The Apple's Best Ballaz

News

119
Game reports of the Panas-Scarsdale game and the White Plains-New Rochelle games here.
Karron Clark and Curtis Sumpter profiles added

1/13
Keith Mason- I spoke to 5'9 PG Robert White from Canarsie today, so far he has lead his team to a 13-2 record with losses a one point loss to St. Mary's and then a loss in league play to Robeson. He told me there a few schools showing him interest, namely Quinnipiac, Centennial and Rutgers. White is currently averaging 17 points and 8 assists. His team's next game is on Tuesday against Transit Tech, and on Sunday at the High Energy Classic at LIU they have a showdown against Park West, who is currently undefeated.

1/12
JFK Somers vs. Horace Greeley 
Peekskill vs. Panas report, courtesy of Panas head coach Dave Greiner.
I had originally planned on going down to Hunter College tomorrow but unfortunately I sprained my ankle yesterday and won't be able to make it down the Manhattan Winter Classic.

1/10
A double overtime thriller between St. Ray's and Christ the King happened on Tuesday here is the report.

1/9
Two Nationally ranked teams went head to head yesterday, it was a great game between Molloy and Rice.

1/7
Rice vs. St. Raymond triple header

1/6
PSAL Brooklyn Winter Classic

1/5
Report of the White Plains vs. Yorktown game.
Tomorrow I will be at the Rice vs. St. Raymond triple header while my colleague Matt will be at the Brooklyn Classic at St. Francis College. So make sure you check the site tomorrow for reports on the biggest games in the city.

12/31
With the site going into its 3rd year I have decided to do something that I haven't done before. For the first 2 years I have done the site basically on my own with minor contributions from outside sources. But now The Apple's Best Ballaz will no longer be just Keith Mason it will also include Matt Grasso. With me being in college I have not been able to bring the quality coverage that I have grown accustomed to giving, with the addition of Matt the site will be better then ever. Matt will have his own Westchester rankings, and will bring you game reports from both Westchester and the "Big Apple."

12/30 
CHSAA preview

12/28
Last year I predicted Grady would beat Robeson in my PSAL preview, see who I picked this year by clicking here.

12/23
Happy Holidays everybody, I know it's been a while but I been off in college but I'm back now. I went to the Christ the King vs. Rice triple header on Friday and came away impressed with a few players.
I won't update the rankings for about a month because I want to see as many players play as possible before I update them. With that in mind, anybody knowing of any games email me, letting me know who is playing and the  time and date. 

8/20
Yesterday's championship games at UDC were filled with blowouts, here are the scores, leading scorers and the MVP, Sportsmanship and leading scorer of each division. The full report will be up tomorrow.
Super Biddy- Gauchos 40 vs. Dyckman 24

Biddy- Riverside 62 vs. Bronx Kings 27
Tyrone Nash 17-MVP    Nefta I 13-Sportsmanship
Jamal Green 17
Kai Irick 14
Leading Scorer- Kashif Pratt 21.3 PPG
Midget- SONDAY 47 vs. Gauchos A 29
Danny Green 15- Sportsmanship   Jarrel Mills 9
Ray Arnold 10- MVP
Leading Scorer- Ray Arnold 19 PPG
Junior- Riverside 89 vs. SONDAY 72
Keydren Clark 28-MVP  Sean Banks 26- Sportsmanship
Brandon Wilson 16          Japhet McNeil 13
Leading Scorer Sundiata Gaines 26.5 PPG
Senior- SONDAY 61 vs. Convent Baptist 54
Rashad Bell 24- MVP    Kyle Dongo 25
Sportsmanship- Curtis Stinson, SEBNC
Leading Scorer- Moses Gonzalez 28 PPG
College- Riverside 79 vs. Monroe Shockers 66
Nick Delfico 23-MVP       Rahsann Simmons 17-Sportsmanship 
Carl Lee 15                       Lashard Duren 13
Leading Scorer- Kingsley Edwards 36 PPG

8/18
Today was the semifinals at UDC. Here are the winners of games I saw plus the standout players for each game:
Super Biddy- Gauchos 45 vs. SONDAY 27
                Chris Fouch 17    
Biddy-  Riverside 52  vs. Lightning 36
 Marcus Matthews 14     Vincent Natal 16
 Tyrone Nash 14               Ian Umpierre 13
 Kai Irick    12
Midget- SONDAY 66 vs. Riverside 50
        Ray Arnold 26           Johnathan Mitchell 13
       Chris Martin 11         Keith Benjamin 12
Junior- Riverside 47 vs. Gauchos A 36
     Brandon Wilson 9       Chris Bernard 11
  Courtney Johnson 9      Matt Saunders 11
SONDAY defeated the Riverside Future Stars
Daon Merritt 23              Nick Carter 15
Senior- SONDAY defeated SEBNC
Rashad Bell and Rob Barrett played well for SONDAY, Curtis Stinson was the lone star for SEBNC
The championship games for tomorrow are:
9:00 Super Biddy Gauchos vs. Dyckman
10:15 Biddy Riverside vs. Bronx Kings
11:30 Girls Riverside vs. Bronx Queens/Exodus Winner
1:00 Midget Gauchos A vs. SONDAY
2:45 Junior   Riverside vs. SONDAY
4:30 Senior  SONDAY vs. Convent Baptist
6:00 College Monroe vs. Riverside

8/17
I was told today by the coaching staff of the Brooklyn Bridge, Khalil Manigault and Khalid Green that Karron Clark, who was at Springam (DC) this year, and Benjamin Banneker in Brooklyn the year before will be returning back to Brooklyn this year. He will not be returning to Banneker but he is headed to Lincoln High School, where he will join Sebastian Telfair, to make the most dynamic duo in the PSAL in a while. Because of this I am announcing Lincoln as my early PSAL favorite. Karron scored 29 points last night in his teams 82-73 loss to SONDAY Express. 
UDC report for last nights games. 
8/16
When I got to UDC yesterday and saw the playoff schedule, I noticed Holy Cross was plying Gauchos A in the Junior playoffs, and not Gauchos A vs. Gauchos B. I found out Gauchos B pulled out of the tournament. My guess is because of a confrontation between the coach and one of the players during their 1 point loss to SONDAY Express on Sunday. Here are today's games: 

 
8/15
I forgot to mention what time the UDC playoff games will beat  today and tomorrow. The games will take place at 6pm and 7:30 pm at Evander Childs HS.
UDC weekend report and playoff matchups. Today's playoff games are in the Biddy division and Senior division. I haven't seen any Biddy games this year so I don't know what to expect. However both Senior games should be blowouts, with LPAC going against Convent Baptist and SEBNC going up against Minus. LPAC and SEBNC should both win easily. Tomorrow, is the Midget and Junior games. The Junior games should be great, with SONDAY taking on Brooklyn Bridge. If both teams come at full strength expect SONDAY to win by about 8 points, and look for the game to be high scoring. In the other Junior game, the Gaucho A team faces the B team. This should be a good game if the A team is at full strength. If Chris Bernard plays the way he did on Sunday, the A team will win. Unless Yata Gaines has a big game. The Midget games will likely be blowouts. With SONDAY likely winning easily over the Gauchos B team, and Dyckman getting an easy win over the Riverside Future Stars. But Saturday will see many great games, with possible matchups being, SONDAY vs. Riverside in the Midget division, Gauchos A vs. Dyckman. But the best game on Saturday could be LPAC vs. Riverside in the Senior division. Anyway since it is the Semifinals expect all the games to be pretty close. The playoff games today and tomorrow will be at Evander Childs HS on Gun Hill Road and Barnes Avenue.
8/10
Yesterday Curtis Sumpter of Bishop Loughlin announced he was going to Villanova, which brings the total of commitments in the city to 5 and all have committed to major schools and all are in the top 10. Last year at this time nobody from the city had yet to commit. With Sumpter going to Villanova it brings the two players who are mostly considered the best in the CHSAA. I think both Allan Ray and Sumpter will be very good college players and cannot see either one of them leaving school too early, so I see Villanova being a contender in the Big East for at least a few more years. We know now that Jason Fraser will not commit until he takes his official visits. But I think it will come down to either Villanova and St. John's.
This weekend at UDC there will be several big games, on Saturday in the College division Next Level will take on the Monroe Shockers. Next Level features 5'11 SG Kingsley "Bulla" Edwards who is the tournaments leading scorer at 37 ppg, 6'6 PF Bo Washington and 6'5 PF Darryl May. The Shockers have 6'3 SG Rashaan Simmons and 6'1 SG LaShard Duren. This should be a great game. On Sunday the Junior division takes the spotlight, with the 4 best scorers in the division going head to head. The Gauchos B team features 6'1 SF Yata Gaines the leading scorer in the Junior division at 32.7 per, 6'2 SG Russell Robinson who only played 1 game and had 35 but doesn't have enough games to qualify to be on the leading scorer list. SONDAY Express features 5'9 PG Daon Merritt who is averaging 29 per, and 6'5 SF Sean Banks who made his debut last Sunday and scored 23 and 17 in his two games, to give him a 20 point a game average.  If you feel like watching some basketball come out this weekend, the park entrance is on 216th and Barnes Avenue, 2 blocks off of White Plains Road. If it rains the games will be played at Evander Childs HS. The school is on Gun Hill RD and Barnes Avenue but the entrance in the gym is a block down from Gun Hill. 

8/7
UDC report for this weekend. Also changes made throughout the rankings.

7/30
UDC report from Sunday's games.
Allan Ray, Donnie McGrath, Chris Taft and Sebastian Telfair profiles added. 

7/27
Before people start asking me why I have somebody ranked ahead of someone in the top 75 but behind them in the individual class rankings, it is because I made some changes to the rankings while I was doing the top 75 but I just didn't put it on the site. For example Curtis Stinson is ranked #11 in both the top 75 and the Senior rankings. But in the senior rankings Tim Doyle, Sammy Mejia and Roscoe Biggers are ranked over him but in the top 75 he is over them. When I update the rankings in each class everything will be consistent. 
Since I never got a chance to make a report on Sunday's games at UDC, here is some of the things that went down. Domonic Lewis let me know that he is headed to Bronx Regional next year, and will not be returning to Kennedy. I got the chance to see Dwayne Johnson play for the first time since December when his Cardozo team took on Columbus, and I realized he isn't as good as I thought. He had about 7 points and his team lost by 33 to the Church. He isn't even the best player on his team, Victor Morris is much better then him, and he will be ranked when I update the rankings. Also a kid by the name of Moses Gonzalez 6'2 SG has been dominating the senior division. Coming into the weekend he was averaging 25 points a game. And in his two games this weekend he scored 32 and 27. I believe he will be attending LIU Brooklyn this year. He is very athletic and can knock down the outside J with consistency, he should help the LIU team a lot. 

7/26
Top 75 finally updated

7/21
Unfortunately I have been unable to complete the Top 75, I will have it done within the next 2 days. Here are some of the things that happened at UDC today. Russell Robinson showed up for the Gauchos B team in the Junior division and scored 35, and it wasn't even the high on his team. Yata Gaines decided to drop 42, while Brian Laing put in 19. The final score of their game was 105-40 over Wake-Eden. Kingsley "Bulla" Edwards continued to drop buckets as he put up 38, which is right at his 37.7 average before today's game. But Next Level could not beat the Church as Kyle Cuffe scored 30 and Nick Delfico added 24. I also found out today from the Gauchos coach Mark Jones that Ronald Ramon will not be away for the rest of the summer and he will be this weekend. But he will not play at UDC, but is going to Vegas for the Big Time with the Gauchos. Full report will be published on Monday.
7/18
Senior Rankings updated
Top 75 will be added tomorrow
7/17
Yesterday I reported that Kingsley Edwards was going to attend Butler University, that is not true. He will be attending Butler Community College in Kansas. Sorry for the mix up. Reports from Sunday's action at UDC here.

7/16
Report from Saturday's games at UDC, Sunday's games will be up before the end of the day.

7/14
More player reports added including 3 out of state players. Here are my final notes from the camp. I like the way the camp was set up this year, as all of the elite point guards/combo guards were in one pool, with Felton, Roberson, Ingram, Dockery, Ray and Telfair. Another pool had the top shooting guards and small forwards with, Cooke, Antonio Lawrence, Sumpter, John Winchester and Carmelo Anthony until he had to leave. Another pool had the best big men with Kendrick Perkins, Jason Fraser, DeAngelo Collins and Sani Ibrahim. Hopefully next year the camp will be set up the same way which will allow for the great one on one matchups that occurred this year. Also at the camp Allan Ray committed to Villanova and Raven teammate committed to Louisville. Both players will be able to play right away and will be able to become the best players they can be. I spoke to former Mr. Basketball Peter Mulligan and he said he has decided to remain at UMBC, earlier he had said that he would be transferring. I guess he didn't want to sit out a year, and at UMBC he will have a chance to be the best player in the NEC.

7/13
I have posted Sebastian Telfair and Lenny Cooke reports from the camp, Other players will be coming shortly.

7/12
More player reports from ABCD,  under classmen all-star game report, and New York City player rankings from Camp, here. I will have more from the camp tomorrow.

7/11
I have done a report of many of the players from the city at the camp, I will finish the rest tomorrow. Click here for the report.

7/6
Freshman Rankings updated
This week is the biggest week of the summer recruiting season with the Adidas ABCD camp and the Nike camp going on. I will be attending ABCD, where there will be a number of New Yorkers such as: Allan Ray, Curtis Sumpter, Jason Fraser, Donnie McGrath, Curtis Stinson, Sebastian Telfair, Tim Doyle, Gary Ervin, Quincy Doubie, Brandon Wilson, Francisco Garcia, Lenny Cooke, Shaun Wynn, Jomo Belfor, Chris Taft, Charlie Villanueva. Daon Merritt will not be able be in attendance for the entire camp because summer school classes conflict with the dates of ABCD, but he will likely attend for one day on Sunday. Because of this his spot may be taken by Kendell Provet. With about 15 of the top 20 players in the class of 2002, as well as the #1 players in both the 2003 and 2004 classes (LaBron James and Sebastian Telfair) attending ABCD camp, it is clearly the better this year. Which is why if you don't come to any other games this summer you should come to both the senior and underclassmen all-star games. I will have a report done for the camp on either Tuesday or Wednesday. Then I will be going to the Three Stripes tournament at Hofstra University on July 12th-14th. This tournament despite having only 24 teams will have the most loaded talent pool of any tournament with maybe the exception of the Adidas Big Time and the 17u AAU Nationals. 

7/2
UDC weekend report.

6/26
The 3 Stripes Classic which will be played at Hofstra University will take place Thursday, July 12th through the 14th. This takes place right after the ABCD Camp. The tournament is being run by Gary Decesare, some of the players scheduled to participate in the event are: Amare Stoudemire, Sani Ibrahim, Lenny Cooke, Jason Fraser, Curtis Sumpter, Elijah Ingram, Jamar Nutter, John Winchester, Raymond Felton, Anthony Roberson, Olu Famitumi , Allan Ray, Francisco Garcia, Donnie McGrath, Eric Wilkens and Zakee Boyd to name a few. This tournament is loaded with talent, and if your a fan of high school basketball I suggest you make it out to this one. For the list of teams and schedule click here.
I will hopefully have all of the rankings, profiles and links up within the next week.

6/25
UDC results
6/21
Sophomore Rankings updated

6/20
Junior Rankings updated
The new Apple's Best Ballaz site is up and running. I still have many things to add but I just wanted to put something up. There are no profiles up yet, nor are there any rankings besides the Class of 2002 but I will be putting those up shortly. Give me your feedback on how you like or dislike the new look and set-up of the site, click on the word contact me to send me and email.
Senior Rankings updated

6/19
Rumble in the Bronx Game Re-Caps and Player Evaluations
Roscoe Biggers told me he will be attending Mt. Zion Academy in Durham North Carolina, and John Winchester formerly of Marist High School in New Jersey will be joining him. 
Also Kenny Pretlow told me AJ Price who attended LI Lutheran this past school year will be leaving Lutheran, and will likely end up at Amityville.

6/8
Brooklyn Bridge Challenge Report

6/3
Keydren Clark, Charlie Villanueva profiles updated and Brian Laing profile created.

5/30
Kendell Provet, Russell Robinson, Sebastian Telfair, Jason Fraser and Curtis Sumpter profiles updated, and Saiqoun Stone profile created.

5/27
Top 75 has been updated. It breaks down like this 42 seniors to be, 26 juniors to be, 6 sophomores to be and 1 freshman to be, and 9 of the top 11 are going to be seniors next year, which shows how good the class of 2002 is. I will be trying to update every existing profile that I haven't already updated this week, and I will add profiles for the class of 2005.

5/25
Shaun Wynn let me know that he will be attending ABCD camp this year, and I also found out that Marcel Alston will be attending Don Bosco Prep in Jersey next year.
Potential Rankings have been updated, and Sebastian Telfair is not number 1.

5/23
Class of 2003 and 2005 rankings have been updated. Once again each player has his height, position, school, AAU team and either Nike or ABCD next to their name. If you know what school some of the kids in the class of 2005 are attending next year, or if you know what AAU teams any of the players in any class are playing with, in the summer send me an email. I will be updating the top 75 overall and potential rankings shortly. Neither will include the class of 2001.

5/22
Class of 2002 and 2004 rankings have been updated. Next to each players name is his height, position, school, AAU team and what camp he is attending, either Nike or ABCD. If you know what AAU team the kids are playing with that I have ranked but don't have the AAU team there please e-mail me. Class of 2003 and 2005 rankings will be updated tomorrow.

5/21
Final class of 2001 rankings have been made. The rest of the rankings will be updated this week including the class of 2005 (next year's freshman).
Correction made on the Brooklyn USA vs. Tim Thomas Playaz Challenge. The final score of the 10th grade game was 89-59 not 89-49

5/20
IS8 championship report and Brooklyn USA vs. Tim Thomas Playaz Challenge on the AAU report page.

5/18
Tomorrow I will be attending the Brooklyn USA vs. Tim Thomas Playaz Challenge. The event will feature 5 games, 7th-11th grade. The Brooklyn USA 8th grade team is the best in the city, with 6'3 SF Saiqoun Stone, 5'8 PG Eugene Harvey and 6'5 C Antonio Pena. USA's 9th grade team has 6'2 SG Basil Leslie, 6'1 SG James Walker and 6'2 SF Terrance Portis who can jump out the gym, and draws comparisons to Ryan Williams. The 11th grade team is also very talented, with 5'11 PG Sebastian Telfair, 6'4 SG Quincy Douby, 6'3 SF George Jefferson and 6'9 PF Chris Taft. Tim Thomas Playaz 11th grade is one of the best in America, led by 5'11 PG Elijah Ingram who made a name for himself in the City with his performance at IS8. 6'3 SG John Winchester is one of the best athletes in his class, the team also has 6'3 SG Marquise Webb 6'10 C Darryl Watkins, and 6'7 SF Lee Melchionni who is headed to Duke in the fall of 2002. The match ups for the 11th grade games are excellent ones with Elijah Ingram matching up with Sebastian Telfair, which will prove whether Telfair is one of the elite point guards in the nation or not. Quincy Douby and George Jefferson will be on the wing matched up against 2 of the better known Juniors in the nation, Marquise Webb and John Winchester. Possibly the most interesting match up is the one between two talented sophomores, Chris Taft and Darryl Watkins. This match up could distinguish the two when it comes to college recruiting.

5/13
IS8 report from yesterday's action, unfortunately I could not make it out to today's games.

5/5
Japhet McNeil, Allan Ray, Chris Taft and Jason Wingate profiles updated