McDonald’s All-American Team Announced: Mustapha Heron Not Named to Play in the Game
Published on by Clark Francis
The rosters for this year's McDonald's All-American Game were announced last night and we find it pretty amazing that 6'6 Mustapha Heron from Waterbury (Sacred Heart) CT was left off of this year's team.
If you will recall, we have this strong physical athletic multi-dimensional wing forward ranked #6 in the nation and he backed that up just two days ago with a 31-point performance, which was one of the top individual performances of the entire weekend in this year's Spalding Hoop Hall Classic.
We also were somewhat surprised that 6'1 Alterique Gilbert from Lithonia (Miller Grove) GA, 6'4 Andrew Jones from Irving (MacArthur) TX, 6'2 Kyle Guy from Indianapolis (Lawrence Central) IN, and 6'11 Zach Collins from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, all of whom belong in the 25-50 range, were named to play in the game. However, there were not any total egregious picks (i.e. Bill Heppner, Neil Fingleton, or Matt Baeuwsaert) and the team's are also seemed to be fairly well balanced, although the East Squad appears to have a major advantage at the center position, with four 10-ranked players on each squad.
If you will recall, 6'10 Harry Giles from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA is out for the season, 7'0 Thon Maker from Orangeville (Athletes Institute) ON was not eligible because he attends a basketball factory in Canada, and 6'2 Dennis Smith from Fayetteville (Trinity Christian) NC also was not eligible due to the fact that he has already enrolled into college at N.C. State.
In addition to Heron, some of the other players that we thought were good enough to be considered, but were not named to play in the game, included 6'7 Mario Kegler from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA,6'5 Kevin Huerter from Clifton Park (Shenendohowa) NY, 6'1 Shamarie Ponds from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'5 Eli Wright from Greenville (22-Feet Academy) SC, 6'0 Cassius Winston from Detroit (Detroit Univ. Jesuit) MI, 6'2 Temple Gibbs from West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ, 6'2 Kevin Pritchard from West Linn (H.S.) OR, and 6'0 Anthony Cowan from Washington (St. John's) DC.
However, all of these guys fall into our 18-30 range nationally and, as a result, you can make a case either way with the regard to whether they should have been named to play in the game. And, in the case of Huerter, we're much higher on him that everybody else, and, with regard to Ponds, Wright, and Cowan, they played exceptionally well when we saw them in November and December and, as a result, they have gone up in our rankings.
The East Squad includes 6'10 Edrice Adebayo from High Point (Christian) NC (Kentucky), 6'10 Udoka Azubuike from Jacksonville (Potter's House) FL, 6'10 Tony Bradley from Bartow (H.S.) FL (North Carolina), 6'6 Miles Bridges from Huntington (Prep) WV (Michigan State), 6'6 Terrence Ferguson from Dallas (Advanced Preparatory International) TX (Alabama), 6'3 De'Aaron Fox from Katy (Cypress Lakes) TX (Kentucky), 6'5 Markelle Fultz from Hyattsville (DeMatha0 MD (Washington), 6'4 Andrew Jones from Irving (MacArthur) TX (Texas), 6'11 Sacha Killeya-Jones from Lynchburg (Virginia Episcopal) VA (Kentucky), 6'7 V.J. King from Fairfax (Paul VI) VA (Louisville), 6'4 Kobi Simmons from Alpharetta (St. Francis) GA (Arizona), and 6'8 Jayson Tatum from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO (Duke).
The West Squad includes 6'10 Jarrett Allen from Austin (St. Stephens Episcopal) TX, 6'6 Lonzo Ball from Chino Hills (H.S.) CA (UCLA), 6'9 Marques Bolden from De Soto (H.S.) TX, 6'10 Zach Collins from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV (Gonzaga), 6'1 Alterique Gilbert from Lithonia (Miller Grove) GA (Connecticut), 6'2 Kyle Guy from Indianapolis (Lawrence Central) IN (Virginia), 6'9 Dewan Huell from Miami (Nortland (FL (Miami-FL), 6'4 Frank Jackson from Highland (Lone Peak) UT (Duke), 6'7 Josh Jackson from Napa (Prolific Prep) CA, 6'5 Josh Langford from Huntsville (Madison Academy) AL (Michigan State), 6'10 T.J. Leaf from El Cajon (Foothills Christian) CA (UCLA), and 6'3 Malik Monk from Bentonville (H.S.) AR (Kentucky).
Also noteworthy is the fact that four of the above mentioned players (Azubuike, Allen, Bolden, and Josh Jackson) are still available and that Kentucky (Adebayo, Fox, Monk, and Killeya-Jones), UCLA (Ball and Leaf), Michigan State (Bridges and Langford), and Duke (Tatum and Frank Jackson) are the only schools with more than one player in this year's McDonald's All-American Game.
And, when we break it down by state, we find that Texas has five players (Fox, Ferguson, Bolden, Allen, and Jones) in the game, followed by California (Josh Jackson, Ball, and Leaf) and Florida (Azubuike, Bradley, and Huell) with three players in the game, and Virginia (Killeya-Jones and King) and Georgia (Simmons and Gilbert) with two players in the game.
Published on by Clark Francis
The rosters for this year's McDonald's All-American Game were announced last night and we find it pretty amazing that 6'6 Mustapha Heron from Waterbury (Sacred Heart) CT was left off of this year's team.
If you will recall, we have this strong physical athletic multi-dimensional wing forward ranked #6 in the nation and he backed that up just two days ago with a 31-point performance, which was one of the top individual performances of the entire weekend in this year's Spalding Hoop Hall Classic.
We also were somewhat surprised that 6'1 Alterique Gilbert from Lithonia (Miller Grove) GA, 6'4 Andrew Jones from Irving (MacArthur) TX, 6'2 Kyle Guy from Indianapolis (Lawrence Central) IN, and 6'11 Zach Collins from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, all of whom belong in the 25-50 range, were named to play in the game. However, there were not any total egregious picks (i.e. Bill Heppner, Neil Fingleton, or Matt Baeuwsaert) and the team's are also seemed to be fairly well balanced, although the East Squad appears to have a major advantage at the center position, with four 10-ranked players on each squad.
If you will recall, 6'10 Harry Giles from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA is out for the season, 7'0 Thon Maker from Orangeville (Athletes Institute) ON was not eligible because he attends a basketball factory in Canada, and 6'2 Dennis Smith from Fayetteville (Trinity Christian) NC also was not eligible due to the fact that he has already enrolled into college at N.C. State.
In addition to Heron, some of the other players that we thought were good enough to be considered, but were not named to play in the game, included 6'7 Mario Kegler from Mouth of Wilson (Oak Hill) VA,6'5 Kevin Huerter from Clifton Park (Shenendohowa) NY, 6'1 Shamarie Ponds from Brooklyn (Lincoln) NY, 6'5 Eli Wright from Greenville (22-Feet Academy) SC, 6'0 Cassius Winston from Detroit (Detroit Univ. Jesuit) MI, 6'2 Temple Gibbs from West Orange (Seton Hall Prep) NJ, 6'2 Kevin Pritchard from West Linn (H.S.) OR, and 6'0 Anthony Cowan from Washington (St. John's) DC.
However, all of these guys fall into our 18-30 range nationally and, as a result, you can make a case either way with the regard to whether they should have been named to play in the game. And, in the case of Huerter, we're much higher on him that everybody else, and, with regard to Ponds, Wright, and Cowan, they played exceptionally well when we saw them in November and December and, as a result, they have gone up in our rankings.
The East Squad includes 6'10 Edrice Adebayo from High Point (Christian) NC (Kentucky), 6'10 Udoka Azubuike from Jacksonville (Potter's House) FL, 6'10 Tony Bradley from Bartow (H.S.) FL (North Carolina), 6'6 Miles Bridges from Huntington (Prep) WV (Michigan State), 6'6 Terrence Ferguson from Dallas (Advanced Preparatory International) TX (Alabama), 6'3 De'Aaron Fox from Katy (Cypress Lakes) TX (Kentucky), 6'5 Markelle Fultz from Hyattsville (DeMatha0 MD (Washington), 6'4 Andrew Jones from Irving (MacArthur) TX (Texas), 6'11 Sacha Killeya-Jones from Lynchburg (Virginia Episcopal) VA (Kentucky), 6'7 V.J. King from Fairfax (Paul VI) VA (Louisville), 6'4 Kobi Simmons from Alpharetta (St. Francis) GA (Arizona), and 6'8 Jayson Tatum from St. Louis (Chaminade) MO (Duke).
The West Squad includes 6'10 Jarrett Allen from Austin (St. Stephens Episcopal) TX, 6'6 Lonzo Ball from Chino Hills (H.S.) CA (UCLA), 6'9 Marques Bolden from De Soto (H.S.) TX, 6'10 Zach Collins from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV (Gonzaga), 6'1 Alterique Gilbert from Lithonia (Miller Grove) GA (Connecticut), 6'2 Kyle Guy from Indianapolis (Lawrence Central) IN (Virginia), 6'9 Dewan Huell from Miami (Nortland (FL (Miami-FL), 6'4 Frank Jackson from Highland (Lone Peak) UT (Duke), 6'7 Josh Jackson from Napa (Prolific Prep) CA, 6'5 Josh Langford from Huntsville (Madison Academy) AL (Michigan State), 6'10 T.J. Leaf from El Cajon (Foothills Christian) CA (UCLA), and 6'3 Malik Monk from Bentonville (H.S.) AR (Kentucky).
Also noteworthy is the fact that four of the above mentioned players (Azubuike, Allen, Bolden, and Josh Jackson) are still available and that Kentucky (Adebayo, Fox, Monk, and Killeya-Jones), UCLA (Ball and Leaf), Michigan State (Bridges and Langford), and Duke (Tatum and Frank Jackson) are the only schools with more than one player in this year's McDonald's All-American Game.
And, when we break it down by state, we find that Texas has five players (Fox, Ferguson, Bolden, Allen, and Jones) in the game, followed by California (Josh Jackson, Ball, and Leaf) and Florida (Azubuike, Bradley, and Huell) with three players in the game, and Virginia (Killeya-Jones and King) and Georgia (Simmons and Gilbert) with two players in the game.
