Top 6 California high school basketball players of all time

This isn't a Mount Rushmore of all-time California high school basketball greats because there isn't enough room and aren't enough bulldozers to carve out all the faces.

So, we'll call this Mount Great-more.

With the CIF State Basketball Championships capping the season this weekend at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento, we offer up names of yesteryear, and we wonder if someday Stanley Johnson of Mater Dei (Santa Ana) won't make his way into this lot.

The 6-foot-7 guard with myriad skills and a man's body seeks to become the first player in state history to win four larger-school state titles. He's a guard who rebounds like a forward, and he has a fan in Lou Richie.

The Bishop O'Dowd (Oakland) coach has to stop, or at least stall, Johnson on Saturday night in the Open Division title game to have a fighting chance. Johnson averages 25 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.4 assists. He had 26 points in Mater Dei's 2013 Open Division triumph of Archbishop Mitty (San Jose), which was led by another Mount Great-more possibility in Aaron Gordon, now a dominating freshman at Arizona.

"In terms of greatest California prep players, I think of Jason Kidd and Stanley Johnson," O'Dowd coach Lou Richie said.

Here's a closer look, and keep in mind that these players are picked based on prep performances only, not what they did in college or the NBA.


Guard - Jason Kidd, St. Joseph Notre Dame (Alameda), 1989-92
A four year starter, a two-time state Player of the Year and the National Player of the Year as a senior, Kidd was the most canonized prep in state history. He was a legend-in-the-making growing up in the Bay Area, dazzling men much older with his passing as an eighth-grader. And perhaps the most entertaining one, too.

At 6-4, Kidd ran around foes and could thread passes on the run. He averaged 25 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists as a senior, and he dazzled the Arco Arena crowd in Sacramento in his finale, capping a back-to-back D-I state title showing with a romp of Mater Dei. Kidd is still the state leader in assists and the national leader in career steals. Kidd dazzled at Cal and enjoyed an NBA Hall of Fame-worthy career as one of the game's great floor generals.

Guard - Raymond Lewis, Verbum Dei (Los Angeles), 1969-71
A great ball-handler, ultra quick and prolific, Lewis led Verbun Dei to three section championships before the state-tile format was adopted, and he was a two-time state Player of the Year. Lewis was also a playground legend, scoring 52 points in a summer-league game as a prep against a group of Lakers players. Lewis attended Cal State Los Angeles and scored 43 against No. 3 Long Beach State. He's considered the greatest player to not play in the NBA, dying at 48 of a leg infection.

Guard - Tracy Murray, Glendora, 1988-89
A 6-7 flyer with range who grew up a the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains, Murray led the nation in scoring as a senior with a 44.3 average. When he graduated, his 3,053 points were the most in state history. Murray capped his career in the CIF State D-II title game with a record 64 points in the most incredible one-man effort in event history, though his team lost to Menlo (Atherton) 89-83.

Forward - Bill Walton, Helix (La Mesa), 1968-70
Big Red mans the forward spot here because of who plays center, and Walton would fit anywhere. Walton's final two Helix teams went 49-0, including a 33-0 senior season in which he averaged 30 points and 25 rebounds. He remains the national high school record holder in field-goal percentage at 79 percent and is third all-time nationally in rebounding. Walton was an All-American and an NCAA champion at UCLA, and he is in the Hall of Fame after winning two NBA championships.

Forward - John Williams, Crenshaw (Los Angeles), 1981-84
Perhaps the greatest of all the great players who played for storied Crenshaw, Williams was a big man at 6-8 who could pass and run. Williams was a two-time state Player of the Year who powered the Cougars to the 1983 state championship. He was a first-round pick of Washington after playing at LSU.

Center - Bill Cartwright, Elk Grove, 1973-75
With a feathery, high-arcing jump shot and a penchant to rebound, Cartwright remains the greatest player in Sac-Joaquin Section history as he grew to fame in Sacramento County. His Elk Grove team of 1975 was the first in section history to play a national schedule, losing by two to the national No. 1 team in Houston.

Cartwright's presence prompted the famed Tournament of Champions event in Oakland to invite Elk Grove, and the Thundering Herd promptly won the event, with Cartwright setting scoring records. Cartwright averaged 38 points and 24 rebounds and was so heralded that it helped initiate the CIF State Championships that started in 1981, the thinking that the entire state needs to see a Bill Cartwright. After an All-American career at USF, Cartwright won three NBA titles with the Chicago Bulls.

The Sacramento Bee on Folsom High School's challenge in the CIF State Division II championship game

The Sacramento Bee on what makes the Pleasant Grove girls basketball team's journey to the CIF State Division I title game so historic

The Sacramento Bee on the CIF State Open Division title games, and twocoaches this weekend who tasted mixed championship game moments as players

Joe Davidson has covered high school sports at The Sacramento Bee since 1988. Follow him on Twitter @SacBee_JoeD and on www.sacbee.com/preps.