SENIORS AND SMALL SCHOOLS: MOVING UP IN CLASS : In Search of the Spotlight and the Scholarship

For the best of high school basketball players, there is no off-season. There are shots to take, games to play and camps to attend--and that’s only when they aren’t opening recruiting letters or answering a recruiter’s phone calls.

Last season, underclassmen Gary Gray, Don MacLean, Marcus Malone, Kevin Franklin and Steve Ward comprised half of the Times’ All-Valley team. These guys won’t sneak up on anyone this time around. All five are well known. And although none of them committed to a major college during the NCAA’s early signing period in November, there is no question that offers await.

Instead, the players worked on improving so they can attract even more attention this time around. If early results are any indication, summer school on the hardwood has paid off handsomely.

GARY GRAY

The only high school player on a team that represented the United States on a July tour of Australia and New Zealand, Gary Gray soaked up some new experiences. .

“We got hounded for autographs when we’d walk around the streets,” Gray recalls. “Kids would see our USA sweat shirts and think we were pros or something. We kind of went along with it.”

Gray, a senior at Granada Hills High, left for Australia one day after returning from Las Vegas, where he played for an American Roundball Corp. team in a tournament that showcased much of the best high school talent in the nation. A 6-8 center who averaged 17.5 points and 14.4 rebounds a game last season, Gray played forward on the ARC team and averaged 17 points a game. ARC finished sixth out of 36 teams.

“Gary did extremely well in Vegas,” says Rich Goldberg, coach of the ARC team. “One of the knocks on Gary was that he wasn’t quick enough to work inside. He dispelled that notion in the tournament. There were situations where people were hanging on him and he put it in anyway. He’s a guy who excels against better players.”

Gray, who has a 3.9 grade-point average, was recruited by several Pacific-10 schools, UC Santa Barbara and Duke, among others. He visited UCSB, using one of his five NCAA-allowed visits. But as could be expected from this lover of travel, Gray won’t select a school until he uses the other four visits.

“I’ll visit Oregon in the spring and Duke when I get the chance,” he says. “Why not?”

DON MACLEAN

With an itinerary packed tighter than Pauley Pavilion in John Wooden’s heyday, Don MacLean, a 6-10 junior, never really had an off-season.

He played in spring and summer ARC leagues, attended a prestigious camp at Princeton University, played in tournaments at Pauley Pavilion, Pepperdine and Las Vegas, and found time for his Simi Valley High team, which played two nights a week throughout the summer. In his spare time, he lifted weights and ran.

“I guess I averaged five or six days of basketball a week,” says MacLean in a matter-of-fact tone that suggests he wouldn’t have it any other way.

Why would a guy who averaged 21 points and 14 rebounds a game as a sophomore work out like a 90-pound weakling trying to win his girl back from a bully?

“The Princeton camp showed me where I stack up nationally,” MacLean says. “A few guys were more physical and jumped higher. It showed me that I need to lift weights.”

Because MacLean evaluates himself in relation to the best high school players in the country, he is not content with already being the class of the Marmonte League.

“Don is a fanatic about working,” says Goldberg, who has coached MacLean on ARC teams for six years. Goldberg, in fact, has coached all five returning all-Valley players. “Don has filled out and will be more of a pounder this season.”

MacLean exudes a surliness on the court that is sometimes taken for immaturity. Turning a competitive disposition inward, however, makes for a relentless worker.

“That nasty attitude helps,” Goldberg says. “He’s always had that surliness, and it makes him a cut above everyone else.”

MARCUS MALONE

Marcus Malone had a chance to join the ARC team that played in the Las Vegas tournament. A last-minute invitation by Goldberg was turned down, however, because Malone’s father would not let him go.

“Rich called and asked if I would go,” Malone recalls. “I said, ‘When?’ He said, ‘Right now.’ I asked my father and he said no. I couldn’t believe it. This was exposure.”

Malone and his father, who believed the offer came with too little notice, have patched up their differences. “He gives me support and goes to my games,” Malone says. “I’m not holding anything against him.”

Still, Malone, a 6-3 senior guard who averaged 12 points a game for Kennedy last season, views the off-season as one of lost opportunities. He missed the Superstars camp at UC Santa Barbara because of a sprained ankle and played little organized basketball during the summer.

“Not going to Vegas and getting injured put a lot of pressure on me to have a great season,” he says. “This is in my face right now. It’s motivating me to have a season .”

Malone, who said he has been contacted by Oklahoma State and Washington State among other colleges, worked out during the summer with friends and by himself, concentrating on areas he believes need improvement.

“My range is better,” he says. “Last season from the left side I debated whether or not to shoot. Now I’m confident all over the court.”

KEVIN FRANKLIN

USC pushed Kevin Franklin to sign early, he says, and Trojan Coach George Raveling visited the Taft senior at home. “It was very tempting to sign but my mother told me to keep my options open,” he says.

Franklin, a 6-4 guard who averaged 20.2 points a game last season, will visit Clemson and Michigan this month before deciding which school to attend.

“Actually, I’m leaning toward USC because Sean Higgins signed with UCLA and I could play against him for four more years,” he says.

Franklin saved his best games last season for Higgins’ team, Fairfax, scoring 31 and 27 in games against the Colonials. Higgins was assigned to cover Franklin when the teams met.

“Ever since Sean and I stepped on the same court,” Franklin says, “I’ve felt a need to excel against him. He is so very talented.”

Franklin and Higgins played together on the ARC team that played in Las Vegas. “It felt strange playing on the same team,” Franklin says.

It may feel strange for Franklin to play without his brother, Keith, this season. Keith graduated from Taft and is playing at De Anza College. But another brother, Larry, who played at Fresno State four years ago, spent most of the summer honing Kevin’s game.

“Larry is like my coach away from Taft,” Kevin says. “We were together all summer, shooting around and going through drills in our parents’ backyard. He’s a shooter. He taught me how to shoot.”

Any coach in the Valley 4-A League will tell you that when Franklin gets a hot hand, he can’t be stopped. He scored 76 points last week against Cleveland and Fairfax.

“It’s like I’m in a different atmosphere,” Franklin says of his hot streaks. “I want the ball every time down the court.”

STEVE WARD

“If it sounds like I have marbles in my mouth,” Steve Ward says, “it’s because I am recovering from jaw surgery.”

An orthodontist broke the jaw purposely in August to correct a severe overbite, and the recovery period put a severe crimp in Ward’s preparation for his senior season at Calabasas.

He could not eat solid food for one thing. Ward lost 15 pounds but has gained most of it back.

“When my jaw was wired,” he says, “It was like teasing myself to go out and shoot. I could only take set shots and I don’t do set shots.”

Before the surgery, Ward played on an ARC summer team and on Calabasas’ summer team.

“I was playing just about every night,” he says. “In ARC you have to shoot when you get the ball because the next guy is going to shoot.”

No one ever has to ask Ward twice to shoot. The 6-4 guard led Valley-area players with 28.5 points a game last season and is averaging 29 after eight games this season.

“He should average 30 to 35 this season,” Goldberg says. “He’s so much better than anyone he faces. In ARC, he has been playing against the best players in the country at his age level since the sixth grade.”

Ward acknowledges that playing at Calabasas, a Southern Section 2-A school, is a step down in competition from what he is used to during the summer. Although he is happy now, he wanted to transfer after his freshman and sophomore years.

Like the other four returning All-Valley players, Ward is buoyed by the attention he has received from major colleges. “The Pac 10 is getting better,” he says. “I’ll take my visits and pick one out.”