Best Basketball Player ever in Arkansas High School?

[RedSatinHog]

It would be either Sidney Moncrief, Joe Johnson, Marvin Delph or Ron Brewer.

I'd have to give the nod to Sid.  His signing was pivotal to the U of A ever having a serious program to begin with.

[hoganator]

Keith Lee
Corliss
Keith Wilson maybe not great but alot of fun to watch play.  He had a great dunk on our team in the 80's. 

[x]

Corliss Williamson, Willie Cutts, Keith Lee, Michael Cage, Caldwell Jones and his brother, can't remeber his name, Major I think. Caldwell played for the 76ers for a while. Joe Johnson, Ricky Norton, Ron Brewer Sr.

The Jones' have to be the best basketball family. Caldwell, Charles, Wil, and Major all played in the NBA.

[Hog lite]

Marcus Monk wasn't too shabby!

[jseinfeld48]

Best I remember watching in HS only:

Dexter Reed
Chris Bennett (very slow - good shooter/passer)
Brewer/Delph/Moncrief
Ricky Norton
Keith Lee/Michael Cage
Willie Cutts
Phillip McKellar (similar to Chris Bennett but quicker)

I saw Catholic vs. Hall with Bennett and Moncrief. I thought Bennett was the most fundamentally developed at that stage but that Moncrief had more raw skills, potential, and a much higher ceiling.

[bsking]

Wow, a 3 year old thread.

[jseinfeld48]

    After I read the whole thread, there is one name I am surprised is not on there, and I don't remember where he was from -- Ricky Medlock

if my memory is still good, he was from Cave City.

[BPsTheMan]

Obviously Corliss, Super Sid, The Boot, etc, but I never saw them play in HS.

I saw Willie Cutts (had some life problems later I guess), Keith Lee, Michael Cage, Dennis Nutt...

Cutts COULD HAVE reminded some of present day Rajon Rondo. So smooth.

That West Memphis team with Cage and Lee - wow

[BPsTheMan]

How good was Scottie Pippen @ Hamburg?

Pippen was not even the best player on his team at Hamburg. Ronnie Martin (I think was his name) was a year behind Pippen and was better.

Then Pippen grew 5/6 inches between his freshman and soph year at UCA.

Pippen became noticeable his soph year at UCA

[cypert2]

Keith Lee, without a doubt.

[TeedupHigh]

Corliss beat Kidd!  Game was on TV.  Best 5 i seen was Corliss, Brewer, Moncreif, Delph, Johnson.  Brewer's Sr year at Northside and his team at Westark was as good as it got!  Who was the big kid at Pine Bluff who played at Westark with Boot?  Was his name Randy Curl?  Was good HS but was only average at Westark.  Brewers Northside coach went to Westark and had some good teams.  Man was a great coach.

[BigSexyHog]

Houston Nutt

[Catfish Joe]

Matt Hall from DeQueen is the best I've ever seen.

[N HOG]

Being objective, I would say it it a tie between Houston Nutt Jr. and Almer Lee -- and the irony is they went on to become great friends.

[HoopS]

Teedup, not only did he beat Kidd, he blocked his shot to win it. I was there in person in PB.   The King Cotton Classic.   

Ken Biley had some good games there.  Corliss was the MAN though!

[An old hog fanatic]

Corliss Williamson

rated the #1 player in the country
I am certain Jason Kidd was rated ahead of Corliss. Kidd's team (from the Bay Area in Cali) won the King Cotton tournament that year and beat Corliss, too.


Actually, Russellville won that game when Corliss blocked Kidd's shot at the buzzer!  One of the best high school games ever.



























I thought that Russellville won that game.  Didn't Corliss block a shot near the end to preserve the win?

[labb]

Corliss was the best I have seen...But a couple of names for you and you will have to be a real BB junkie to know who they are..Male--Jason McDonald, Saratoga '94 I think was the year...Female--Lakyn Garrison--Wicks--Check the state scoring records for how many she holds. Now at OSU.

[moehog]

Best team ( not that you asked ) : 1992 LR Parkview. Dion Cross and Derrick Fisher = best backcourt in Arkansas history, IMO. 7 Guys from that team went D - 1.

I agree that is a great team but the team from West Memphis that had Keith Lee, Michael Cage, Aarron Pryor....was pretty dang good.

[songofthesword]

my father played for parkview in the early 80's and has grown up wtih and played with damn near every one here around that time frame up into the mid 90's and he will tell you that kim cooksey is the rawest mofo he has ever seen. my dad can go (still) and he told me that was the one guy that he couldnt' do jack darn with. said if it wasn't for drugs he'd be all world.

[hogwild6700]

There are obviously bigger names, but does anybody remember Jason McDonald from Saratoga ?

[cowboyhog]

Brooks Taylor

[kingofdequeen]

Matt Hall from DeQueen is the best I've ever seen.

hello, David Hall.

[rljjr]

Anyone mentioned Keith Wilson?

[Amityvillehogger]

Corliss. Period.

[HogBreath]

Fizzled in college?

He led Memphis St in scoring for four years. Took them to the final four his senior year.

First round draft pick taken by the Cleveland Cavs, but blew his ACL his rookie year. Back then they couldn't fix you after you blew an ACL so his career ended there. Otherwise, everyone here would know who he was.

The best team ever wouldn't have been that Parkview bunch, it would have been Lee and Cage at West Memphis. They only ever lost 1 game.

Thanks Jaime for setting the record straight...Keith Lee was the man, in high school and college.

[FANONTHEHILL]

Keith Lee #1
Corliss #2
and have to agree with Jamie72921 above, Eugene Watson from Fayetteville in his junior ('87) and senior ('88) year was incredible. He took Lee Mayberry to school when FHS went over to Tulsa one night.

[Fatty McGee]

Someone mentioned Jarrett Hart.  He's a possible Olympian:

http://www.slamonline.com/online/other-ballers/international/2009/09/hart-attack/

[Fatty McGee]

More on the Jones family:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caldwell_Jones

"Jones grew up in McGehee, Arkansas, a member of a very tall family. The 6-foot-3 Caldwell Jones, Sr., and his wife, 5-foot-11 Cecelia, had eight children. Their shortest child was Clovis, the only daughter, who measured in at 6-foot-3. Four of the Jones boys played in the NBA: Wilbert (6-foot-8, one season each with the Indiana Pacers and the Buffalo Braves, plus seven seasons with three ABA teams), Caldwell (five NBA and three ABA teams), Major (6-foot-9, five seasons with the Houston Rockets, one with the Detroit Pistons), and Charles (6-foot-9, 15 seasons total with Philadelphia, the Chicago Bulls, the Washington Bullets, Detroit and the Houston Rockets). Two other brothers played minor league basketball."

[Iwastherein1969]

we are talking HIGH SCHOOL player, not career player...the following is a top 5 of the most feared HS BB players in ARK history

1) U.S. REED (Pine Bluff HS)

2) KEITH LEE (West Memphis HS)

3) GREG ALEXANDER (Magnolia HS)

4) SIDNEY MONCRIEF (Hall High School)

5) RALPH PORCHIA  (Stephens HS)

these are the five best I've played with, against or have seen play

[dhornjr1]

Caldwell, Major, and Wil Jones actually played at Wolff Project before it became Desha County Special Schools. My mother-in-law went to school with them.

Also, my dad did the radio broadcast for the state championship game the year Caldwell and Major's Wolff Project team played Pyatt. So, I heard about Caldwell and Major Jones while I was growing up, even before I knew they were NBA players.

For the longest time, I couldn't figure out why all the Jones boys went to Albany State. Then, I found out their older brother Oliver played there first, became an assistant coach there in 1970, and then became the head coach there in 1972.

[husker71]

I still have the Sports Illustrated where Major was pictured and had an story about how he was one the the best high school players in the nation.  Wil and Caldwell both defensive stoppers.  To break the press against Blazers in NBA finals Gene Shue had CJ bring up the ball against Walton for a time until Ramsey switched his fullcourt press a little.

[dhornjr1]

I still have the Sports Illustrated where Major was pictured and had an story about how he was one the the best high school players in the nation. 

I'd like to show that to my dad. He would get a kick out of that.

[jseinfeld48]

my father played for parkview in the early 80's and has grown up wtih and played with damn near every one here around that time frame up into the mid 90's and he will tell you that kim cooksey is the rawest mofo he has ever seen. my dad can go (still) and he told me that was the one guy that he couldnt' do jack darn with. said if it wasn't for drugs he'd be all world.

Good addition. 6' 2"/6' 3" guard, played in NLR & LR, went to Middle Tennesse State and was drafted by the Mavs.

[GARZRBACK78]

I would consider Almer Lee (already mentioned) from FS Northside-they had a good running back as well-Billy Joe Releford.
Almer played two years for the Hogs in the early seventies under Coach Lanny Van Eman.  He was a helluva shooter.

[jseinfeld48]

I saw some 72 & 73 Lanny Van Eman era games with Martin Terry and Dean Tolson but I think I missed the Almer Lee years. They lost many games but they could really score. Don't know if it is true but I heard Van Eman almost got Lloyd (World) B. Free from NY.

[GARZRBACK78]

That is true about Free, he was considering the Hogs-I had forgot about that one.  Lee played in 70 &71 and Tolson and Terry came along in 72.  That could have been the first set of triplets.

[Ilikthiskindaparty]

Almer Lee - Ft. Smith Northside.It seems like it was around 1966-'67.He had amazing skills.

[FSHog67]

Don Kessinger---Memories, I saw the game against Ft. Smith High(then) at Ramsey Gym and I could not believe a one man team was going to beat the unbeaten and St. Champs and he almost did all by himself.  Became the Starting SS for the Chicago Cubs. One hell of a guard.

[Dbl D]

High School?  Almer!

[TNhogfan]

if my memory is still good, he was from Cave City.

Yep, he was a Cave City Caveman.  Outstanding free throw shooter; was a part of Sutton's foundation in Eddie's first year or two.

[TNhogfan]

Lot of great players, one of the best / biggest games i ever saw, when Conway "Marvin Delph" played Ft. Smith " Ron Brewer" for the state championship in old Barton Collisium. Both teams undefeated, man what a great atmosphere that game was.

Even though Conway lost, still a highlight for us

Those 2 players helped turn what Razorback basketball is today

Was that in the  Overall Tournament or was it one of the years that the old 5A and 4A had their state tourney together?

[big dread hog]

Jackie could not play for the Hogs because the racial barrier had not been broken. He left Altheimer to go to Cal and then the ABA and NBA. Jackie was physically bigger and stronger than Almer and had a better shot.

Keith Lee was the best big man.


Dexter Reed had big time high school talent.

Chris Bennett was a better high school player than Sidney, but could not carry that over to college. Chris was held out to max out his development and still be under the age limit. He was the best basketball camp skill player that I ever saw.

My dad coached against Kessinger and told me how natural the dude was, not in the discussion as best high schooler ever but was always the best athlete on court/

Corliss or Jason Kidd? that was the debate of the year as to who would get the Gatorade Player of the Year.

Cool to see the Jones boys recognized. Too many of them overlapping to pick the best.

I'd go with Corliss in a close one over Keith Lee for the original thread title.

[elviscat]

Donnie Kessinger Forrest City, he could do it all.

[jamie72921]

Jo Barry Carrol?

[Qbackinman]

Keith Lee, Michael Cage, Dexter Reed, Wilie Cutts, Corliss Williamson, Bennie Fuller and Fred Allen should be in the mix. Of all those, Lee may have been most dominant, but had Cage to play alongside him.

C'mon people. Some of y'all are naming guys because you knew them in college or the pros. Sidney, as great as he became, wasn't a great high school player. That was the question wasn't it?

[moehog]

Bennie Fuller was at least 20 if not older when he played for the ASD.  He was in range as soon as he crossed half court.

Keith Lee/Michael Cage have to be mentioned in tandem, it was a shame Eddie Sutton missed them although I always wondered if Keith Lee didn't get some incentive to go to Memphis other than tuition.

He did receive compensation. Met Keith a few times, he barely spoke English. Sad

[jbcarol]

Jo Barry Carrol?

[jseinfeld48]

He did receive compensation. Met Keith a few times, he barely spoke English. Sad

Dean Tolson had a 1.83 GPA (HS) & 1.43 GPA in 1974 but he came back and finally graduated at age 36.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1067369/index.htm

http://www.seattlepi.com/basketball/325723_tolson31.html

[TaylorLite]

Incredible shooter with amazing scoring numbers without a 3 point line.  One of the best High school games ever was state overall championship game with Conway and Delph playing Fort Smith and Ron Brewer.
MD has to be mentioned in this list, and would be in top 10, IMO, without question.

As for the '74 title game between Conway and Northside, it was NOT a great game. Northside won 37-32 in what turned out to be a very disappointing game at Barton Coliseum. It should have been great. Both teams were undefeated and Brewer and Delph were the state's two best players.

BTW, undefeated Northside won by a point in overtime at Fayetteville that year (Bulldogs were 22-10) and Conway won at Fayetteville by two in double overtime. We had Conway whipped but sophomore Lawson Pilgrim hit a corner shot to force OT.

Pilgrim was a GREAT h.s. player, too. His unbeaten team with Austin Sullivan is probably one of the top 5 teams from this state.



Lawson Pilgrim was an assistant coach at Hendrix College in the early '80s.  He lived in one of the Dorms as the Head Resident which made him eligible to play intramurals.  Watching him go up against a bunch of short slow guys was comical.  He was truly a great player in high school and in college.

As for the best, Sidney Moncrief and Corliss Williamson had more distingushed careers as Razorbacks. However, in my opinion, there has never been another high school player like Ron Brewer from Northside.  He was the best I've ever seen.

I do not see the shot used much anymore, but what made Ron Brewer stand out, was that great hang time and turn around jump shot from any where on the court, and he was deadly with it.

And, he was coached by the best coach in basketball, Gayle Kaundart, who won championships wherever he coached.

[Pike1347]

Corliss how could i foreget about him. And my point guard at Jacksonville Deshawn Ford he went to play at SIU.

What years did you go to J'ville?  I was one year ahead of Deshawn.