Boys' basketball: Top guards are plentiful for 2015-16 season

Boys’ basketball: Top guards are plentiful for 2015-16 season

Brothers (from left) Lonzo Ball, LaMelo Ball and LiAngelo Ball will lead Chino Hills this season.

Columnist

Oct. 28, 2015 3:25 PM PT

The high school basketball season is still weeks away from beginning, but it’s clear that there will be no lacking in talent at the guard position.

The standard for excellence starts with Lonzo Ball of Chino Hills. He’s set to sign with UCLA on Nov. 11 and is considered by many as the best player in the state. Besides Lonzo, his 14-year-old freshman brother, LaMelo, and another brother, junior LiAngelo, all committed to UCLA, will give the Huskies a trio of guards that like to play at the highest tempo level possible.

There are terrific guards throughout Southern California. Sierra Canyon has Nevada-bound Devearl Ramsey and top junior Remy Martin. Defending City Section Division I champion Fairfax will have Loyola Marymount-bound Donald Gipson.

Redondo will have a trio of solid guards in Leland Green, Morgan Means and Ryse Williams. Bishop Montgomery has junior Ethan Thompson and sophomore David Singleton. Cathedral has Washington State-bound Milan Acquaah. Viewpoint has Harvard-bound Christian Juzang. Crespi has USC-bound De’Anthony Melton.

Oaks Christian will try to resurrect the prep career of senior Max Heidegger, who was a star as a freshman. Orange Lutheran has juniors Chris Williams and Joseph Riley. Mater Dei has sophomore Spencer Freedman. Santa Margarita has the Rasheed brothers, Noah and Kaden. JSerra has Cal-bound junior Alec Hickman.

Cantwell-Sacred Heart has Jacob Davison, committed to Eastern Washington. Long Beach Poly has Hawaii-bound Drew Buggs. Alemany has Shacquille Dawkins.

Harvard-Westlake has senior Wolfgang Novogratz, junior Ali Iken and freshman Cassius Stanley. Windward has junior Jalen Harris. Campbell Hall has Jordan Cohen, a Lehigh commit. Corona Centennial has Jordan Griffin. Riverside North has Dikymbe Martin. Etiwanda has junior Miles Oliver.

Damien has Bryce Peters, a Colorado commit. El Camino Real has three-year standout Brandon Russell. Oak Park has sophomore Wes Slajchert. Santa Monica has Jonah Mathews.

The list goes on and on.

It’s going to be the year of the guard.

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