Eye on Findlay Prep 2011-12

Wanted to shed some light on who exactly would be playing for Findlay Prep. Findlay Prep is the brainchild of UNLV booster and basketball enthusiast Cliff Findlay. He bought a five bedroom, four bathroom house that the team lives in, pays for them to attend Henderson International School, buys each player a laptop and pays for the teams travel expenses (http://www.masslive.com/hoophallclassic/index.ssf/2011/01/findlay_prep.html). The school has produced a bevy of top recruits, McDonald’s All-Americans and recent draft picks. Some notable former alums include:

• Jorge Gutierrez (Senior at Cal)
• DJ Richardson (Junior at Illinois)
• DeAndre Liggins (Former Kentucky Wildcat, 2011 Orlando Magic 2nd round pick)
• Avery Bradley (University of Texas, 19th pick in the 2010 draft by the Celtics)
• Cory Joseph (University of Texas, 29th pick in the 2011 draft by the Spurs)
• Tristan Thompson (University of Texas, 4th pick in the 2011 draft by the Cavs)
• Myck Kabongo (Freshman at University of Texas)
• Nick Johnson (Freshman at Arizona)
• Amir Garrett (Freshman at St. John’s, also baseball prospect of Cincinnatti Reds)

Well, this years team appears to have a couple candidates for McDonald’s All-American bids and some impact college basketball players going to major schools. Brandon Ashley and Canadian import Anthony Bennett, whom many rank as the top PF prospects in the 2012 recruiting class, both appear to be mortal locks for the McDonald’s Game. Findlay also landed a new PG to replace the departed Kabongo, UCLA commit Dominic Artis, who is coming off of a killer summer. Returning impact players include Bennett, senior wing Winston Shepard and junior combo guard Nigel Williams-Goss.

The roster is not short in intriguing prospects, that being an understatement. Only 4 players of the 12 listed on Findlays 2011-12 roster are under 6’8. Also, only half of the players on the team are seniors, which could mean that Findlay has a really strong group of returnees for next season. This season, they already bring back last years leading rebounder in Shepard, its leading percentage shooter in Bennett and leader in field goals made in Williams-Goss (who also shot at an over 60% clip from the field). All of those players were double digit scorers on average, and you can assume that Ashley and Artis will probably be in that category as well.

With the starting unit appearing to be Ashley, Bennett, Shepard, Williams-Goss and Artis, Findlay can kill you off of the bench as well. Christian Wood, a 6’9 combo forward, is a rapid rising junior prospect. He has committed to UNLV, and is described as "a sinewy wing type is a cross between Austin Daye and Tracy McGrady". He is young for his class, and should move up in the rankings as he develops. The rest of the team has an International feel, 3 Canadians and 3 Europeans.

They round out the roster quite well, each bringing a great deal of size to their position. At C, Findlay will feature two 7 footers, senior Matt Willms from Leamington, Ontario and sophomore Kingsley Okoroh who hails from Derby, England. Rounding out the stacked forward stable are 6’9 juniors Nick Madray (Mississauga, ON) and Benas Griciunas (Silute, Lithuania). The back-up guards are 6’4 Amadeo Della Valle (Alba, Italy) and 6’3 Petar Rusic (Oakville, ON). Head Coach Michael Peck is back, and the director of player development is none other than JYD, Jerome Williams. This should give a nice outline of the team, and you will surely be hearing a lot more of these players. Some could be in the draft as early as 2013 (hearing that Brandon Ashley will more than likely be one and done, while Bennett could be heading in that direction), and I am sure some of these other players may join them.

Here is the link to the Findlay Prep website:

http://www.findlayprep.com/

Here are some nice highlights of the probable 6 deep at Findlay:

Dominic Artis (UCLA Commit, #63 in Scout Top 100, #9 PG in 2012):

Nigel Williams-Goss (#27 PG in Scout Class of 2013, HUH? Maybe it is because he is from Oregon, maybe it is the first time I heard about him was when he was in middle school, maybe it is the fact he has been a contributor for Findlay since he was a freshman. But, is this kid not severely underrated? He seems to do well any situation he is put into, know I would want him on my team):

Winston Shepard (#43 ranked player on Scout, #10 ranked SF):

Brandon Ashley (#3 ranked player on Scout, #1 ranked PF):

Anthony Bennett (#9 ranked player on Scout, #2 ranked PF):

Christian Wood (#34 ranked player in Scout Class of 2013, #9 PF):