4/30
Usually I don't post things that other people email me, but I will make an exception this time. This email is from Kevin Williams, the Co-Director for the Tiny Archibald/Rod Strickland tournament in the Bronx, as well as the coach of Mt. Carmel. The topic of the email was about 3 players who have yet to find a college, Kevin Draughorn from Trevor Day, Alonzo Brown from FDA and Sam Moise from Kennedy:
    I CAN'T UNDERSTAND WHY THAT THESE GUYS ARE NOT BEING RECRUITED BY ANY COLLEGES. THESE YOUNG MEN HAVE GOTTEN THEIR SCORE AND YET THEY ARE NOT BEING RECRUITED. THESE GUYS ARE NOT HOUSEHOLD NAMES, BUT THEY CAN MAKE A CONTRIBUTION TO SOMEBODY'S COLLEGE PROGRAM. THERE ARE PLAYERS OUT THERE WHO DON'T GOOD IN SCHOOL BUT ARE GREAT BASKETBALL PLAYERS SO THEY STILL GO TO COLLEGE.  I THOUGHT IT WAS ABOUT GETTING THE NECESSARY SCORE AND COMPLETING YOUR HIGH SCHOOL ELIGIBILITY AND GETTING THE NECESSARY SCORE ON YOUR S.A.T. BASKETBALL IS GETTING OUT OF HAND. I THOUGHT THAT YOU USE BASKETBALL TO GO TO COLLEGE FOR FREE. I WONDER IF SOMEBODY IS MAKING MONEY OFF OUR KIDS. THERE IS SO MUCH EMPHASIS ON SPORTS THAT ACADEMICS IS NOT IMPORTANT. HERE IS THREE KIDS THAT HAVE FULFILLED THEIR ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS AND THEY ARE NOT BEING RECRUITED. IT IS A GOD DAMN SHAME. KEITH, I AM SORRY THAT I AM GETTING UPSET, BUT IT HURTS THAT THESE YOUNG MEN (WHO BY THE WAY ARE GOOD KIDS AND COME FROM GOOD FAMILIES) ARE DISAPPOINTED THAT THEY ARE NOT BEING RECRUITED. IN THESE DAYS, I GUESS YOU HAVE TO BE A NOT-SO GOOD STUDENT AND DAMN GOOD BASKETBALL PLAYER AND YOU CAN GET A SCHOLARSHIP. 

4/28
The Bridge and the Panthers go head up at the 8

4/26
IS8 report, LeBron James makes an appearance but struggles to score.

4/11
Wheelchair Classic Report, The Bronx and Brooklyn battle it out to decide the best borough.

4/9
Wheelchair Classic Report. Charlie Villanueva and Ramel Bradley play great but both in losing efforts.

4/5
Freshman rankings were updated about three weeks ago, but I got a few emails asking me when they were going to be updated, so I was guessing a lot of people didn't see it. 

Also I realized after posting the editorial "Why Wait?" that the original post was the unfinished version. For those of you who never saw the finish product here is the link once again.

The McDonald's All-American game will be played tonight at 8pm, only one player in the site's region is playing, Jason Fraser. Fraser probably won't score a lot but I'm sure he get a couple of highlight alley-oops and put back dunks, and  as always will dominate the boards and will get a few blocks. But I think the player to look out for in this game is Ray Felton, he may break the record for points scored in the All-American game. Personally I think he is the best player in the country and could dominate college basketball next year like Dajuan Wagner did this year. The East Squad is loaded and should win the game by 20-30 points. For the rosters click here.

4/1
Why Wait? An editorial piece about going from high school to the NBA. Also my opinion's of LeBron James, Lenny Cooke and Jason Fraser making the jump.

3/28
Rashard Turner profile added

3/26
CYP championship report

3/25
Keith Mason- Somehow 5'9 PG Keydren Clark was left off of the All-Tournament team at Glens Falls, despite dropping in 16 points 8 rebounds and 4 steals in the championship game. No disrespect to Christian Brown but he should not have been named to the All-Tourney team over Clark, as he only had 6 points and 5 rebounds in the championship game. It seems as if no matter what Kiki does he will never get the respect he deserves. I mean this year he was named to the 3rd team All-CHSAA team despite coming up biggest when the games counted the most. But the next four years at St. Peter's he will get the chance to show how good he really is. 
Keith Mason- In other news I have heard that 6'4 SG Quincy Douby is thinking about reneging on his commitment to Hofstra and instead going to a big time school. However I think that would be a huge mistake. Despite Douby's unbelievable year where he averaged 35 points a game in PSAL play, I don't think this would translate into him being a big time player in a big time conference. The reason I say this is I saw him at ABCD camp where he struggled, and at times really didn't look like he belonged there. He also didn't show the scoring skills he displayed this season in any other summer tournament he played in. The reason the summer is so important is because you play against the best players in the nation and the best shine against the best and Douby did not do that. If you ask the coaches Grady's division they will admit besides Grady and Lincoln the league is very weak, and that was obvious as Grady lost just 2 games in league play, both to Lincoln, and Lincoln did not lose. I am not trying to take anything away from Douby, he is a very good player and Hofstra is a perfect fit for him, not one of those big time schools. An example of a mid major player going to a big time school is 6'6 SF Andre Sweet from Rice a couple of years back. He went to Duke and didn't make it through the whole school year before being dismissed from the school, and only played in a hand full of games. A player that was in the same position as Douby was 6'4 SF Peter Mulligan who was Mr. Basketball out of St. Ray's despite being unknown as a Junior. He committed to UMBC early, then after his stellar senior year a lot of Big East schools wanted him, but he opted to go to UMBC, and all he did was win NEC Freshman of the Year. And he nearly led UMBC to the tourney this year but fell short to Central Connecticut. Just a couple of examples for Quincy and the people closest to him to consider.

3/24
Matt Grasso- In Federation tournament news, Rice defeated Henninger 61-53 to win the Class A State Federation Tournament. They won the Federation tournament without the services of their two big men, Junior Shagari Alleyne and sophomore Arturo Dubois. The outstanding high school basketball career of Jason Fraser has to come an end in defeat. St. Mary's knocked them off 65-61 in overtime to win the Class B State Federation tourney.

3/23
Earlier it was reported on the site that, Shagari Alleyne, Arturo Dubois and Kenny Eusey did not play yesterday due to academic ineligibility, but that is not true, they did not play because they got to school late and were unable to make the trip with the team. Sorry for mix up.
CYP Report, Yata Gaines put on a show for the Gauchos, as did Randy Foye for his Roadrunners squad.
Matt Grasso-In news from the State Federation tournament in Glens Falls, Rice defeated Lincoln 50-48 on a buzzer beater by senior point guard Jason Wingate. Sebastian Telfair turned in an Allen Iverson like performance scoring 28 of the team's 48 points, further solidifying his spot as one of the best players in the nation. Junior center Shagari Alleyne, Sophomore forward Arturo Dubois, and Senior guard Kenny Eusey did not make the trip up to Glens Falls because they were late to school and could not leave with the team. Rice will now take on Henninger who beat Long Island Lutheran by the score of 60-56. That game takes place Saturday night at 5:00 PM at the Glens Falls Civic Center. In the Class C Federation Tournament, Blind Brook continued their unbelievable winning streak which now stands at 28-0 by defeating Catholic League champion Monsignor Scanlan. They won by the score of 42-38 despite only scoring 15 points in the second half. They take on Woodmere Academy for the Class C Championship Saturday night at 8:30 PM.
    Saturday night at CYP, Riverside Church takes on Hoop Street Gang at 7:15 PM and the Long Island Panthers take on the Connecticut Select in the second game at 8:30 PM.

3/22
AJ Price Profile added

3/16
Two Reports added for the PSAL championship. Lincoln is moving on to face Rice.

2002 Applebee's Westchester All Count Classic at Yorktown High School
March 23,2002
8:00PM Showcase Game

Blue

Gold

Hilton Armstrong (Uconn)-Peekskill Justice Hall-Sleepy Hollow Dave Ryan (Siena)-Eastchester Jomo Belfor-Mount Vernon Tom Jennings-Lakeland Jon-Michael Grzan-Blind Brook Simon Skrelja-Hastings Chris Green-New Rochelle Dino Dwyer-White Plains Khnemu Draughen-Saunders Tyrice Scott-Leake and Watts Rushid Simmons-Ossining Steve Trifiletti-Rye Neck Coaches:Jeff Charney-Blind Brook               Bob Delle Bove-Hastings

Alexei Korolev-Panas Jason Stein-Blind Brook Shawn Tully-Mahopac Rashard Turner-Peekskill Brian Scordato-Greeley Brandon Weldon-Hamilton Clayton Miller-North Salem Will Cherry-Mount Vernon Knowledge Jones-MLK Darren Johnson-Lincoln(from Yonkers) Mike Auerbach-Panas Anthony Cruz-Port Chester Donnie McGrath(Providence)-JFK Catholic Coaches:Bob Cimmino-Mount Vernon Tom Nelligan-JFK Catholic

   2002 Applebee's Westchester All Count Classic at Yorktown High School
March 23,2002
6:00 PM Game

Blue	Gold
Kenny Amparo-Gorton  Chris Fleisher-Greeley Mike Schwartz-Scarsdale Keith Saton-Peekskill Matt Blye-Ardsley Jason Weltman-Lakeland Jack Garland-Somers Jay Ciraco-Harrison Kyle Lockett-Hamilton Earl Scott-Pelham Kevin Fisher-Irvington J.C. Pullum-Valhalla Coaches: Jim Bostic-Leake and Watts Spencer Mayfield-White Plains	Shonte Sasser-White Plains Randy Brunson-Mount Vernon Jerry Farrior-Yonkers Doug Byrnes-Hen Hud Sean Font-Croton Mike Goin-John Jay Ryan Lynn-New Rochelle Dan Tavino-Brewster Chris Greco-Blind Brook Pat Mulhearn-Rye Eddie Nedwick-Irvington Mike Sugrue-Hastings Marc Goodson Coaches: Henry Weltman-Lakeland               Steve Veteri-Yorktown

3/15
All Westchester Team and Mr. Basketball provided by Matt Grasso

Westchester County Mr. Basketball 2002
Donnie McGrath

1st team all Westchester (in order of number of votes for Mr. Basketball)
Donnie McGrath 6'3'' Guard John F. Kennedy Catholic High School
Rashard Turner 5'9'''  Guard  Peekskill High School
Hilton Armstrong  6'10'' Forward Peekskill High School
Jomo Belfor 6'0'' Guard Mount Vernon High School
Jason Stein 6'5'' Forward Blind Brook High School

Keith Mason- Tomorrow the Robeson Eagles will meet the  Lincoln Railsplitters for the PSAL championship at 1pm at Madison Square Garden. This promises to be a very exciting game, and I wouldn't be surprised if 7,000 if not 10,000 people show up to the game. The reason is the two exciting guards, and possibly the two best guards in New York, 6'1 PG Gary Ervin and 6'0 PG Sebastian Telfair. Ervin was here last year and he had an excellent game despite his team 's overall poor effort. This year Ervin will be determined to not let the same thing happen twice, I expect him to have one of the best individual performances in a championship game in a long time.  It wouldn't surprise me if he scored 40 or even 50 points in this one. The other talented guard, Sebastian Telfair should have a big game also, this will be a duel between two talented players.  The difference in this game will be the supporting cast. During the regular season 6'9 C Shakeim Mitchell was the only other player to average double figures besides Ervin and he averaged just 11, but in the playoffs he is still averaging 11 but 6'4 SF Aaron Harvey and talented freshman 6'2 SG Terrance Jackson have both contributed 12 points a contest, giving Ervin the help he needs for Robeson to make the title run and be a completely dominant teams the way they did. Now will it be enough to beat Lincoln? The difference between Robeson and Lincoln, is Lincoln can afford the star player to have a bad game and still beat a good team, I'm not sure Robeson can do it, nor have they had to prove it as Gary has come up biggest in the big games. Sebastian isn't even the team's leading scorer in the playoffs as 6'6 SF Karron Clark has averaged 20 points a game and scored 1 more point then Telfair has in the playoffs. Besides Clark and Telfair, they also have 6'0 PG Jamaal "Tank" Dart who has had big games this year and is capable of doing it again. In my PSAL preview I picked Robeson to win the championship and for them to beat Lincoln in the championship, but I did not think Lincoln would be this good, which is why I have to go with Lincoln in a classic game that could come down to a buzzer beater. My guess for the final score is: Lincoln 80 Robeson 78.

3/14
Rice vs. All Hallows for the title.

3/12
Keith Mason- Tomorrow at 7:30 Rice and All Hallows will meet in the CHSAA championship. Rice will be making their 4th appearance in the last 5 years while  no All Hallows player has played in the championship. Three seniors and one Junior on the Rice roster played in the game 2 years ago when they came up short against St. Ray's. Those players are Keydren Clark, Jason Wingate, Kenny Eusey and Shagari Alleyne. These four players are hungry, and are looking to correct what went wrong 2 years ago. All Hallows best shot at making this a game is to play the 3-2 they played against St. Peter's in the semis. With their 4 guard lineup of Marvin McCullough, Bobby Santiago, Ronald Ramon and Ricky Soliver they can afford to play a zone against Rice because their players are quick to close the gaps left in a zone. It'll be very difficult for Rice to get too many good looks against a 3-2. I think All Hallows will have to let Alleyne get his, because if they come and double he will find the open man and more times then not the shooters on the Raiders will make the open 3. One way for Rice to beat the 3-2 zone is set a pick on the outside man on Kiril Wachsman's side, because he will not be quick enough to get out to shooters. All Hallows may be the only team in the city that guards compare to Rice's but Rice's guards are more versatile then the Gaels guards. All of Rice guards can penetrate and all can knock down the 3. While Santiago and McCullough are excellent players each have weaknesses in their offensive game. You want Santiago to put it on the floor because he would much rather take to jumpshot then take it to the basket, while McCullough has greatly improved his mid range jumper but he is still not a threat from behind the arc. The most important part of the game will be the first 5 minutes, if Rice comes out making shots and opens up a nice lead early, the game will be a repeat of the Sectional championship where Rice won by 23. All Hallows will have to slow down the game early on and only take the shots that are there and not force anything. In the end I think Rice will win the game and move on to Glenn Falls with a 73-60 win. Look for Alleyne to have a big game, similar to the game he had against Christ the King. 
Freshman rankings updated.

3/11
Junior and Sophomore Rankings have been updated, Freshman Rankings and Overall rankings will be updated tomorrow.
Rice and All Hallows will meet on Wednesday at 7:30 to decide the CHSAA champion after both were victorious on Sunday with easy games in the semifinals. There will be a preview of the game tomorrow.

3/10
Mt. Vernon vs. Kingston

3/8
CHSAA quarterfinal report. Rice and Xaverian will meet on Sunday, where Rice will try to avenge their only league loss this year.

3/7
CHSAA quarterfinal report added. All Hallows and St. Peter's move on.
Keith Mason- I will be in the city for the next week, so I'll be home for both of the City's semifinals, the PSAL and CHSAA, as well as the city championships. There will also be plenty of updates in the next week. 

2/25
James Smith leads Nyack to Finals

2/22
Senior Rankings have been updated. No prep school players are included.

2/20
Senior night at St. Ray's but visiting senior Elijah Ingram steals the show

2/18
Brian Laing profile 

2/16
Matt Grasso-In class A Mount Vernon defeated Carmel 78-45.Will Cherry led all scorers with 26, while Troy Carr added 15 for the Knights. Spring Valley defeated Lincoln 77-54 New Rochelle beat Scarsdale 41-38 White plains won 67-53 over Ketchum Yorktown overcame a 17 point second half deficit to defeat Gorton 71-61 Poughkeepsie handled Mahopac 77-58. It took Arlington two overtimes to overcome John Jay East-Fishkill 80-79

In Class B #1 seed Nyack easily vanquished Rye 67-38.James Smith led all scorers with 17 points. The defending look to defeat Fox lane next Thursday in order to go back to the County Center and defend their title Kennedy Catholic went on a run in the beginning of the 4th quarter to put away Portchester 87-60. Donnie McGrath led all scorers with 32 points while junior point guard Anthony Cruz led his team with 30 points in a game that was much closer than what the score shows. They host Ardsley next Thursday while looking to go the County Center for the 4th straight year The 8-9 game was very highly contested between Fox Lane and Walter Panas. Adrian Carvalho came up big for the foxes to a 71-69 victory in this one putting up the 30 points including many clutch baskets down the stretch. Jon Ortiz put forward a strong effort with 23 points for Coach Greiner's Panthers. They will try and continue their upset streak next Thursday against #1 seed Nyack Greeley easily got past Hen Hud by the score of 80-49. Chris Fleisher led all scorers with 21 points and 14 rebounds. They travel to Lakeland to play for the opportunity to go to the County Center. They're trying to go back for the second straight year.
Lakeland was led by Tom Jennings's 26 points to beat Albertus Magnus 
65-56. They will host Greeley in the highly anticipated 4-5 matchup on 
Thursday. Peekskill hammered Brewster by the score 81-32. Rashard Turner scored a game-high 23 points to go along with 8 assists for the Red Devils. They host Tappan Zee next Thursday. They look to go to the County center and win their first sectional crown since Elton Brand's junior season.
Tappan Zee edged out Sleepy Hollow by 1 in overtime 66-65. Tim munch 
led all scorers. They play at Peekskill in the quarterfinals next Thursday.
Ardsley edged out Nanuet 68-55 for the chance to play at #3 seed Kennedy next Thursday.

In Class C Hastings 75- Keio 47. George Skrelja led all scorers with 23 points.
Valhalla 67-Pleasantville 42. Mike Pullum had a game-high 27 points.
North Salem 83-Bronxville 52. Clayton Miller and Mike Depaoli had 26 
and 25 points respectively for the hosts. Edgemont 67- Irvington 52. Cody Moffett led all with 19 points. Woodlands edged out Croton Harmon 67-58. Steve Brinson was the high score with 16 points. #11 seed Dobbs Ferry upset #6  Briarcliff  71-58 for the chance to play North Salem in the second round. Zak Raffel scored a team-high 14 points for the Eagles, while Larken Henderson led Briarcliff with a game-high 21 points.

2/14
Westcher Playoff brackets added. Section B is just a list of the seeds because the 10-16 seeds have yet to be decided so no game is set up as of yet.
Player Profiles from this past weekends, Prime Time Shootout and National Prep Invitational.
Rankings will be updated sometime next week.

2/12
Carmel vs. Lakeland 

2/11
Prime Time Shootout
There will also be player reports from both the Prime Time Shootout and the National Prep Invitational to be put up either later today or tomorrow.
Links Page updated

2/10 
National Prep Invitational

2/9
National Prep tournament report, I finally got to see some top high school talent and I didn't even have to leave my campus. I'll be back there today while my colleague Matt Grass will be at the Prime Time Shootout. So check back for updates on the two biggest tournaments in the nation.
I know by now everybody has probably seen what Nate Blue wrote on his site, but most of what he said isn't true. The statement before the rankings, isn't for him, that was there before there was a Real Scout Basketball. That was distinguishing myself from all of them national sites who use potential as their #1 criteria for judging players. About the link, that was my fault, I kept forgetting to put it on after I had changed my site. We could still be cool Nate, but I ain't  with that talking over the net stuff, so send me an email and we could squash this.  

2/7
JFK Gaels get big game from 6'3 PG/SG Donnie McGrath against Horace Greeley

2/6
Two new profiles added, Keydren "Kiki" Clark and Louie McCroskey

2/5
An editorial about the scoring in the PSAL this year and what it all means.
Quincy Douby profile added

2/4
Westchester Rankings have been updated, Matt Grasso would like everyone to know that he doesn't use potential in making his rankings, only how good the player is right now.
Two game reports added, Panas vs. Lakeland and Peekskill vs. Horace Greeley.

2/1
Gary Ervin and Marlon Smith profiles have been added
JFK Catholic vs. Panas game report

1/30
Rice vs. Xaverian game report
Shagari Alleyne and Daon Merritt profiles added

1/28
Russell Robinson profile added

1/27
A few game reports added click here to read those reports 

1/19
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