MaxPreps 2014-15 Preseason Top 25 Basketball preview: No. 7 Bishop Gorman

High school basketball is a guard's game, but with three players over 6-foot-10 that would start on every team in the country, Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas) will challenge that commandment this season.

Duke verbal commit Chase Jeter and Stephen Zimmerman – both five-star senior prospects – along with junior Zach Collins all fall somewhere between 6-10 and 7-feet, depending on the source.

"It's definitely a once-in-a-career situation to have three kids that size with that kind of skill, growing up in the same general area and around the same age," Bishop Gorman head coach Grant Rice said. "They work well together and get along, which is great, but I also think it's created some competition."

See the entire preseason national Top 25

Jeter and Zimmerman were both first team all-state performers and MaxPreps Junior All-Americans a year ago, leading the Gaels to their 16th all-time state championship and fifth in the last six years.

Collins was a role player for Gorman as a sophomore but saw his stock soar over the summer, attracting offers from Arizona, California, Memphis, Notre Dame and UCLA among others.

The Gaels may be one of the few teams capable of matching up with preseason No. 1 Montverde Academy, which boasts seven players over 6-7. The two teams meet Jan. 19 at the Spalding Hoophall Classic in Springfield, Mass.

While the frontcourt may be as good as it gets in high school basketball, the backcourt could be a work in progress. Gone is valuable guard and leader Noah Robotham, now a freshman at Akron.

Replacing Robotham's shooting and ballhandling could be a committee approach, with seniors Richie Thornton and Ugo Amadi, junior Julian Payton and sophomore Charles O'Bannon – both sons of famous basketball fathers – all getting a crack on the perimeter.

View gallery of Bishop Gorman preseason photo shoot

The Gaels are also big on the wings with Pac-12 target Nick Blair (6-5), Tanner Leishman (6-6), Deon Whiteside (6-6) and Chase Nomaaea (6-6) all figuring into the rotation.

Bishop Gorman's last five years:
2013-14 – 30-3, Division I state champions, No. 10 final national ranking
2012-13 – 29-3, Division I state champions, No. 11 final national ranking
2011-12 – 28-4, Class 4A state champions, No. 7 final national ranking
2010-11 – 25-6
2009-10 – 30-2, Class 4A state champions, No. 16 final national ranking