KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The nation's top 100 high school basketball prospects as rated by Ken Mink of the Knoxville News-Sentinel, listed with height, home town and the college that recruited them:
1, Danny Manning, 6-10, Lawrence, Kans., Kansas. 2, John Williams, 6-8, Los Angeles, Louisiana State. 3, Cedric Henderson, 6-9, Marietta, Ga., Georgia. 4, Kevin Walls, 6-3, Camden, N.J., Louisville. 5, Chris Washburn, 6-11, Hickory, N.C., North Carolina State. 6, Derrick Lewis, 6-7, Washington, D.C., Maryland. 7, Delray Brooks, 6-4, Michigan City, Ind., Indiana. 8, Troy Lewis, 6-4, Anderson, Ind., Purdue. 9, Derek Chievous, 6-6, New York, Missouri. 10, Duane Ferrell, 6-7, Towson, Md., Georgia Tech.
11, Gary Grant, 6-3, Akron, Ohio, Michigan. 12, John Thompson, 6-7, Lawrenceville, Va., North Carolina State. 13, Eugene Miles, 6-9, Dorchester, Mass., Cleveland State. 14, Dave Rivers, 6-0, Jersey City, N.J., Notre Dame. 15, Eddie Collins, 6-9, Orrville, Ala., Alabama-Birmingham. 16, Andrew Lang, 6-10, Pine Bluff, Ark., Arkansas. 17, Walter Lancaster, 6-3, Washington, D.C., Maryland. 18, Jeff Moore, 6-7, Birmingham, Ala., Auburn. 19, Chris Morris, 6-8, Atlanta, Ga., Auburn. 20, Mike Abram, 6-4, Muncie, Ind., Louisville.
21, Terry Coffey, 6-2, Washington, D.C., Maryland. 22, Stacy Thomas, 6-7, Gainseville, Ga., Tennessee. 23, Chris Sandle, 6-8, Los Angeles, Arizona State. 24, John Johnson, 6-0, New York, Virginia. 25, Leonard Taylor, 6-8, Los Angeles, Houston. 26, Sidney Adkins, 6-4, Memphis, Tenn., Memphis State. 27, Steve Miller, 6-6, Lexington, Ky., Western Kentucky. 28, Charles Smith, 6-9, Bridgeport, Conn., Pittsburgh. 29, Shelton Jones, 6-6, Amityville, N.Y., St. John's. 30, Wayne Engelstad, 6-7, Los Angeles, UC Irvine.
31, Ed Davender, 6-2, New York, Kentucky. 32, Gary Thompkins, 6-3, Jackson, Mich., Iowa. 33, Brian Sloan, 6-8, McCleansboro, Ill., Indiana. 34, Vernon Maxwell, 6-4, Gainesville, Fla., Florida. 35, Craig McMillan, 6-5, Cloverleaf, Calif., Arizona. 36, Roger McClendon, 6-4, Champaign, Ill., Cincinnati. 37, Pat Hamilton, 6-2, Gainesville, Ga., Georgia. 38, Kreigh Smith, 6-7, Tipton, Ind., Indiana. 39, Jeff Moe, 6-3, Indianapolis, Ind., Iowa. 40, Norm Anderson, 6-8, Fort Worth, Texas, Texas.
41, Demetrius Gore, 6-5, Detroit, Pittsburgh. 42, Craig Jackson, 6-8, Denver, UCLA. 43, Cedric Jenkins, 6-9, Dawson, Ga., Kentucky. 44, Al Lorenzen, 6-8, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Iowa. 45, Jeff Grayer, 6-5, Flint, Mich., Iowa State. 46, Dwight Boyd, 6-4, Memphis, Tenn., Memphis State. 47, Matt Beeuwsaert, 6-6, Santa Ana, Calif., Notre Dame. 48, Steve Eyl, 6-7, Hamilton, Ohio, Indiana. 49, Tyrone Jones, 6-6, Washington, D.C., Kansas. 50, Billy King, 6-6, Sterling, Va., Duke.
51, Darren Guest, 6-9, Harvey, Ill., Auburn. 52, Mike Brown, 6-4, Baltimore, Syracuse. 53, Melvin Faust, 6-7, Homestead, Fla., South Alabama. 54, Kevin Strickland, 6-5, Mt. Airey, N.C., Duke. 55, Ranzino Smith, 6-0, Chapel Hill, N.C., North Carolina. 56, Vernon Johnson, 6-8, Tempe, Ariz., Arizona State. 57, Charley Thomas, 6-6, Montgomery, Md., Wake Forest. 58, Bud Adams, 6-7, Atlanta, Georgia Tech. 59, Fre, Logan Co., Ky., Westernisher, 6-2, Utica, Miss., Southern Mississippi. 64, Rodney Blake, 6-8, Drexel Hill, Pa., St. Joseph's. 65, Eugene Lewis, 6-2, Abington, Pa., Pittsburgh. 66, Ron Hausley, 6-4, Marion, N.C., Tennessee. 67, Carlton Valentine, 6-6, Hyattsville, Md., Michigan State. 68, Steve Smith, 6-4, Kettering, Ohio, Dayton. 69, Tyrone Howard, 6-7, Pittsburgh, Eastern Kentucky. 70, Everett Stephens, 6-2, Evanston, Ill., Purdue.
71, Tim Martin, 6-10, Ridgeway, Va., Virginia.72, Mitch Lee, 6-8, Hialeah, Fla., Minnesota. 73, Grady Mateen, 6-11, Akron, Ohio, Georgetown. 74, Hubert Henderson, 6-9, Atlanta, Ga., Mississippi State. 75, Herman Harried, 6-8, Baltimore, Syracuse. 76, Terry Stallworth, 6-6, Long Beach, Calif., Texas-El Paso. 77, Mel Kennedy, 6-4, New York, Virginia. 78, Robert Lock, 6-10, Reedley, Calif., Kentucky. 79, Steve Wright, 6-9, Syracuse, N.Y., Providence. 80, Todd Mitchell, 6-6, Toledo, Ohio, Purdue.
81, Tim Hanson, 6-6, Prior Lake, Minn., Minnesota. 82, Cornelius Brodus, 6-6, Groveland, Fla., Florida. 83, Steve Stoyko, 6-10, Bay Village, Ohio, Michigan. 84, Joe Hillman, 6-2, Glendale, Calif., Indiana. 85, Matt Palazzi, 6-3, Shrewsbury, Mas., Providence. 86, Tony Shaw, 6-4, Darlington, S.C., South Carolina. 87, Herbert Crook, 6-7, Louisville, Ky., Louisville. 88, Joe Coleman, 6-2, Jackson, Miss., Miississippi. 89, Todd Alexander, 6-0, Waxahachie, Texas, Minnesota. 90, Rodney Scott, 6-3, Los Angeles, UC Irvine.
91, Gary Voce, 6-9, New York, Notre Dame. 92, Steve Kratzer, 6-8, New York, Richmond. 93, Fred Burton, 6-5, New York, Texas A. and M. 94, Greg Butler, 6-10, Rolling Hills, Calif., Stanford. 95, Jeff Wilder, 6-6, New York, Iona. 96, Mark Bryant, 6-8, Maplewood, N.J., Seton Hall. 97, Richie Simmonds, 6-2, New York, Iona. 98, Herbert Brooks, 6-2, Mullens, W. Va., West Virginia. 99, Michael Williams, 6-1, Dallas, Baylor. 100, Derrick McKey, 6-9, Meriden, Miss., Alabama.
Bobby Knight is an avowed exponent of defensive basketball but he wound up leading the nation in recruiting high schoolers this spring by signing five prospects whose combined scoring averages topped 120 points a game.
Leading the way with a 41 point average is 5-10 Joe Hillman of Gendale, Calif. Following him are high school All-Americas 6-4 Delray Brooks of Michigan City, Ind., 6-6 Steve Eyl of Hamilton, Ohio, 6-8 Brian Sloan of McLeansboro, Ill., and 6-7 Kriegh Smith of Tipton, Ind.
Incredibly, the hot-shooting Hillman had planned to be a walk-on at Indiana after Knight ran out of scholarships but wound up getting a grant when one of the Big Red players decided to quit the team.
Several other schools were right on the Hoosiers' heels with Kentucky getting four blue-chippers and Maryland, Auburn, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Iowa, Purdue and Notre Dame each getting three from the list of the nation's top 100 high school prospects.
Kansas wound up with the top individual talent in 6-11 Danny Manning of Lawrence, Kans., who barely shaded 6-8 John Williams of Los Angeles in the talent survey. Williams, No. 2, signed with Louisiana State.
Manning is a bona fide NBA-size center but he performs best far out on the floor at guard. He's sort of a tall Magic Johnson -- often taking the ball between his legs on a fast-break dribble and then hitting a teammate with a behind-the-back pass. His shooting touch ranges to about 22 feet and he is equally adept at slam-dunking.
'Danny could score 40 points a game if he wanted to but he loves to set up things with his passing,' said Mac Morris, Manning's former high school coach.
Manning was signed by Kansas after he moved to Lawrence from Greensboro, N.C., for his senior season, with Jayhawk coach Larry Brown landing both Danny and his dad, Ed, who will serve as an assistant coach. Eyebrows were raised and curses were voiced. Especially in Raleigh, where North Carolina State coach Jim Valvano had anticipated having the nation's tallest point guard.
The 6-8 Williams was signed by LSU amid a storm of controversy. After weeks of speculation and rumors, the announcement of his signing was made by his mother. She said in a statement that Williams had signed two weeks or so earlier with LSU but the announcement was delayed because the family feared for their safety. There was no elaboration and coaches were left shaking their heads in amazement, with the NCAA reportedly deciding it would check the whole thing out.
When it comes to talent, the burly Wiliams, who weighs in at about 250, compares favorably to all-pro player Marques Johnson. He runs like a gazelle, yet has a great shooting touch to about 25 feet. In the McDonald's All-American high school game recently in Los Angeles he scored 27 points in 22 minutes and chipped in with 15 rebounds.
This seems to be a year for controversy involving the top prospects.
Cedric Henderson, a superb 6-9 scorer-rebounder from Marietta, Ga., rates close to Manning and Williams in ability but he might even have an edge over them in controversy.
He announced last winter he would sign with Louisville, then he signed with Georgia, then he dropped out of Marietta High and signed with Carson-Newman College. Then he enrolled in a special school in Atlanta to try to get his high school diploma. Between all that, he went to Pittsburgh to play in the Dapper Dan All-American high school game and came away with 23 points and MVP honors.
Just where Henderson will wind up -- Georgia, Carson-Newman or the Job Corps -- is a matter of conjecture but rumor has it that Hugh Durham will find some way to get him enrolled at Georgia this fall.
When it comes to just who is the nation's best guard prospect, there is a lot less controversy but more difference of opinion.
There is very little to choose from in 6-4 Delray Brooks of Michigan City, Ind.,; 6-3 Kevin Walls of Camden, N.J., and 6-4 Troy Lewis of Anderson, Ind.
But Walls gets our nod because of his uncanny shooting ability and incredible passing skills. Despite a gaudy 46 points per game scoring average, the top ppg in the country, Walls is a lefty who can zip accurate passes with the best anywhere.
He signed with Louisville, prompting coach Denny Crum to say of him, 'He has great combination guard skills. He can be an assists leader or a scorer. Whatever is needed.'
Brooks and Lewis shared the Mr. Basketball title in Indiana and will settle the issue of who's No. 1 in Hoosierland on the courts over the next few years as Brooks will play for Indiana and Lewis for Purdue.
