2023 Watchlist: Who is at the Top? (II)
The Prep Hoops SoCal staff has spent the last few weeks digging through notes to find all the standout freshmen performers from the 2019-20 season. While it’s still too early to put together a fair numerical ranking for these young…
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Continue ReadingThe Prep Hoops SoCal staff has spent the last few weeks digging through notes to find all the standout freshmen performers from the 2019-20 season. While it’s still too early to put together a fair numerical ranking for these young prospects, we did come up with an 85-player watchlist of guys to keep an eye on over the next three years.
Below is the second installment of who could potentially crack those top five spots if we did decide to publish a true ranking, based on first-year performance and long-term potential.
Brady Dunlap Brady Dunlap 6'7" | SF Harvard-Westlake | 2023 State #100 Nation CA-S , Harvard-Westlake – The 6-foot-6 wing gives off the coach’s son vibe and that’s because he is one. His father, Jeff, is an assistant coach at Cal State Northridge. Brady is a long and wiry prospect with smooth shooting form, a high basketball IQ, good size for his position and great understanding of letting the game come to him. Dunlap spent his freshman season at Hart (Newhall) but transferred to Harvard-Westlake in the spring.
Darius Carr Darius Carr 6'3" | SG Fairfax | 2023 State #63 Nation CA-S , St. Bernard – Carr is one part of the Vikings’ dynamic freshman duo and really showed off his scoring chops last season. The 6-foot-1 combo guard has a smooth shooting stroke both off the catch and off the bounce, but can also create paint scoring opportunities for himself and set up teammates when needed.
Dusty Stromer Dusty Stromer 6'5" | SG Notre Dame | 2023 State #47 Nation CA-S , Sherman Oaks Notre Dame – Stromer is one of the better pure scorers in this talented crop of 2023 players. The wiry 6-foot-5 wing has the ball skills and feel to play on the ball with the shooting ability to play off of it as needed. Stromer hit 89 three-pointers as a freshman at a 36 percent clip.
Jared McCain Jared McCain 6'3" | PG Centennial | 2023 State #24 Nation CA-S , Corona Centennial – McCain starred for Centennial in his freshman season as a knockdown three-point shooter who saved some of his best performances for the biggest games. The 6-foot-1 combo guard shot better than 40 percent from three-point range and 80 percent from the free throw line.
Jurian Dixon Jurian Dixon 6'4" | SG St. Augustine | 2023 State #247 Nation CA-S , San Ysidro – A lot of players would’ve gotten lost in the Mikey Williams’ shuffle playing alongside him as classmates, but Dixon seized the opportunity to show that he has a bright future in this game, as well. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard averaged 24.5 points per game last season, with a high scoring effort of 50 points in a win over Southwest (San Diego).