3 rising high school basketball stars, 3 platforms, 1 destination

The gymnasium fills early with Tempe Corona del Sol students wearing orange shirts, chanting Marvin Bagley's name, holding up cardboard big heads of the 6-foot-11 freshman phenom during a basketball game, going crazy every time he dunks over a helpless defender.

At Tri-City Christian in Chandler, the gym, built inside an expansive church complex, is big enough for seats on only one side. But it mostly fills up with about 200 fans wanting to see junior swingman Brock Gardner break double and triple teams in the Canyon Athletic Association (formerly the Charter Athletic Association).

Most of those in attendance to see Planet Athlete 7-footer Lamous Brown play in an empty south Phoenix gym are college coaches. The trophy at the end of a 50-game season, CEO and President Eric Bowman says, is "the 100 college coaches who come through."

Each of these top players are doing their thing, finding their place, honing their skills on three different high school platforms, all trying to get to the same place – playing big-time college basketball.

Corona del Sol, among the 200-plus schools that comprise the Arizona Interscholastic Association, is trying to become the first Division I school since Phoenix Union from 1958-61 to capture four consecutive state championships.

It has become the name program in Arizona with a top-15 national ranking and a trip this season to the prestigious Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass., where the Aztecs got ESPN coverage.

"I think at our level, our job as high school coaches is to teach more than just basketball," Corona del Sol coach Sam Duane Jr. said. "Not all of our guys are going to play in college. Giving them the total experience, things like discipline, teamwork, things they'll use in life for jobs, those are things we need to teach. The overall social experience every day, giving them academic advice, being among your peers and growing together, it helps you mature."

Tri-City, which has been around since 1971 with students paying tuition, doesn't get a word in the newspaper on its games, but its 94 high school students take pride in their basketball team as one of the best in a 13-team league that requires each team to pay $200, half of which goes to staging the state championship game at the Suns' arena, US Airways Center.

It began an application process last year with the AIA, but athletic director and head coach Paul Brown pulled out because of the international rule that the AIA put in its bylaws after the boarding Orme School went 25-0 and captured the Class 1A state championship in 2011 with players from all over the planet. Tri-City has 14 international athletes, none of whom play basketball.

The Canyon Athletic Association school pays about half of what the AIA charges for yearly dues, Brown said.

"The AIA does a good job," Brown said. "Look at AIA 365. From a corporate's perspective, of course. The problem for us is as a small school we take international kids."

Planet Athlete, a non-profit organization based in Scottsdale but with onsite locations in Phoenix and Mesa, has a high school team that plays in the five-team CAA Division IV, representing South Pointe, where players take courses. Brown, 18, moved from Chicago last August. He doesn't play for that team because he is part of the traveling national team.

"He would score 50 points a game if he did," Bowman said. "It wouldn't be fair. If we were AIA, we probably would."

Brown leads the Planet Athlete national team that plays 20 games against junior colleges and 20 against prep schools, such as Las Vegas Findlay Prep, in front of very few fans, some parents and mostly college coaches. That team won't play in a tournament if there are no college coaches watching, it says on its website.

That team has two homes – one in Mesa and another in Phoenix – mostly using the multi-court Kroc Center in south Phoenix, where this past week three coaches from Texas-Pan American, in town to play Grand Canyon University, are watching Brown get up and down the court with the grace of a gazelle.

Brown is on scholarship with Planet Athlete, rooming with his best friend, 6-6 silky smooth wing Kwintin Williams. Both have been offered a scholarship by Oregon and would like to be a package deal for a college. Williams is from Anchorage, Alaska, and played for a prep team in Oklahoma before coming here.

The players are housed at the Montana Apartment Homes in south Phoenix. Players without a scholarship pay as much as $12,000 a year, Bowman said. Players practice in the morning and are tutored and take online courses in the afternoon. Some of the players are in the classroom at South Pointe.

They're mostly on the road in search of games.

Here is a look at what each player takes out of his high school experience:

Marvin Bagley III

Bagley was rated the No.1 player nationally in his class (2018) before he stepped foot in high school. He could have gone anywhere get housed and fed and play against the best of the best high school competition in the nation. But his father, Marvin Jr., wants his son to start with baby steps, get the full high school experience, and see how that goes.

So far so good.

He went into Saturday's second-round of the Division I tournament averaging 20 points, 10 rebounds and with 61 blocked shots, seven shy of the single-season school record at a school that won the previous three big-schools state championships. Just about every dunk he makes is recorded and sent to ESPN.

"I'm just trying to learn every day, become a better student of the game," Bagley said. "I just want to get on the court and develop, wherever that might be."

Marvin Jr., who films everything his son does on the court, even practices, says it's most important that his son is happy where he is and that he develops as a person and basketball player. He is an A student with an A-plus game.

"As far as academically and the social environment you get out of a regular high school, it is very important," the elder Bagley said. "The friendships you make, the overall aspects, are great. From a basketball standpoint, those prep schools have a lot to offer. But I think Corona has a lot to offer, as well."

With sophomore point guard Alex Barcello emerging as one of the top prospects in the West, Corona del Sol could rule Arizona hoops for the next three years, as long as Bagley and Barcello don't bolt for what they may feel are greener pastures.

The allure of the prep schools are out there, and it is something coaches in the AIA always have to worry about when they possess nationally ranked players. Duane said he welcomes games against Findlay, which draws talent from all over the nation, because it is going to draw more attention to his program and the competition will benefit his team.

"They have a great team here, a great system," the elder Bagley said of Corona del Sol. "No matter where you're at, you have to have that development and opportunity to reach that potential. As long as Marvin is reaching his potential and developing and growing as a young man, we don't have any problem.

"Our only focus right now is a state championship. We're not even thinking about travel basketball, AAU, right now. We're not thinking about a prep school. I don't know what the future holds, but I know Corona is a great place for him right now."

Brock Gardner

Brock's parents watched their daughter Macey flourish on the volleyball court at AIA-affiliated Gilbert High before becoming a top player at Arizona State. They wrestled for a long time with whether to have Brock go through the much larger public school system, where he would face bigger, more physical defenders. They are part of the Tri-City church, and they like that Brock doesn't get lost in a sea of 3,000 students with myriad of influences coming at him from every direction.

At Tri-City, Gardner is part of a one-two punch with 6-8 sophomore Nigel Shadd, and they have led the school to the 13-team Division III state championship game Tuesday at 6 p.m. at US Airways Center. Gardner had 23 points, 16 rebounds, four assists, four steals and three blocks in a quarterfinal win, with Shadd getting 16 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks.

Gardner has averaged 25.9 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.6 steals and two blocks in 21 games. Shadd averages 15.2 points and 11.5 rebounds.

"We knew the basketball level was not the same," said Troy Gardner, Brock's dad. "But they're getting better. Brock and Nigel get double teamed all game. They work on different aspects.

"The spiritual influence, the teaching, the coaching influence with the Brown brothers (Paul and James), who are spiritually like-minded, have been good. And he's having fun. You're never going to match that enthusiasm (at Corona del Sol). But I never feel like we're lacking."

Division III is the step under the top division in the Canyon Athletic Association. Division IV has only five teams, including South Pointe, which features Planet Athlete's non-national-level players.

Gardner and Shadd – a freakishly talented athlete with a big wing span and great post game – don't lack for college attention. Both have Utah and Gonzaga coaches looking at them. Gardner has offers from Air Force, Central Arkansas State and Liberty.

"When you go to an AIA school, every player is going to be good," Gardner said. "When you go to CAA, you have one or two good players and you're going to get double- and triple-teamed most of the time. It's going to make you better."

Gardner uses the spring and summer to get most of his college exposure, playing on a club team coached by Curtis Ekmark against some of the top competition in the nation. The high school experience for him has more to do with friendships and getting what he feels is exceptional coaching from the Browns, who are able to steer college coaches to him and Shadd.

"Last week, San Francisco flew in, Utah was here," Paul Brown said. "We've had 25 or 30 college coaches here just this year. We've had five at one game. What school in Arizona this size can get five?

"Utah is very interested. Gonzaga has asked for full film. The skill set he has at 6-7 is perfect for the Pac-12, because he can be a 2 (off guard). He is fast enough. He is so good with the ball because he passes so well."

Lamous Brown

The skilled, physical, explosive 7-footer is in his third state since beginning his high school basketball journey and has never played so many games in a season until he came to Planet Athlete in August. He came not only for the competition against post-grad players, but to get out of the south side of Chicago, where, during a winter visit, he was held at gun-point and robbed of his cell phone, Eric Bowman said.

Brown was enrolled at Morgan Park High in Chicago last summer before leaving to join Planet Athlete. He started out at Chicago's Harlan High in 2011 before transferring to Hammond (Ind.) Bishop Noll, where he had to sit out a year.

"I heard about this from one of my close, close pals," Brown said. "I wanted to get out of Chicago, so I was like, 'All right.' I tried it and I kind of like it. The teams we play, it's always going to be a good game. We all just work hard and work together to get the win.

"I'm able to work on my game more, get my academics up."

The typical day starts with practice. Brown takes online courses afterward. There are academic advisors helping him with his college-entrance test. There are very few, if any, home games.

"I feel like I'm already in college or already in the pros," he said. "We really travel a lot. … I don't want to be with anybody but these guys right now."

Bowman calls his program "a small fry" compared to Findlay Prep, which can play traditional high schools because it is part of the Nevada Athletics Association. Planet Athlete's national team does not. But his team plays Findlay Prep four times a year.

"It's hard for kids to leave home and leave their friends and miss prom," Bowman said. "Those things are important."

But what Brown misses socially, he gains in exposure – although most of the noise in his games comes from sneakers squeaking.

"I do miss the big crowds, but it will be there again," Brown said. "You just have to take it step by step."