SoCal’s 2023 Breakout Candidates (Pt. 3)

<p>With many states, including California, still struggling to figure out how to play the high school basketball season amid increasing COVID-19 case numbers, we wanted to take a closer look at each class in our region.</p> <p>In this piece, we break down the players in the class of 2023 who would have broken out at this point in the season for their high school teams if it had gone as normally scheduled.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994920" first="Zack" last="Davidson"]</strong>, Mater Dei - Davidson saw good action with the Monarchs last season as a complimentary piece to an open division caliber squad, but this season he likely would have seen his role increase on the offensive end. With [player_tooltip player_id="680196" first="Devin" last="Askew"] graduating early and heading to Kentucky, and fellow starters [player_tooltip player_id="644884" first="Aidan" last="Prukop"] and [player_tooltip player_id="745401" first="Ryan" last="Evans"] graduating, the 6-foot-7 forward would have had an increase in touches and offensive opportunities. Davidson is a skilled hybrid forward with face-up touch to the three-point line and the ability to take defenders off the bounce and finish around the basket.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994966" first="Tyler" last="Small"]</strong>, Servite - The Friars definitely took a hit with All-League point guard [player_tooltip player_id="748762" first="Tajavis" last="Miller"] transferring out of state to Texas, but that opened the door for another young Servite guard to step in and take over. Small has catch-and-shoot ability from three-point range, but is also a quick and heady driver who gets two feet in the paint and uses his court vision to find open teammates.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994938" first="Amire" last="Jones"]</strong>, Leuzinger - Jones, son of Olympians coach Arturo Jones, had a strong freshman campaign in which he averaged better than nine points per game. But with the graduation of leading scorer [player_tooltip player_id="647261" first="Amound" last="Anderson"], the 6-foot guard likely would have taken over the majority of those shots left behind by the now-freshman at Cal State Northridge. Jones has dynamic playmaking ability in the open floor, plays tough and physical defense and operates with confidence and savvy on the offensive end.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994969" first="Isaiah" last="Tolmaire"]</strong>, Mission Viejo - Tolmaire might be unknown to a lot of people who don’t follow Orange County high school basketball, but the lightning quick point guard brings a lot of positive attributes to the table. Tolmaire has great feel for the point guard position and his speed allows him to push the pace in transition when he needs to, but he also possesses the IQ to know when to pull the ball back out and run half-court offense. Tolmaire is a pesky on-ball defender who has quick hands and knows how to speed up a ball-handler into making poor decisions.</p>