National High 5: Naismith Finalists are Huge

By Mitch Stephens

MaxPreps.com

1. Naismith Finalists Announced

The post position isn’t passé just yet. Not if you trust in the 10 Naismith High School Player of the Year finalists announced on Tuesday. Seven of the 10 play center including four of the five girls: Kelsey Bone (Dulles, Sugar Land, Texas), Brittney Griner (Nimitz, Houston), Monique Oliver (Poly, Long Beach, Calif.) and Cokie Reed (Midway, Waco, Texas). The fifth female finalist is guard Skylar Diggins (Washington, South Bend, Ind.). Three of the five boys are posts - DeMarcus Cousins (LeFlore, Mobile, Ala.),  Derrick Favors (South Atlanta, Ga.) and Renardo Sidney (Fairfax, Los Angeles) – though Favors and Sidney might move to power forward in college. The other two male finalists are guards, John Wall (Word of God Christian Academy, Raleigh, N.C.) and Kenny Boynton (American Heritage, Plantation, Fla.). All were selected to the McDonald’s All-American team except Wall who was not eligible because he is a fifth-year senior.

2. Going the Distance

Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) is obviously an exception. But the basketball factory has set the tone for an unusually long and traveled road for Top 25 teams as is revealed in this excellent Associated Press report by Nancy Armour. Findlay, out of Las Vegas, will travel almost 32,000 miles this season, three times the distance of Duke University.

3. The Best at the Toughest

In what is generally regarded as swimming’s most difficult stroke, Madison (Vienna, Va.) senior Sean Fletcher set a national 100-yard butterfly record by going 47.08 seconds in Saturday’s Virginia AAA state championships. “I don’t even know how to describe it,” Fletcher gold the Washington Post. The Michigan-bound swimmer broke the mark of 47.10 and set the tone for a meet that featured 11 state records.

4. Texas Wrestler Seeks Lone Star Status

Heritage (Colleyville) senior wrestler Jeremy Sandoval seeks to become the sixth four-time Texas state champion and first in the UIL era of the sport with a title of the 140-pound weight class Saturday in Austin. A shoulder injury and staph infection limited Sandoval to just 12 matches this season, but with a 114-1 career mark he’s more than battle tested. His only loss came during his freshman season.

5. Dominguez’ Hamilton Denied

Jordan Hamilton’s season officially ended on Tuesday when California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Marie Ishida denied the Dominguez basketball star’s final appeal for a fifth high school season. The 6-foot-8 Texas-bound standout, ranked among the top 10 seniors in the country, repeated ninth grade after being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Hamilton averaged 27 points and 11 rebounds as a junior leading the Dons to a Southern California Division I title. The Dons squeaked out a 52-49 win over Long Beach Poly on Tuesday in the Southern Section Division I-AA quarterfinals and now face second-seed King on Friday. The other semifinal pits Etiwanda against the nation’s No. 1 team Mater Dei, which had quite a struggle before beating Rancho Verde 72-65 on Tuesday.