2023 Rankings: Stock Risers

Putnam City North standout CJ Smith CJ Smith 6’7″ | SF Putnam City North | 2023 State OK has had an unbelievable senior season and has jumped into the top five for overall prospects. His emergence this season as an absolute star has been fun to watch from early on in the season. For me personally, I first saw Smith in October before his junior season at Heritage Hall. He seemed like a prospect that was knocking on the door of becoming a big name in the state. He kicked the door down this season as he helped lead Putnam City North to a really successful regular season and they are now a couple wins away from the state tournament. Smith has some layers to his game that we’re still continuing to break down. We think he’s one of the more confident players in the state at this point and after the way he’s played this season, we don’t blame him.

Out in eastern Oklahoma, Westville senior forward Buddy Hammer Buddy Hammer 6’7″ | SF Westville | 2023 State OK has flown under the radar around the state but he can make plenty of noise this week if he helps lead them to three wins in three days and punch their ticket to the state tournament. Hammer is a prospect that I wrote about back in October following a very impressive showing at our Top 250 Expo in Edmond. He was very clearly one of the best athletes in attendance and his ability to jump out of the gym was on full display. Hammer hasn’t stopped that throughout the high school season as he’s put together a pretty impressive highlight package and racking up double-doubles throughout the year. And this has nothing to do with being a prospect or basketball at all but he has to be on the short list for best name in basketball this season.

Destiny Christian senior standout Sentinel Moore Sentinel Moore 6’8″ | PF Destiny Christian | 2023 OK doesn’t get near enough credit across the state for being a dominant presence in the paint. Maybe it’s because he plays for Destiny Christian and they don’t play in the OSSAA, and because of that, he doesn’t get seen by as much media statewide. But anyone who has seen Moore in person or the production that he’s had against good competition knows that he’s a prospect that should be on more radars moving forward. Moore has been a double-double machine all season and like Hammer at Westville, Moore can jump out of the gym and the athleticism is off the charts with him. Moore should play college ball somewhere because he has a skillset that translates to the next level. He was one of the more consistent scoring big men in the state.

Owasso is one win away from the state tournament after starting the season 2-5 and going through plenty of growing pains early on. But while some of Owasso’s young stars have come along, the motor that has kept this Owasso team in the hunt throughout this season has been senior Brandon Mann Brandon Mann 6’5″ | SF Owasso | 2023 State OK and that’s not up for debate. He might not be their best player but you can make the argument that he’s been the most consistent throughout this season. Mann is the definition of a tweener and he’s an undersized big man at the next level but at the high school level, he’s been a problem for just about every team Owasso has gone up against this season. Mann has been a beast in the paint for the Rams and you can definitely put him on a list for breakout stars from this season in Class 6A.

Broken Bow’s season has come to an end in the regional round of the playoffs but senior guard Kieler Young Kieler Young 6’2″ | CG Broken Bow | 2023 State OK went out with a bang this season. Young was one of the top scorers in the state a year ago and that remained the case this year as he would make 30+ and even 40+ point outings a regular thing this season. Young is a smaller guard but you can’t deny his scoring ability and especially this season when all of Broken Bow’s opponents knew that he was capable of filling up the stat sheet. He was still able to score at will many times throughout this season. We’re interested to see where Young winds up when it comes to the next level and how that pure shooting ability will help him with his college career. He’s a guy who has proven he can fill it up and deserves a shot to do it at the next level.