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Wednesday, February 7

Top wings ready to fly

By Keith Cavanaugh
Special to ESPN.com

It's a thin year for wing guards, as only four can be found in FastBreak's top 30. But those four are thick with talent, headlined by DeShawn Stevenson, FastBreak's No. 3 overall prospect, and Jerome Harper, FastBreak's No. 8 prospect. Those two clearly stand above the pack.

FASTBREAK RECRUITING

For exclusive interviews, highlight footage, up-to-date commitments and an extensive database of the top prep players in the country, click on www.FastBreakRecruiting.com, the official site of the National Basketball Players Association Camp, the adidas ABCD Camp, and the adidas Big Time Tournament. Sports America, Inc., produces FastBreak and is the founder of the McDonald's All American Game and the Reebok Capital Classic.

The 6-5 Stevenson, whom many believe is the most polished of this year's high school stars, is one prep senior contemplating the jump to the NBA. The Fresno, Calif. (Washington Union High) talent has an NBA body, and certainly the range, as he stroked rainbow 3-pointer after 3-pointer last month on his way to leading all scorers at the adidas ABCD Camp. He followed with an all-tournament performance at the adidas Big Time Tournament, where he dazzled onlookers with his long-range textbook jumper. If he does look at colleges (if and when he qualifies), UCLA or Arizona could be where he hangs his hat for a year.

Harper is FastBreak's No. 2 wing guard. A native of Columbia, S.C., Harper attended Keenan High School last year but has been a basketball nomad of late. The 6-5 scorer left Keenan in the spring and enrolled at Oak Hill (Va.) Academy for summer school to pull up his grades and test scores. But he bolted the Mouth of Wilson powerhouse on the eve of ABCD Camp, thus forfeiting his summer work. Now he's popped up at Washington (Tenn.) College Prep, and last month gave a verbal commitment to Cincinnati.

If he can qualify by the spring, the Bearcats will have one of the nation's elite backcourts in point guard Kenny Satterfield, wing Harper and swingman DerMarr Johnson. Harper is an explosive scorer who can handle the ball, and could be a combo guard at the next level with his great first step and crossover.

FastBreak's No. 3 wing prospect is also from the South -- Mt. Ulla, N.C. wing Scooter Sherrill (6-3), one of two "Scooters" in our top 10. Sherrill, who will visit N.C. State this weekend and may commit, isn't far behind Harper in terms of his ability to break a defender down and take him to the hole. He, too, can swing over to the point. Wake Forest had also been in the hunt. Sherrill was one of the top-10 performers at Nike Camp this summer.

At No. 4, Detroit Renaissance High standout Ricky Paulding (6-5) is coming off a strong summer in which he shined at Nike Camp. One of the more powerfully built wings in the class, Paulding took a recent unofficial trip to Missouri, and also rates Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State high. He is a top defender as well.

FastBreak's choice as the No. 5 wing is the other "Scooter," Memphis, Tenn., native Scooter McFadgon (6-5) of Raleigh-Egypt High. McFadgon is more of a slashing scorer and not as gifted a shooter as some of the others. Memphis leads the pack for his signature, while Georgetown and Tennessee, among others, have tried to stay in the hunt.

Desmon Farmer is our choice at No. 6, despite coming off minor knee surgery this summer. The 6-5 standout from Flint, Mich. (Northwestern High School) is a smooth lefty with the ability to play the wing or swing position. He has a mixed bag of schools that include possible leaders Marquette and USC.

At No. 7, Louisiana shooter Brandon Mouton (6-4) has seen his stock rise this summer with top performances, especially his 33-point display in the final of the Big Time Tournament in Vegas. He led the New Orleans Jazz to a 110-103 win over Eddie Griffin's Timmy Thomas Playaz. Mouton will likely stay in-state for college.

FastBreak's No. 8 wing prospect is Atlanta, Ga., star A.J. Moye (6-5) of Westlake High. Moye is another slasher/scorer/athlete with a diverse list of schools, including Indiana, Kansas, Connecticut and Georgia Tech.

Rounding out the top 10 are two Miami natives, Jemel Davila (6-4) of Miami South High at No. 9 and Eddie Starks (6-3) of Miami Northwest Christian at No. 10. Davila likes Cincinnati, Miami and other Big East schools, while Florida State, Miami and Pitt are in the hunt for Starks. At the NBA Players Association Camp in June, Starks was rated as the No. 14 camper (out of 84). He can shoot and create at either guard position.

Other wings of note: 6-4 Matt Lottich (Winnetka, Ill.), 6-4 Brett Melton (Mahomet, Ill.), 6-3 Rashid Dunbar (Bayonne, N.J.), 6-3 Marvin Lewis (Rockville, Md.), 6-5 Dwon Clifton (High Point, N.C.), 6-3 Brian Polk (Georgetown, Del.), 6-5 Julius Johnson (Garfield Heights, Ohio), 6-3 Drew Schifino (Pittsburgh), 6-3 Sherrod Teasley (Middleburg, Va.), and fast-riser 6-3 JuMichael Young (Hammond, La.), who also had a hand in the New Orleans Jazz's title in Las Vegas. Lottich has committed to Stanford, Melton to Illinois and Schifino to Duquesne.

More early commitments
The early commitments continue to roll in this summer. Expect another rush when college coaches make their in-home pitches Sept. 9-26). There weren't as many fireworks this week as last, but still some top names fell off the board.

The recent group of commitments is led by North Carolina F Marcus Melvin (6-9, 210) of Fayetteville Byrd High. Melvin, who skipped most of the summer circuit to attend summer school, chose N.C. State last week after considering Clemson, UNC Charlotte, Xavier, Rutgers and others. Melvin grew more than an inch this summer, and can play three positions. He is a top-75 national talent and a fast-rising prospect who shined at last month's Pepsi Challenge in North Carolina. N.C. State may pull a trifecta this week with a commitment from F Michael Bell (6-9) of Raleigh (N.C.) Enloe High, a top 50-75 prospect.

Also of that caliber is Milledgeville, Ga., WF Gerald Riley (6-6), a top-50 prospect who chose Georgetown last week over several SEC powers, including Kentucky and Auburn. Riley averaged 28 points per game as a junior at Baldwin High School, and committed following an unofficial visit to Georgetown last weekend. He is a slashing, athletic talent who joins top-50 PF Michael Sweetney (6-8) as the second member of coach Craig Esherick's first class. The Hoyas are expected to add a wing guard as well this fall.

Florida State picked up its second verbal commitment, Jacksonville WG J.D. Bracy (6-3), a top-150 prospect. Up the road at Clemson, the Tigers were dealt a major blow when prep school standout Ronald Blackshear (6-3), Clemson's top recruit last fall, failed to qualify. However, the Tigers received some good news Thursday when slender F De'on Dixon (6-8) of Fayetteville (N.C.) Seventy-First High committed, over FSU and Rutgers. However, FSU could be on its way back in the recruiting wars, with a few other top prospects eyeing Steve Robinson's program.

UNC Charlotte was able to land a top-100 prospect in Connecticut WF Kevin Johnson (6-7) of Milford Academy, who's a nice addition alongside PF/C Tory Reed (6-8), who committed last month. Reed, from Cleveland, has transferred to The Newport School in Kensington, Md. Six-foot-seven PF James Thomas, another Milford Academy star, committed to Texas.

St. John's added its third early commitment in top 100 prospect PF Eric King (6-7) of Brooklyn, N.Y. (Lincoln). King chose the Johnnies over several Big East schools and also looked at Maryland. Mike Jarvis is another coach off to a quick start this fall, with 6-11 Mohamed Diakete of Montrose Christian (Md.) already in the fold, as well as 6-5 WG/WF Willie Shaw of the Bronx (Kennedy).

St. Joe's picked up a quality combo guard in Chester, Pa. 6-2 standout Jameer Nelson, who also had Temple, Maryland, Xavier and others on his early list. Also in the Philly area, Villanova snagged Maryland PG Derick Snowden (6-0) of Severn School, who was among the top playmakers at ABCD Camp in July. The Wildcats could be in the top two for Massachusetts WF Scott Hazelton (6-7), who also lists Syracuse, UMass and Maryland among his favorites. Hazelton will sign early, and has his first in-home visit scheduled with Villanova for Sept. 9 and a campus visit set up for Syracuse on Sept. 18.

Out west, there was plenty of activity as well. Junior college PF Pat Okafor (6-9) of Lee J.C. in Baytown, Texas, chose Baylor, while seven-footer Darryl Isaac of Peoria, Ariz., chose Arizona State.

Looking even further down the road, Florida coach Billy Donovan is at it again, landing a commitment from top 20 junior center Kwame Brown (6-11) of Brunswick, Ga.

Maryland early commitment Tamir Goodman, the 6-3 Orthodox Jew from Baltimore, announced he will spend his senior year at Takoma Academy in Takoma Park, Md. Takoma is a Seventh Day Adventist School which follows the same Sabbath as Goodman's former school, Talmudical Academy in Pikesville, Md.