Virginia Rankings Breakdown: 2019 Overview
It’s finally here, the first prospect rankings of the 2019 class for the state of Virginia. The Vantage Hoops 2019 Top 60 presented a number of challenges to us, because we are personally seeing how much our 2017 and 2018 classes have changed in just one season.
With the amount of freshmen we saw play impactful minutes this high school season and this spring in AAU, we were able to come up with a large list of players to consider. However, we can not stress enough that these rankings are subject to and WILL CHANGE with time. This is only a starting point of players who impressed as freshmen, however with the growth and development of players that young, there’s sure to be a number of players that will establish themselves with time, while others will only improve as they mature.
When taking rankings into consideration, the Vantage Hoops team spends about a month contacting coaches and experts across the state to compile the list. There were over 80 kids we considered for the top 60, and the rankings reflect the next level potential of the prospects. Things taken into consideration include upside, high school production, head-to-head matchups, skill set on both sides of the ball and include intangibles such such as how recruitable a kid is based on grades, attitude and how coachable they are.
Here’s a broad overview of our 2019 Top 60, take a look at our breakdowns of the updated 2017 and 2018 classes so far, and stay tuned for a thorough breakdown of 2019 on Vantage Hoops!
Battle of Bigs at the Top
The entire season we were debating about how the top spot of the 2019 class would come down to 6’8” Armando Bacot of Trinity Episcopal and 6’11” Qudus Wahab of Virginia Academy. As they time came to make the decision, Bacot got the slight nod over Wahab because of his advanced skill set and feel for the game at his age and size. Bacot has had a terrific spring, and he currently holds offers from UCF, VCU, JMU, Georgia Tech and Richmond.
While Bacot holds the edge now, Wahab’s ceiling is so high that he could catapult not just Bacot, but a number of players in the national rankings if he continues to develop the way we expect. Last weekend at Scouts Focus All American, Wahab showed aggression as he attacked the rim with ferocity, and he showed improvement as he worked with his back-to-the basket, and showed a soft touch on post moves and in the midrange.
These rankings weren’t just a two man race however, as the whole top five was a debate of now vs. projection. Ant Harris, a 6’2” point guard from PVI, came it at number three after starting for and leading PVI to the VISAA D1 state championship game. 6’8” Oscar Tshiewebe of Mount Mission came out of nowhere to have a breakout spring and land him at number four, while 6’4” Sherif Kenney, who may be the most talented player in the rankings, came in at number five while he figures out where he’s going to play next season.
While the two bigs of Bacot and Wahab stood out when projecting for the next level, expect to see a lot of players gunning for them over the next few years.
757 Guards are Deep and Full of Questions
There were a lot of young guards in the Hampton Roads area that played major roles on their high school teams, and they are well represented in the rankings as such. However, there are a lot of questions surrounding them, which made them quite the debate as we tried to separate and rank them.
Leading the pack for the 757 guards is Chase Coleman at 10, brother of Oak Hill point guard and 2017 #2 prospect Matt Coleman. While Chase is only 5’10”, he already shows better range than his brother and that same natural feel and high IQ of the game. However, his size is a concern, and there’s a number of players with the same question.
Looking into the middle of the rankings you can find a number of 757 based guards who are all very talented, but have questions about their size. Granby’s Antwan Epps (34), Western Branch duo BriQuan Harrell (35) and Kendall Bynum (37), Princess Anne’s Tim Montgomery (39), and Bishop Sullivan’s Jason Ford (51) all started and played key roles for their high school teams, but with them all being under six feet tall, how they all develop physically could be a determining factor in who takes the biggest leap in the rankings.
While it’s unfortunate to say that because no kid can choose how or when they will grow and develop, it’s one of the factors that makes it so difficult to rank kids before their sophomore or junior seasons.
Project Bigs Sprinkled Throughout
While we talked about the dominant bigs at the top of the list, it’s very rare that you get kids that big that are developed and coordinated enough to be a dominant force on varsity. That’s why this spring was so valuable for us, because we were able to see some developing big men that showed a lot of development moving forward.
Jonas Munson (30) of West Potomac and BWSL 15U EYBL was one of the fist that we saw, and it’s because it’s impossible to miss him. The 6’11” big man is very raw, but he shows a soft touch around the basket, and many believe that he isn’t done growing. If he peaks over 7’0” tall and grows into his body, he could be talked about with the top bigs in the state.
A couple others that we saw include 6’8” Isaiah Sheron (36) of Henrico and 6’9” Jackson Walker (44) of North Cross. Sheron has the length, athleticism and ability to run the floor that makes him very intriguing, but he’s a little wiry for his size and seems to wear down playing up with Team Richmond Garner Road 16U when older and stronger posts get physical.
Walker, who plays with Spectrum 15U, is still a little stiff, but his hands and feel are the best of this group. Walker can catch and run the offense out of the high post with his ability to see and deliver passes over smaller bigs. He’s also a big paint presence defensively, like the others on this list as well.
It’s hard to expect kids this big and this young to have everything together, and it’s another thing that’s hard to project in rankings, but they will be fun to watch develop over the years.
Breakdown By Position
We know there’s a lot of controversy over ranking players of the same position. There’s also some controversy in what position certain kids are. Here’s how we broke down the number of players per each position in our rankings.
PG: 24
WG: 12
WF: 8
PF: 13
C: 3
Top Ten
1) Armando Bacot | 6’9″ | PF | Trinity Episcopal |
2) Qudus Wahab | 6’11” | C | Virginia Academy |
3) Anthony Harris | 6’2″ | PG | Paul VI |
4) Oscar Tshiewebe | 6’8″ | PF | Mountain Mission |
5) Sherif Kenney | 6’4″ | WG/PG | Bishop O’Connell |
6) Jay Heath | 6’3″ | PG/WG | Bishop O’Connell |
7) Mike Christmas | 6’4″ | WF | Landstown |
8) Zac Ervin | 6’5″ | WF | Gate City |
9) Dajour Rucker | 6’5″ | WF/PF | Cape Henry |
10) Chase Coleman | 5’10” | PG | Maury |
Take a look at the entire Top 60 list here! https://prephoops.com/virginia/rankings/2019-rankings/
Let the debate begin but just remember, this is only the start!