Findlay Prep takes No. 2-seeded squad to the next level

By Rob Miech

Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | 2:10 a.m.

Finally, with less than a week before the national tournament it’s been shooting for all season, Findlay College Prep broke a huddle after a weekend practice and coach Mike Peck delivered a simple message.

Hey, this is the week. We’ll be on a plane Thursday.

“It can take your breath away,” Peck said. “It’s not a nervous feeling. That would mean you’re about to do something you don’t want to do or aren’t prepared to do.

“It’s more anxiousness, to get out there and get it going. We’re ready and prepared. Let’s get it going.”

The inaugural ESPN RISE National High School Invitational involves eight teams and starts Friday at Georgetown Prep’s 1,400-seat Hanley Center in North Bethesda, Md.

Oak Hill (38-0) is the top seed and Findlay Prep (30-0) is second. USA Today has flopped those two positions in its national Super 25 rankings over the past month.

But ESPN has Oak Hill at No. 1 and Findlay at No. 2 in its Fab 50 rankings, so it figures that the company sponsoring the invitational would use its own rankings.

None of the bottom four seeds is rated in USA Today’s Super 25.

Unless schools like Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick, Bloomington (Ind.) South, Riverside (Calif.) King and Los Angeles Westchester can participate in such a tournament, it might be difficult to crown a true national prep champion.

Until then, at least the ESPN invitational exists to make a national title winner more than mythical.

That No. 2 seed might benefit Findlay, which wouldn’t play No. 4 Newark (N.J.) St. Benedict’s – new Pilots forward Tristan Thompson’s former program – until the championship game at noon Sunday.

Still, Peck has been concerned about hotshot Beckley (W.Va.) Mountain State Academy guard Noah Cottrill in practice. Findlay opens the tournament against seventh-seeded Mountain State (23-6) in a Friday quarterfinal at 3 p.m. that will be shown on ESPNU.

A potential semifinal against third-seeded Rockville (Md.) Montrose Christian also has Peck’s attention.

However, Peck has four players who have either signed with or given a verbal commitment to a Division-I program.

The headliner is 6-foot-3 shooting guard Avery Bradley, who won the dunk contest Monday at the McDonald’s All-American festivities in Miami and will attend Texas next fall.

Illinois-bound D.J. Richardson is Bradley’s complement on the wings, and Carlos Lopez (UNLV) has help in the low post from Thompson, the powerful lefty who has given a verbal commitment to Texas coach Rick Barnes.

Junior point guard Cory Joseph, however, is being heavily wooed by Louisville, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech, to name just a few of his suitors.

St. Benedict’s has three such players, in Pittsburgh-bound forward Lamar Patterson, Rice-bound guard Tamir Jackson and Myck Kabongo, a sophomore point guard who has given a verbal commitment to Barnes.

At Oak Hill, 6-9 super center Keith “Tiny” Gallon, who tips the scales at about 305 pounds, leads an outstanding cast of five players who have committed to D-I programs. The Warriors also have junior guard Doron Lamb.

If that weren’t enough, Oak Hill played a demanding schedule that included a March 6 game against Montrose Christian at the Hanley Center in North Bethesda.

So the Warriors will be familiar with their surroundings and competition.

Those two, and Mountain State Academy on March 5, are the only invitational teams that played a game in March. St. Frances last played Feb. 20. Findlay finished its regular season Feb. 27.

“You never know, but I don’t think you’ll see too much rust,” Peck said. “We’re trying to polish off some stuff. From an energy standpoint, I think everyone is in the same boat. It’s just semantics.”

Bradley left for Miami last weekend, and the main McDonald’s game is tonight, so he will have been away from the Pilots for nearly a week until the tournament tips off.

Peck said that time away from the team shouldn’t be an issue.

“What reassures me is he’s playing, moving and getting shots, that’s the good thing,” Peck said. “The other good thing is, hey, there might be a game in which Avery is in foul trouble and we don’t have him in the lineup.

“It’s a different look, with different guys in different positions. It forces you to tweak your lineup, and you see who steps up.”

ESPN RISE National High School Invitational Seeds

1 Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) 38-0

Coach: Steve Smith

Top player: Keith “Tiny” Gallon

Gallon plays in the McDonald’s All-American game today in Miami and will be a Sooner next season. The recruiting service Rivals.com ranks him 31st in the nation in his class. Brian Oliver (6-6, 190), who will play at Georgia Tech, is 129th on the Rivals list. Smith is 756-44 in 24 seasons.

2 Findlay (Henderson) 30-0

Coach: Mike Peck

Top player: Avery Bradley

Rivals.com rates Bradley eighth in the country in his class. Keep an eye on D.J Richardson, the slick-shooting, unselfish guard who will go to Illinois next fall and is ranked No. 57 by Rivals. Thompson is rated as the third-best junior prospect in the nation by ESPN. Peck is 62-1 at Findlay.

3 Montrose Christian (Rockville, Md.) 20-2

Coach: Stu Vetter

Top player: Mouphtaou Yarou

Yarou, a 6-9, 210-pound post players with equal parts savvy and strength, will play at Villanova next fall. He checks in at No. 14 on the national Rivals list. Villanova commitment Isaiah Armwood (6-7, 178) is rated 62nd by Rivals. When Kevin Durant transferred to Montrose in 2005, USA Today made the Mustangs its preseason No. 1.

4 St. Benedict’s (Newark, N.J.) 23-2

Coach: Dan Hurley

Top player: Lamar Patterson

Patterson (6-5, 220), who will play at Pittsburgh next season, is No. 109 on the Rivals national list. The Gray Bees lost to Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei and Elizabeth (N.J.) St. Patrick, two of the top teams in the country, this season and feature a small-ball quick lineup.

5 St. Frances Academy (Baltimore, Md.) 31-3

Coach: Mark Karcher

Top player: Terrell Vinson

Vinson (6-6, 200) is ranked 81st by Rivals. Charlotte, Cincinnati, Maryland and Massachusetts likely will have coaches in Bethesda to monitor Vinson’s games. The Panthers, whose school was established in 1828, won Maryland state and Baltimore league titles this season.

6 Friends’ Central (Wynnewood, Pa.) 28-2

Coach: Jason Polykoff

Top player: Dominic Morris

The Phoenix beat an ESPN top-20 squad, Fort Washington (Pa.) Germantown Academy, this season. Morris, a 6-7, 230-pound junior power forward, left Delaware to play in the big time, and there will be no bigger stage this weekend. Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Seton Hall are interested in him.

7 Mountain State Academy (Beckley, W.V.) 23-6

Coach: Rob Fulford

Top player: Shaquille Thomas

Thomas (6-6, 175) is No. 73 on the Rivals list for the Class of 2010. He has offers from Fordham, LaSalle, Providence, Syracuse and Xavier. Vander Joaquim (6-9, 220), a Nebraska commitment, is No. 115 by Rivals. The Falcons lost twice to Oak Hill by an average of 25.5 points.

8 Pinewood Prep (Summerville, S.C.) 29-5

Coach: Pat Edison

Top player: Milton Jennings

Jennings, another McDonald’s All-American and No. 12 overall by Rivals.com, will play at Clemson, and fellow senior Kenny Manigult will play at Wichita State next fall. The Panthers lost to Mountain State Academy by 17 points.