LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca. – Josh Jackson is a multi-skilled prospect, by way of Michigan, who played for the “Prolific Prep” academy in Northern California’s Napa Valley this past season.
And, like all of the region’s extraordinary wine, Jackson’s on-court talents have already aged quite well, thank you very much.
Jackson was the narrow choice over Jayson Tatum (St. Louis Chaminade) and Lonzo Ball (Chino Hills in Southern California as the BurlisonOnBasketball national “Junior of the Year” for the 2014-15 season.
The 20 players were chosen based upon their on-court accomplishments and not necessarily on how extensively they are being recruited, or will be recruited, for their on-court potential in college. Only players I watched play in person from late September until March were eligible to be selected.
There are several players I’ve seen at other events that don’t fall within that parameter, the most notable of which including the North Carolina duo of Harry Giles (High Point Wesleyan Christian) and Dennis Smith (Fayetteville Trinity Christian), as well guards Kobi Jordan-Simmons (Alpharetta, GA, St. Francis) and Malik Monk (Bentonville, AR), that didn’t play in any of those “September-March” events that I viewed first hand.
Hence, they were not eligible for these selections although each would have been a strong candidate for first-team inclusion based on what I saw of them pre-September and post-March.
Another very good prospect, point guard Derryck Thornton (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep), would have been included in this list but decided to move to the Class of 2015 and sign with Duke, thereby falling into consideration for my 2015 selections that I will release next week.
Players are listed by position with size, city, school and notation for the “national” events I watched them play at:
FIRST TEAM
POST – T.J. Leaf (6-9/El Cajon, CA/Foothills Christian) 7/9
POST – Nick Rakocevic (6-10/Westchester, IL/St. Joseph) 6
WING – Josh Jackson (6-7/Napa Valley, CA/Prolific Prep) 7
WING – Jayson Tatum (6-8/St. Louis/Chaminade Prep) 11
POINT GUARD – Lonzo Ball (6-5/Chino Hills, CA/Chino Hills) 7/10/12/13
SECOND TEAM
POST – Schnider Herard (6-10/Plano, TX/Prestonwood Academy) 7/8
POST – Michael Cage (6-9/Santa Ana, CA/Mater Dei) 8/12
WING – Rawle Alkins (6-5/New York City/Christ the King) 6/11
WING – V.J. King (6-7/Fairfax, VA/Paul VI) 11
POINT GUARD – Frank Jackson (6-3/Highland, UT/Lone Peak) 6/7
THIRD TEAM
POST – Zach Collins (6-10/Las Vegas/Bishop Gorman) 7/11/13
POST – De’Ron Davis (6-9/Aurora, CA/Overland) 7
WING – Terrence Ferguson (6-6/Dallas/Prime Prep) 7/9
WING – Markelle Fultz (6-5/Hyattsville, MD/DeMatha) 11
POINT GUARD – Payton Pritchard (6-1/West Linn, OR/West Linn) 7
FOURTH TEAM
POST – Yoeli Childs (6-8/South Jordan, UT/Bingham) 7
POST – Omar Spellman (6-9/Granby, MA/MacDuffie School) 11
WING – Miles Bridges (6-7/Huntington, WV/Huntington Prep) 11
WING – Curtis Jones (6-2/Huntington, WV/Huntington Prep) 11
POINT GUARD – Devearl Ramsey (5-10/Chatsworth, CA/Sierra Canyon) 9/12/13
“National events” used for these selections:
1 – Pangos All-West Camp (Norwalk, CA/Sept. 27&28, 2014)
2 – USA Basketball Mini-Camp (Colorado Springs/Oct. 4&5, 2014)
3 – Pangos All-South Camp (Lewisville, TX/Oct. 11&12, 2014)
4 – Pangos All-Midwest Camp (LaGrange, IL/Oct. 18&19, 2014)
5 – Pangos All-East Camp (Thorofare, NJ/Oct. 24&26, 2014)
6 – Chicago Elite Classic (Chicago/Dec. 5&6, 2014)
7 – Tarkanian Classic (Las Vegas/Dec. 17-20, 2014)
8 – MaxPreps Holiday Classic (Palm Desert, CA/Dec. 26&27, 2014)
9 – Under Armour Torrey Pines Holiday Classic (San Diego/Dec. 28&30, 2014)
10 – Take Flight Classic (Los Angeles/Jan. 2&3, 2015)
11 – HoopHall Classic (Springfield, MA/Jan. 16-18, 2015)
12 – Fairfax Cal State Preview (Los Angeles/Jan. 30)
13 – Nike Extravaganza (Santa Ana, CA/Feb. 6&7, 2015)
