[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Coach Steve Smith has had a lot of great teams, even more great players, but this past year was a pretty great group. Finishing 44-0(!!!) they were a supremely deep team, even by Oak Hill Academy standards. Considered by most to be the National Champion of the 2012 HS season, they were unfortunately not invited to the ESPN NHSI, which was won by Findlay Prep. Yet, even with Findlay having two McDonald’s All-Americans and a number of other high quality players, think that Oak Hill would indeed be the favorite.

Here is a list of players and their numbers so you can keep track of them in the video, as well as what they are doing in 2012-13:

#1 SF Jordan Adams, 6-5/230: Freshman at UCLA

#2 PG Tyler Lewis, 5-11/170 (The squads lone McDonald’s All-American): Freshman at NC State

#3 SF Jordan Tebbutt, 6-5/220: Honestly, no clue. He was a guy I really liked as a Junior out Horizon Christian in Tualatin, Oregon. Was following his recruitment, which was said to be between Washington, Washington State, Oregon State and Boston College. So far, have no idea what he is up too this upcoming season as he never officially announced anything.

#4 SG/PG D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, 6-3/220: Freshman at Georgetown

#5 SF Damien Wilson, 6-6/190: Freshman at Memphis

#20 C AJ Hammons, 7-0/275: Freshman at Purdue

#23 PF Montarius Hall, 6-6/255: Freshman at College of Southern Idaho (JUCO)

#24 SG RJ Currington, 6-5/185: Senior at Oak Hill Academy

#30 PG Ikenna Iroegbu, 6-1/190: Senior at Oak Hill Academy

#42 PF Darion Clark, 6-6/230: Freshman at UNC-Charlotte

 

The most amazing part to me is that beyond Tyler Lewis (who made up for it in other ways), everyone was a tank. Maybe RJ Currington is their with Lewis as being slightly skinny, but this team was BUILT. The positions I listed were rough, but their wings were incredibly multi-talented.

Oak Hill has an interesting team this upcoming season, with Troy Williams, Nate Britt and Sindarius Thornwell all being legit McDonald’s All-American candidates. They also will feature Chris Tang (a Chinese PG many have said could be a Jeremy Lin like sensation) and Terrence Phillips (Brandon Jennings’ younger brother). Still, have to say that as far as depth goes, along as massive strength on the wings/middle, this team will not be the same. Should be great, but 2012’s Oak Hill squad was special.

[SiggyParticipant]

 I would’ve favored Findlay Prep over last yr’s Oak Hill team if they played. I would’ve favored Brewster Academy over them as well.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

While I think you do know your stuff, will have to take these guys over Findlay. You may look at the roster and see Findlay as possibly having more size at 4, heck I like some of their guards a tad more, just know that while they were 29-1, they did lose. That loss was to La Lumiere, 67-66. Oak Hill played La Lumiere earlier in the month of December and won 77-59. Now, granted that does not necessarily mean that would mean much in a head-to-head. Just is something worth pointing out that Oak Hill would at least be a formidable foe.

Brewster is a team that I do believe would have the best chance of any to beat last years Oak Hill squad. They also had that strength that is rare in a college basketball team. One thing I will say is, they had lots of guys on Post Grad years. JaKarr Sampson, Aaron Thomas, Mitch McGary and Semaj Christon all fit the bill there. That is one reason why I believe you do not find Brewster in the Super 25 Rankings, which Oak Hill did end up topping.

If you would like to delve into why you believe these teams would be favored over Oak Hill, I would be interested. I know that some felt Bishop Gorman might be favored over Findlay, as they had Shabazz Muhammad at the helm. However, I just felt that the depth of Findlay might prove to great, and they ended up winning the head-to-head match-up. I feel as a collective group, from top to bottom, that Oak Hill team was deeper than any in the country. Findlay and Brewster may have had a few better players at the top, but I have seen dominant high school players overwhelmed by a collective (Kevin Love at Lake Oswego in 2007, for instance). Just would like to hear more as to why rather than just saying you believe it to be so. Definitely are entitled to your opinion, do not expect in the least to sway you, but would really appreciate a little more analysis, which I have seen you give in other posts.

[SiggyParticipant]

 I just think that not only was Findlay Prep the more talented team, but they also were the most versatile and well-coached team in the prep ranks.  Michael Peck (now moved on from the school) always has his team executing like a legit college program.  They had the luxury of being able to play small or big, run-n-gun (see their win over Montverde) or straight executing in the halfcourt and grinding it out (see their win over Marcus).  They had guards in Nigel Williams-Goss and Dominic Artis who are both very skilled and savvy, as well as the underrated Amadeo Della Valle who’s wise beyond his years and was a knock down 3 pt shooter.  They also had a defensive stopper in Winston Shepard, who was one of the best defenders in his class and could defend positions 1-4.  He’s the same guy who gave both Shabazz and Jabari fits in their matchups, so if anyone got hot for Oak Hill, Shepard would’ve been there to put the clamps down.  FP’s frontline was big too, going 6’8, 6’8, and 6’9 across the front while also being more skilled and athletic.  They also had Christian Wood, who’s also another 6’9 top 50 recruit coming off the bench as well as late blooming Matt Willms, who’s a 7’+ kid who signed with UTEP. Oak Hill had Hammons, who although big, is slow and has trouble changing ends.  Yeah, FP lost to La Lumiere, but I think the outcome would’ve been different if Bennett wasn’t injured.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Still think if anything it would be a close contest. Lets just say that Matt Willms would get more than likely eaten alive by AJ Hammons, just in terms of pure size. Willms is not bad, just do not know why they started him in the post for the most part. Nigel Williams-Goss and Dominic Artis are both guards I really like quite a bit, just know that Tyler Lewis and D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera (who is a tank) would probably hold their own. You have Bennett and Ashley of course, who would be difficult for Oak Hill to defend. The key factor very well could have been Winston Shepard, who did a great job on Shabazz Muhammad and was kind of a do everything player for them.

My thoughts are that Oak Hill just had a ton of strength on the wing. I know that Findlay had guys who could step out and stroke, Christian Wood being one of them (heck, even Nick Madray is known for his mid-range jumper), but I feel like Oak Hill may have been even more proficient to that extent. Their 4’s are undersized in terms of height, but they had the bulk to challenge guys like Bennett and Ashley (who are both not exactly prototypical 4’s either, and may be marked as tweeners by NBA standards). Beyond the bulk of Bennett, Findlay was more tall than big. Oak Hill is a team I see as being stronger at the high school level, which I think would have mattered in a meeting.

As far as which team 5 years from now would win, it is pretty difficult for me not to say Findlay, they had the better NBA prospects. Mike Peck is indeed a great coach, but Steve Smith has been around the block for a while as well. I think Jordan Adams was a scoring wing who might be close to as much of a challenge for Winston Shepard as he had to face with Shabazz Muhammad (Jordan did drop 39 on Shabazz Muhammad in a close loss of his Atlanta Celtics to Dream Vision. Apparently, Shabazz and Winston Shepard could not do much to stop him in said contest). Tebbutt was a tank, Damian Wilson was incredibly athletic and they had a monster in the paint. For as much as I like Nigel Williams-Goss, it would be incredibly difficult for him to guard Smith-Rivera. Definitely like how you broke it down and it would have been a great game, but I still feel Oak Hill might have the depth and strength necessary to come out on top. Wish we could have found out one way or the other.

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