Oklahoma Prep Spotlight: Stephen Keese and Tulsa

[Will_Jennings]

Good stuff, Jennings. You really do a bang up job and it is much appreciated from a high school hoops fan like myself. You should try to get on at the Oklahoman, because their high school hoops coverage absolutely sucks.

A lot of what I do comes from help of The Oklahoman's Robert Pryzbylo,OHSSE's Van Shea Iven, CoachesAid's Michael Swisher, and Ivan Brantley of schoolboyhoops.com. We can't cover every kid in Oklahoma but if we have a network of these guys, high school and AAU coaches, and the kids who play ball, we can present something worth reading. The kids have been the best resource because they have the best eye for scouting and evaluating based on their own abilities. I recently told Juwan Parker of Tulsa Washington that he was my number one scout in Tulsa, because he's an honest kid with a very high IQ. The kids who are point guards also have a keen sense of evaluation. Jamil Donovan of NW Classen is another kid that has provided great insight. We are using facebook as a vehicle to try and keep this thing going and we're doing our best to get to events and see good programs and good players.

The MVP of what we're trying to do is Sam. I feel Sam has a bright future. I feel the sky is the limit for him. He is an excellent evaluator and he puts a lot of his time and money into going to high school and OU events, providing content, and coming up with great ideas to keep this site running despite OU's oncourt struggles. OUHoops.com has enabled both of us the ability to freelance, brainstorm, and think outside the box to do some things we find fun, but hopefully is enjoyable to read.

 

[brettromar]

Of this list, and even the Oklahoma City list, the most impressive prospect so far that I have witnessed over the last few weeks has been Devante Wilson. Wilson has by far stood out to me and in my opinion, looks to be a lock as a mid major prospect. The one thing I have come across in the few division one coaches that I've interacted with is they primarily aren't looking for wings. This is why I think you see guys like Wilson, Josh Richardson of Sante Fey and Brandon Lucas get overlooked early. I talked to one high school coach and he said that what kids need to do is wait for new coaches to get hired and other players to transfer in the spring and these type players will get some opportunities as long as they become eligible.

If Devante, better known as Butter, would learn to go full speed all the time, he would be unstoppable for most teams. The kid is thick, with good size for a guard. He can get off the floor and has the lift to rise up and hit shots on almost all the guards that he sees in Oklahoma.

I think Richardson's problem is that he is a tweener.

 

[bmd23]

I went to the scrimmage against PC West like I said earlier, the game was 24-5 in the first half due to him and West has one of the better backcourts in the City. PC West beat Sante Fe who has some solid guards with their guard play. Also, the kid gave Douglass all they wanted last year, only losing by Eight and he was the main reason. Also he put up 30 on Star Spencer as Woodward beat them.

Now is he at Dom Raney, Stevie, Devante Smith, or Dorrian's level? Of course not, but he's behind those guys and better than mostly every guard in OKC and Tulsa.

I went to that scrimmage too and Pcwest was learning how to play together i dont believe that he would have that good of a game again this time against west. They lost to Harrah cmon now Dudley is playing great avg 20+ against 6A competion. He isnt better than stevie,raney,devante smith,Kyndal,Dorrian,Tre Payne, Jamil from NW Classen, the Woodard brothers from Edmond Memorial Perkins from Yukon he isnt a top 10 guard . I havent even mentioned the tulsa area guards either.