Ohio Youth Gain National Recognition

Often the question is asked, who is the up and coming youth in Ohio's hoop scene. Some national magazines honor a few of them.

As evidence of Ohio's emergence on the national youth basketball scene, this week, The Hoop Scoop, one of the nation's most respected scouting services, placed 14 players from the Buckeye State on their "Nations Top Player Ranking" lists for grades 5th thru 8th.  

At the fifth grade level, Trey Burke, 4'11 PG from Columbus, is ranked as the #four player in the Nation.  During the summer, Trey plays "up" with his father's 6th grade All-Ohio Red team.

At the sixth grade level, Stevie Taylor, 5'0 PG from Gahanna (5th grader), was ranked as the #11th best player in the Nation.  This past summer, Stevie helped lead the 6th grade Columbus Jaguars to a 63-11 record, and a 6th place finish (out of 107 teams) at the U-11 AAU Nationals in Cocoa Beach, Florida.

In the seventh grade ranking, Ohio placed the following six players on the national list:  Carl Jones, 5'2 PG from Orange placed 8th; followed by 6'5 Justin Quinn from Toledo at #25; 6'3 PF Anthony Shoemaker from Cincinnati at 53rd; Kevin Gray, 5'7 6th grader from Columbus at 67th; 5'11 PF Qualin Daniels from Lincoln Heights at 69th; followed by 6'4 center DeAndre Grant from Cleveland at 82nd.

6'5 center Devon Roe from Euclid toped the eighth-grade list at 29th, followed by 5'9 PG Chris Crockett from Columbus at 57th; 5'8 PG Kenneth Gray from Columbus at 64th; 6'7 center BJ Mullins from Columbus at 82nd; and 6'1 guard Devon Moore from Columbus at 89th.

Although most basketball experts will tell you that ranking kids before high school is extremely speculative, and does not guarantee future success, the fact that these fourteen players have been recognized by the national "basketball experts" is something that the players, coaches, parents and Ohio basketball fans can be proud of.  Having seen each of these kids play over the past several years, its no surprise they are receiving national attention.  Remember their names; basketball fans will be talking about them in the next several years.