California recruiting: Stanford hits it big twice
LAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca – The Stanford basketball program has pretty much been in “lock-down mode” – as has been the case for every hoops program – because of the COVID-10 pandemic. But Coach Jarod Haase and his staff saw…
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Continue ReadingLAGUNA NIGUEL, Ca – The Stanford basketball program has pretty much been in “lock-down mode” – as has been the case for every hoops program – because of the COVID-10 pandemic.
But Coach Jarod Haase and his staff saw the fruition of a lot of hard work – before and after the world as we knew it was altered so abruptly – via a couple of high-profile commitments.
On Easter, the Cardinal landed one of the top five prospects in the national class of 2020 in 6-foot-8 Ziaire Williams, a McDonald’s All-American who helped lead Sierra Canyon to “best in California” status for the third March in a row.
And, on Tuesday (April 21), one of the elite point guards in the class of 2021 also announced that he will end up at Stanford.
Six-three Isa Silva of Jesuit High in Carmichael (near Sacramento) could give the Cardinal another McDonald’s All-American a year from now.
Assuming with eligibility returns for the Cardinal, including guard Tyrell Terry (who is testing the NBA draft process while leading the option of returning to school as a sophomore), Williams could help propel Stanford to its first NCAA tournament slot since 2014.
Williams (pictured) is, along with Cade Cunningham (bound for Oklahoma State), is one of the two most versatile perimeter players in the class of 2020.
He’s capable of playing any of five positions (at least offensively) from Jump Street in what, as a likely Top 5 selection in the 2021 NBA Draft, his only season in college.
Williams (who attended Notre Dame in Sherman Oaks in his first three years in high school) is spectacular in the open court with the ball in his hands.
And he’s still underrated, IMO, as a passer and post-up scoring threat.
Silva may be the best passer in the entire national Class of 2021 but, because of the pandemic, the opportunities he would have had to showcase that passing skill on the adidas circuit with the Compton Magic have been put on hold.
He’s also got a deep bag of scoring tricks, via jump shots (deep and mid-range), floaters and either-han flips up on the glass and through the rim.