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Trigonis Tidbits:
UNC-bound Wear Twins Lead
Mater Dei To Perfect Season
(February 12, 2008)
6’10” twin juniors Dave and Travis Wear (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA) surprised quite a number of West Coast fans last month when the pair selected Roy Williams’ North Carolina Tar Heels over UCLA and Arizona (their other finalists). UCLA and Arizona both had strong ties to the Mater Dei program (MD head coach Gary McKnight is the father of Clay McKnight, a member of Ben Howland’s UCLA staff while Wildcat assistant Miles Simon is a Mater Dei alum). Apparently Williams’ immense talent as a recruiter was enough to overcome those local ties and Roy was successful in convincing the Wears that their
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basketball talents would fit better in Chapel Hill rather than in Westwood or Tucson. While California has seen its share of successful twin talents the last decade or so with the Collins twins (Harvard-Westlake/Stanford/NBA), Craven twins (Bishop Montgomery/USC) and Lopez twins (San Joaquin Memorial/Stanford) being the most notable examples, the Wears have not disappointed in their junior seasons as they have led Mater Dei to an undefeated 27-0 regular season record with the CIF playoffs starting this week. The last time Mater Dei finished the season undefeated was over twenty years ago (1984-85) when the Monarchs completed both the regular season and play-offs with a perfect 29-0 record and a CIF championship ring (beating Ocean View in the title game). This season Dave has averaged 17.0 points and 8.9 boards per game as well as recording an impressive 12 “double-doubles”. Travis has complimented his brother’s numbers with averages of 16.7 (points per game) and 8.1 (rebounds per game) as well as posting a monster 25 point/21 board performance versus Gahr (Cerritos CA). Dave (ranked #20 in the national junior class by Rivals.com and #26 by Scout.com) has developed into a strong and physical presence in the paint as well as possessing an excellent perimeter stroke while Travis (#19 by Rivals.com and #27 by Scout.com) is an agile and active forward that attacks the basket with authority and runs the floor with the mobility of a swingman. Look for both hardworking twins to continue their improvement and challenge for Top 10 national status this spring and summer………..While the Wears are the anchors of McKnight’s Monarch machine, 6’1” soph Gary Franklin (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA) has been the key to their undefeated season so far. Franklin’s backcourt play this season has firmly planted him (in my opinion) as the top soph lead guard on the West Coast and his scoring average of 17.1 ppg during the second half of this season which included a 30 point outburst (8 “threes”) and 5 assists in a 85-70 win over Trinity League rival JSerra (San Juan Capistrano CA) has served notice that his lofty national #14 ranking by Hoop Scoop is well deserved. Franklin is an outstanding perimeter shooter and very underrated passer (dished off a season high 11 assists vs. Servite/Anaheim CA). Arizona, Baylor, UNLV and UConn comprise his early list of schools……………Another SoCal sophomore having a great season is 6’7” pogo-stick Dwayne Polee (Westchester/Los Angeles CA). Polee is arguably the most athletic soph on the West Coast (and perhaps the nation). USC coach Tim Floyd was wise to lock Polee up early (Dwayne verbally committed to the Trojans as a frosh) since he has as much upside as any Class of 2010 prospect. In fact, Hoop Scoop has Polee currently pegged as the #5 soph in the nation………….
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5’11” freshman point Cezar (CJ) Guerrero (St. John Bosco/Bellflower CA) has been very impressive this year – averaging 17 ppg in the very tough Trinity League with respectable scoring performances of 22 points (JSerra/San Juan Capistrano CA) and 19 points (Mater Dei/Santa Ana CA). Guerrero also pumped in a season high 34 points against Jordan (Long Beach CA) during the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in December. Texas, UCLA, Arizona, USC, Notre Dame and Pepperdine are among the growing number of schools showing interest in California’s #1 freshman PG…………. 6’7” junior combo-forward Derrick Willliams (La Mirada/La Mirada CA) is quickly becoming one of the top names in California’s strong junior class. Williams has evolved from a back-to-the basket player during his soph season (which included helping LM to a monumental upset win over Renardo Sidney’s Artesia squad last year) into a skilled scorer with legitimate three-point range as a junior. Williams is averaging 21.8 ppg and 11.1 rpg with seven 30 point-plus games this season
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(season high game was 41 points vs. Sylmar at the Torrey Pines tourney). Look for Williams to attract high-major interest this spring……… 6’3” senior Kyle Fogg (Brea-Olinda/Brea CA) is having a break-out senior season and his play has not gone unnoticed as the athletic combo-guard is receiving overtures from the likes of UNLV, San Diego State, UC-Santa Barbara, Santa Clara and Long Beach State with Arizona State and Arizona also starting to show interest. Fogg has put up excellent numbers this year: 25 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 4.5 apg, 54% 2FG, 42% 3FG and 76% FT as well as pumping out an impressive nine 30 point-plus games. Fogg’s season-high signature game was a 36 point/12 board/5 assist effort against Villa Park…………
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Las Vegas native 6’3” senior James Dean (Hargrave Military Academy/Chatham VA) is continuing to play well this year as his near triple-double of 25 points/12 rebounds/9 assists versus North Cross (Roanoke VA) demonstrates. UC-Riverside and Long Beach State are among the growing number of schools showing interest in this terrific student (4.5 GPA) and future engineering major. Dean also owns the unique distinction of being the only Las Vegas resident to play on the championship team of a major national July tourney. Dean was a teammate of Arizona-signee Brandon Jennings, Tennessee-signee Renaldo Woolridge and Arizona-bound Jeff Withey on a Belmont Shore squad that beat Team Breakdown in OT to capture the 2007 Rbk Summer Championships in Las Vegas last summer…… Dominguez (Compton CA) coach Russell Otis has been selected to be one of the two head coaches for the upcoming 2008 Jordan Brand Classic – one of the top two high school all-star games in the nation
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being held on April 19th at Madison Square Garden in New York NY. Look for expected 2008 McDonald’s All-Americans like Brandon Jennings (Oak Hill/Mouth of Wilson VA) and DeMar DeRozan (Compton/Compton CA) to be announced soon as Jordan Classic participants………………..Speaking of DeRozan, DeMar had his HS #23 jersey retired at half-time of Compton’s last regular season home game last week versus Wilson (Long Beach CA)………….One of the hottest names on the California JUCO circuit this year has been former Loyola (Los Angeles CA) product 6’3” soph off-guard Buchi Awaji (Citrus JC/Azusa CA). Awaji scored 28 points (including 6 “threes”) and grabbed 6 boards to spark Citrus to its 15th straight win last weekend – a 92-74 victory over LA Valley JC. Buchi is being recruited by a rapidly growing number of schools including Colorado, Nebraska, SMU and Miami FL…..One of the most entertaining games I saw this season was this month’s Mission League showdown between Loyola (Los Angeles CA) and Harvard-Westlake (North Hollywood CA).
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Loyola’s 6’7” swingman Hollis Thompson (committed to Georgetown) showed why he is considered as one of the nation’s top juniors by scoring a season high 33 points to spark the Cubs to a 80-76 win. 2008 Reebok All-American 6’8” senior Renaldo Woolridge had 29 points (including 16 points in the 4th quarter), 11 boards and 4 assists for the Wolverines…………..Two of SoCal’s most promising freshman “bigs” this season have been 6’8” Kevin Johnson (Serra/Gardena CA) and 6’7” Ronnie Stevens (Orange Lutheran/Orange CA). Johnson is a strong and athletic post with a surprisingly soft touch around the basket while Stevens is a very long armed and mobile power-forward that is an excellent shotblocker.
*** photos courtesy of Nick Koza (SportsAmp.com)
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