6 4A Players Who Were Ready For Breakout Seasons

<p>We all miss the high school season, and everyone has their own valid reasons. From our perspective — covering the state landscape from a recruiting lens — we miss seeing a small-town senior become the hottest name on the local college recruiting trail after a deep tournament run. We miss watching the junior who improved all summer earn his first offer after being considered more of a D-III kid. We miss learning new names. We miss getting our first impression of the freshmen class throughout the year.</p> <p>After watching some ball in the summer and fall, however, sparringly, and staying in contact with trusted sources, here’s who we believe would’ve had a breakout season in 2020-21, had things been normal. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="927165" first="Dakari" last="Grice"] <em>6’4 C Basic 2021 (#91PHN 2021)</em> - I saw Grice play this past weekend in Utah, and what dawned on me was how much attention he drew. His big body was a problem and defenders had to use all their energy and weight to attempt to move him from the block. He averaged 2 and 2 last season for the Wolves, however, I expected an increase in the rebounding department to go along with a higher field goal percentage. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="859644" first="Dontrell" last="Johnson"] <em>6’5 PF Bonanza 2022 (#13PHN 2022)</em> - It feels like forever since seeing Johnson play H.S basketball. He may be one of the biggest sleepers in the state strictly out of circumstance. He played J.V his sophomore season after transferring from Gorman. Without a doubt, the 6’5 R&amp;J forward would have been one of the key contributors to the Bengals. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="859657" first="Donavan" last="Webster"] <em>6’3 SG Cheyenne 2022 (#11PHN 2022) (featured image)</em> - With Glen Taylor moving on to Prep School, a perfect opportunity was open for Webster to be the main contributor for Cheyenne. I expected Webster to play more with the ball in his hands while using his athleticism to score in transition, and get to the rim off the bounce. Combined with his ability to knock down open 3’s and I expected the PG’s PPG average to increase significantly in his junior season.  </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="856644" first="Earnest" last="Brown"]<em> 5’11 CG Las Vegas 2023 (#6PHN 2023)</em> - Brown is a good two-way player, and his placement next to "Point Gawd" [player_tooltip player_id="859646" first="Tavionte" last="Jackson"] helped form one of the top backcourts in the state. Brown saw significant action as a freshman and after a summer playing against top competition, I was expecting to see him put together an all-conference type season for LV. He defends both the 1 and 2 and does an excellent job at getting to the rim and finishing. </p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1015503" first="TJ" last="McTyer"] <em>5’9 PG Mojave 2023 (#18PHN 2023)</em> - I expected the scoring PG to have a monster breakout season for the Rattlers. A jitterbug PG with college 3 point range, McTyer fits right in with the Mojaves system. I truly expected to see him running the show for a team with multiple scoring options, leading to big assist numbers to go along with double-digit scoring. </p> <p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://twitter.com/7outzbballclub1">Follow Prep Hoops </a></p>