LONG BEACH, Ca. – Coach Grant Rice’s Las Vegas Bishop Gorman program used Friday and Saturday to demonstrate that – even after its 2020-21 season was bounced because of the COVID-19 pandemic – nothing much has changed about one of the nation’s boys high school basketball powerhouses.
The Gaels, after rolling Valencia (CA) West Ranch by 29 points Saturday night, cruised past Trinity League members St. John Bosco (77-45) and Mater Dei (78-60) Sunday at McBride High to bag its third consecutive Ron Massey Memorial Fall Hoops Classic.
The event, which made its debut seven years ago, wasn’t held a year ago.
Grant’s team won the titles in 2018 and ’19. The Gaels have also won a national-record nine consecutive state championships.
Based on its performance at McBride, this team has a chance to challenge Southern California programs Corona Centennial and Sierra Canyon as the best of the “true” (non “prep school/academy”) high school teams in the west in 2021-22.
Rice has a pair of senior forwards who started their prep careers at Capital Christian in Sacramento, in Darrion Williams (who transferred to Bishop Gorman last fall) and James Freeman (who moved to Las Vegas in the early summer after his junior season at with Capital Christian), that stack up well with duos in the west.
The 6-foot-6 Williams (pictured) was selected the Most Outstanding Player in the Elite Eight Bracket after averaging 15 points over the three games that were capped with an effort of 13 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the finale against the Monarchs.
He missed the two Section 7 Tournament weekends in Phoenix while recovering from a hyperextended left knee suffered in late May.
The number of college coaching staffs actively pursuing him should climb rapidly one coaches see him in the regular season – or if they watched the Gaels’ three Ron Massey games that were live-streamed and are now archived on the BallerTV website.
Rice also has a bigger (6-8ish) and gifted freshman backing them up in Chris Nwuli, who played well Sunday afternoon while often pitted another of the west’s top “bigs” in the Class of 2025 in Mater Dei’s 6-10 Tee Bartlett.
The Gaels also have multiple high-octane jump shooters, notably by way of 6-4 senior Ryan Abelman, who blistered Mater Dei’s perimeter for five 3s en route to a game-high 21 points. He’s also got a 4.0-plus grade point average on his resume, said Rice.
And it’s unlikely that man “real high school” teams have a starting 2024 backcourt as dynamic as the one that Jase Richardson and Juni Mobley make up for Rice.
Like Abelman, Mobley’s jump-shooting range is something well beyond the 3-point arc.
The left-handed Richardson the son of former Michigan State and NBA standout Jason Richardson, who was perched at the top of the bleachers, at midcourt, with iPhone in hand calmly recorded the Gaels’ games, no doubt, to use in consolation.
The younger Richardson has a reasonable opportunity to be a McDonald’s All-American in 2024 – 25 years after pops bagged the honor as a senior at Hill High in Saginaw, MI.
My choices for the all-Elite Eight player picks (based on PERFORMANCE, not college potential):
MOP:
Darrion Williams (Sr./Bishop Gorman)
First Team:
Zack Davidson (Jr./Mater Dei)
Joshua Jefferson (Sr./Henderson, NV, Liberty)
Andrew Meadow (Jr./West Ranch)
Kaden Minter (Sr./Mater Dei)
Jase Richardson (So./Bishop Gorman)
Second Team:
Ryan Abelman (Sr./Bishop Gorman)
D.J. Dudley (Sr./Heritage Christian)
Jeremiah Nyarko (Sr./St. John Bosco)
Kelcie Phipps (Jr./Bishop Montgomery)
Tyler Rolison (Jr./St. Bernard)
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