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Looking Back: The 2000 Recruiting Class

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Next week, the first session of July’s live recruiting period will begin, and high school hoopers around the country will take their talents to tournaments across the country, looking to impress coaches enough to earn a spot on a team at some level.

Those that are good enough will be playing for a scholarship. The best of the best will have a spot in all of the top 100 recruiting rankings on the line.

Over the course of this week, we will be looking back at the RSCI -- a composite index for top 100 lists -- to reinforce a point: recruiting rankings are not a guarantee. Top ten recruits flame out and unranked players make the NBA. The only thing that is a given is that hard work will be talent when talent doesn’t work hard.

Keep that in mind while tracking where a kid is ranked and who is recruiting him.

We’ll be looking at the Class of 1999-2008, the last 10 classes that have finished the five years they are allowed to use their four seasons of eligibility.
To read through the rest of our Looking Back posts, click here.

The Top 20

1. Zach Randolph: The Marion, Ind. native played just one season at Michigan State, averaging 10.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per contest on a team that reached the Final Four. From there it was off to the NBA, where “Z-Bo” made stops in Portland, New York and Los Angeles (Clippers) before finding a home in Memphis. For his career, Randolph is averaging 17.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game.

2. Eddie Griffin: Like Randolph, the Philadelphia native spent just once season in college before moving to the next level. In his one season at Seton Hall Griffin averaged 17.8 points and 10.8 rebounds per game, winning Big East Rookie of the Year honors. Griffin was picked seventh overall by Minnesota in the 2001 NBA Draft, but sadly he struggled in regards to pairing his skills with the maturity needed to prosper. Griffin died in 2007 when his car collided with a freight train in Houston.

3. Darius Miles: Miles was the highest rated player in the 2000 class to go straight to the NBA, where he was picked by the Clippers in the first round. Miles’ pro career was (despite a few flashes) for the most part nondescript, as he averaged 10.1 points per game. Miles also held roles in two movies, “Perfect Score” and “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder.”

4. Gerald Wallace: Wallace averaged 9.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per game in his lone season at Alabama, and he’s put together a solid NBA career that’s still ongoing (he was part of the deal that sent Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to Brooklyn). Wallace is averaging 12.9 points and 6.2 rebounds per game in 12 seasons as a pro, playing for five different franchises.

5. Marcus Taylor: The Lansing native arrived at Michigan State with a great amount of fanfare, and as a sophomore he averaged 16.8 points and 5.3 assists per game. Taylor would then leave school for the NBA (second round pick of the Timberwolves in 2002), and he spent seven seasons playing in various leagues around the world.

6. DeShawn Stevenson: Like Miles, Stevenson went straight from high school to the NBA. Unlike Miles, Stevenson is still in the NBA. Through 13 seasons the Fresno native has averaged 7.2 points and 2.2 rebounds per game, playing for six different teams (winning a title with the Mavericks in 2011).

7. Chris Duhon: As a freshman at Duke, Duhon proved to be a valuable player for a team that won the national title. Duhon is one of two members of the Class of 2000 Top 10 to spend four years in college, and he averaged 8.8 points and 5.7 assists per game as a Blue Devil. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls in 2004 (second round), Duhon has played for four different franchises as a pro and was recently waived by the Lakers.

8. Mario Austin: Austin played three seasons at Mississippi State, averaging 13.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per contest for the Bulldogs. Like Duhon, Austin was a second round pick of the Bulls (in 2003) but he never played a minute in the NBA. He spent this past season playing for Al Kuwait SC in Kuwait.

9. Jared Jeffries: The Bloomington (Ind.) North product stayed home to play college basketball, playing two seasons at Indiana and helping to lead the Hoosiers to the 2002 national title game. Picked 11th overall by the Wizards in the 2002 NBA Draft, Jeffries has played 11 seasons in the NBA for four different teams (two stints with the Knicks).

10. Taliek Brown: Taliek joins Chris Duhon as the lone members of the Top 10 to spend four seasons in college, and like Duhon the point guard won a national title (2004). After running the show at UConn and becoming the school’s all-time leader in assists, Brown (7.8 ppg, 5.4 apg) went undrafted and most recently played for the Moncton Miracle of the National Basketball League (Canada). Brown took classes at UConn during the spring semester, as he’s working to complete his undergraduate studies.

11. Andre Brown: The Chicago native played four years at DePaul, averaging 10.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a Blue Demon. Brown’s professional career has featured many stops, with his most recent action coming with the Jeonju KCC Egis of the Korean Basketball League (10.3 ppg, 8.7 rpg).

12. Omar Cook: Along with Taliek Brown and Andre Barrett, Cook made up the triumvirate of NYC point guards who were expected to place their names alongside the likes of Kenny Anderson and Kenny Smith. Cook left school after just one season (15.3 ppg, 8.7 apg), and was selected in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft by Orlando. He has since played in multiple leagues across the world, most recently playing for Caja Laboral in the Spanish League.

13. Jerome Harper: Harper’s issues off the court proved to be problematic, as his scholarship offer to Cincinnati was rescinded when the 6-5 guard was arrested on the day he was named a McDonald’s All-American. After two years at Indian Hills CC, Harper signed with Iowa State but was ineligible to play. In 2008 Harper had to turn himself in to Columbia, S.C. law enforcement to face charges regarding a murder committed in 1999. Harper most recently ran afoul of the law in March, when he was charged with attempted murder.

14. Alton Ford: Ford played one season at Houston, where he averaged 10.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per contest. Selected in the second round of the 2001 NBA Draft by the Suns, Ford played three seasons in the NBA before playing overseas and most recently (2011) in the D-League.

15. Andre Barrett: Barrett (15.3 ppg, 5.4 apg) may not have been drafted after playing four seasons at Seton Hall, but he left the school as one of the greatest point guards in school history. Despite being undrafted Barrett fought his way into the NBA, ultimately playing for five different teams from 2004-07 and for the L.A. Clippers in 2008. Barrett most recently played for the Sioux Falls Skyforce of the D-League.

16. Darius Rice: The nephew of Jerry Rice put together a solid four-year career at Miami, where he averaged 16.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game as a Hurricane. His best performance: dropping 43 on UConn as a junior in a stunning comeback victory. Rice went undrafted in 2004, and has since played in a number of countries with the hope of one day landing in the NBA. He most recently played for the Texas Legends of the D-League.

17. Abdou Diame: Diame went from Oak Hill Academy to Auburn, where he played two seasons before finishing up at Jacksonville State (career averages: 5.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg). Diame, a native of Senegal, is currently a member of Steve Smith’s coaching staff at Oak Hill.

18. Imari Sawyer: Sawyer joined fellow Chicago native Andre Brown at DePaul, with the 6-2 guard averaging 10.7 points and 5.7 assists per game in two seasons. Suspensions and off-court issues cut his college career short, and one of the best prep guards to come out of the Windy City never lived up to the praise he received in high school.

19. Cedrick Banks: The 6-3 guard from Chicago ended up playing four years at UIC, where he averaged 17.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. Banks wasn’t drafted out of UIC, and he most recently played for Liège Basket in Belgium.

20. Rolando Howell: Howell played four seasons at South Carolina, averaging 9.5 points and 5.8 rebounds per game as a Gamecock. Howell played for the Dacin Tigers in Taiwan this past season, posting averages of 15.4 points and 8.4 rebounds per game.

OTHER NOTABLE PLAYERS


  • 23. Chris Wilcox
  • 32. Rickey Paulding
  • 34. Mike Sweetney
  • 47. Caron Butler
  • 53. Romain Sato
  • 56. A.J. Moye
  • 63. Kyle Cuffe
  • 69. Luke Ridnour
  • 85. Scott Merritt
  • 98. Marcus Melvin
  • UR: Gerald Fitch
  • UR: Jameer Nelson
  • UR: Dwyane Wade

Raphielle can be followed on Twitter at @raphiellej.