly hurt year after year. . First player in Chicago history to ever be named top high school player in the nation in 1983-84. David Steele. Everyone remembers the Fab Five of Michigan but did you know there was a Fab Five II? The top three-ranked players in the Class of 1998 all jumped straight from high school to the NBA. How Tall Is Grizzlies Star Player Desmond Bane? He was on top of every national all-America team and recruiting ranking, along with Manning and John Williams (later known, after a blown-out knee and massive weight gain, as Hot Plate). Below is our take on the 30 greatest basketball players to never play in the NBA. Tadd Haislop. Fans of 1A boys basketball may feel a sense of dj vu as last year's top contenders, region rivals Panguitch and PIute, are set to face off again. The closest he would get to the NBA would be an invitation to the Raptors training camp in 2002 and Ward would play everywhere from the Philippines to Japan to Lebanon during his 13-year pro career. Of course, Williamson is not just a great athlete; hes a great basketball player. After the 2005 draft, the NBA's collective bargaining agreement ended the prep-to-pro pipeline. It is so appropriate that this entry of Fields as a "Never Was" directly follows our previous "Became Bigger"--Kevin Garnett--because the pair were actually high school teammates at Chicago's Farragut Academy. In the 2010s, seeing high schoolers do things beyond their sizes is almost commonplace. Since then hes spent his time in the coaching ranks in both Indiana high schools and for the Butler womens basketball team. A summer league stint with the Boston Celtics is the closest Cooke would ever get to the NBA and a pair of torn Achilles tendons ended his career by the age of 25. 2 overall pick in the 1986 draft and that was as close to the NBA as Bias would ever get. I was in the hunt for the starting point guard slot, a battle I'd eventually lose a couple games into the state AAU tournament at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Orlando. Whether or not he actually finished high school is up for debate as he didnt qualify academically at the University of Florida. Seriously, that's how you had to do it. The World's Most Entertaining Car Website. But before all that, center/power forward Butler was an excellent post player,twice being Mississippi's "Mr. Basketball" (2002 and '03). 1 overall pick and an NBA champion) During her junior season, she averaged 32.5 points, seven rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 2.2 steals per game as she guided Dowling Catholic High School to a 17-8 record and a spot in the Iowa Class 5A playoffs. Consensus college player of the year Michael Jordan doing it was one thing. Offensively, there is nobody like him.. When he was just 14 years old, legendary Indiana coach Bobby Knight declared that Bailey was better than any point guard his college team had. Clark stands tall at a height of 5 foot 11 inches. And in the early 1990s, I began to cover recruiting camps like the ABCD and then the elite tournaments like the Big Time and Peach Jam. He attacked the rim like it had stole something from him. Swift has swiftly faded into obscurity, fodder for lists such as this. She also won awards including Iowa Miss Basketball, Gatorade State Player of the Year, and the McDonalds All-American title. The 6-foot-3 senior guard committed to Duke earlier this year. Jordan really didn't top that one until the 1988 NBA dunk contest maybe. The first thing that came to mind upon watching him was this: Magic Johnson's head on Michael Jordan's body. There might be a player or two in here you've never heard of. The most by a freshman since 2000, a gifted woman is the first rookie in NCAA Division I history with 12 30-point games. He ran the floor like a defensive back doing the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. He was one of the most-touted players to come out of New York in years and won the Mr. Basketball USA award in 1994. Drafted in the 2000 NBA Draft after putting on a show in numerous high school all-star games he was so spectacular that Michael Jordan endorsed the Clippers taking him near the top of the. I nearly killed a full phone charge by pressing record each time Williamson touched the ball during the game. Iowa Womens Basketball Point Guard Caitlin is confirmed to be 19 years of age. Cooke's story is proof positive there is a very thin line between achieving athletic greatness and being mired in obscurity. Aside from throwing down monster dunks, he was also known for blocking the shots of opponents much bigger than him. The 10th is Chris Walker who struggled as soon as he finished high school. Believe me, I tried. He played a total of 15 games in the NBA and played in now-defunct leagues such as the IBL and BSN. I'd never seen such a blend of speed, power and ferocity on the court. At 26.6 points per game, Caitlin set the Iowa freshman record and led NCAA Division I scoring in 202021. Michael Beasley 2. I was not on the basketball team at Lynn English, my high school, but my friend, Charlie Leslie, was a forward for the team. And even then you heard about players a lot more than you saw them. Clark started playing basketball at age five. Telfair also had various run-ins with the law including multiple arrests for possession of weapons. Kevin Love 6. A 2008 documentary that follows the lives of 8 of the best high school basketball prospects at the time leading up the 1st annual Boost Mobile Elite 24 Hoops Classic at Rucker Park. With his height, physical attributes and skill level, it's not hard to believe that Howard led his high school, the blandly named Southwest Atlanta Christian Academy to a 31-2 record and the 2004 Georgia state title. There are some basketball high school phenoms that simply never take that next step at the pro level, whereas others are even better as pros. Young was a talented small forward from Kansas but even his high school coach was surprised he opted to skip college. Brent and Anne Nizzi-daughter Clarks Caitlin is a Clark. Other stories are more positive; some international players elected to ball out and stack paper in their home country instead of making the leap to the States. woman jumps off carquinez bridge 2021 best high school basketball player that never made it. Top Basketball States. Caitlin was born on January 22, 2002, in Des Moines, Iowa, and is currently 19 years old. Seconds after throwing down a vicious alley-oop during the 1990West Coast Conference tournament championship game, Gathers unexpectedlycollapsed. Welcome to The Whistler News, your go-to source for the latest news and trends across a wide range of categories, including Application, Business, Celebrity, Dating, Entertainment, Event, Food, How To, News, Questions, Streaming, Technology, Trending, and Uncategorized. Despite never playing high school or college ball, Joe The Destroyer Hammond was perhaps the greatest basketball player to ever come out of Harlem. 30. But imagine an alternate reality where injuries had kept one of these gifted, highly scouted prospects from ever becoming an NBA player. You cant find her Wikipedia article on the internet. The physical resemblance to Shaq went all the way to his extra-low haircut and the occasional cross-eyed expression (but ended with the notable gap in his front teeth). USA Today has named its top high school player since the 1982-83 season. The nights watching tournament games at the State Fairgrounds in Columbus affectionately known as the 'The Barn' were the best. Although he played college ball at Cal State LA, Lewis is most notable forbeing arguably the greatest California streetball legends of all time. By the time Weaver reached high school, you couldn't get a seat at the gym. Herman "Helicopter" Knowings Image via Complex Original Accolades: One of 24 ESPN Rucker Park Legends The. Type above and press Enter to search. I remember listening to Weaver's first high school game against Lancaster on the radio.