Gilbert Arenas on why he sent his son Alijah to public school: ‘He can’t take plays off’

Gilbert Arenas said his son Alijah, one of the top players in the class of 2026, attends Chatsworth so he can better test himself.

Nestled on the western edge of Los Angeles County sits the neighborhood of Chatsworth. In the sports world, this area is perhaps best known for being home to Sierra Canyon School, whose basketball program has rostered the children of NBA players, including LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Scottie Pippen.

About two miles away is Chatsworth High School, with a boys basketball team that this season had a record better than .500 for just the third time in the last 10 seasons.

Despite the massive difference in prestige, former NBA star Gilbert Arenas chose the latter as the school for his son, five-star sophomore Alijah Arenas.
Arenas spoke about this decision on a recent episode of his Gil’s Arena podcast. After reviewing the league, he said that most players who went to prestigious institutions ended up being role players instead of stars.

“They had the best team, all the guys are five-star, just beating on people, which means none of them are ever really being tested, none of them are going 100% all game,” Arenas said. “I started looking at, where did Zion (Williamson) play high school? Where did John Wall? … [I] realized in their high school team, they were solo. Put them over there and the other kids are smaller, but he’s being double- and triple-teamed. He never gets to play one-on-one basketball.”

In being the center of a defense’s attention, Arenas rationalized, Alijah would have to play hard the entire game and wouldn’t be able to coast — “which means he’s turning into something else,” Arenas said.

“He has to individually try to do everything to keep his team involved. He can’t take plays off.”

Alijah Arenas was dominant this season, breaking his dad’s scoring record in high school and leading Chatsworth to a championship appearance. According to MaxPreps, Arenas averaged 33 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists on the 20-15 team.

“He has to hit game-winers — he has to miss game-winners. He has to make the game-winning assist, game-winning turnover,” Gilbert said. “He feels all of these emotions during the time he has to learn how.”

Based on his output, the idea is working. Recruiters are noticing his talent on the basketball court, as he has 16 offers and is ranked the No. 3 player in the class of 2026 on the 247Sports Composite.

How does the idea hold up when looking at NBA stars? Given how much the youth basketball landscape has shifted over the last decade, let’s take a look at some of the best players who graduated from U.S. high schools since 2010.

  • Devin Booker: Moss Point High School
  • Jalen Brunson: Stevenson High School
  • Jimmy Butler: Tomball High School
  • Anthony Davis: Prospectives Charter
  • Joel Embiid: Montverde Academy
  • De’Aaron Fox: Cypress Lakes High School
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: Hamilton Heights Christian Academy
  • Donovan Mitchell: Brewster Academy
  • Ja Morant: Crestwood High School
  • Jayson Tatum: Chaminade College Preparatory School
  • Trae Young: Norman North

How about focusing it on the up-and-coming potential stars who have been draft since 2020:

  • LaMelo Ball: Chino Hills
  • Paolo Banchero: O’Dea High School
  • Scottie Barnes: Montverde Academy
  • Cade Cunningham: Montverde Academy
  • Anthony Edwards: Holy Spirit Preparatory
  • Jalen Green: Prolific Prep
  • Tyrese Haliburton: Oshkosh North
  • Chet Holmgren: Minnehaha Academy
  • Jonathan Kuminga: The Patrick School
  • Tyrese Maxey: South Garland
  • Evan Mobley: Rancho Christian
  • Jalen Williams: Perry High School

There’s a wide variety of schools listed. There’s more to the puzzle than simply listing out a couple dozen of the top players, including sheer number of players at non-basketball-academies and the rate of making it to the NBA — regardless of role player or star level — but Arenas clearly took the time to puzzle it out and make the decision he and the family thought best. Alijah is still just a sophomore, but it appears it’s working.

USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 boys basketball rankings, week of March 11, 2024

The latest boys basketball Super 25 as the season nears an end.

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More state champs were crowned this past week as the 2023-24 season nears an end across the country, creating a new look to the latest USA TODAY Sports boys basketball Super 25.

1. Montverde Academy (Fla.)

Record: 31-0

2. Plano East (Texas)

Record: 40-0

3. Columbus (Miami, Fla.)

Record: 27-4

4. St. Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.)

Record: 33-2

5. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.)

Record: 34-3

6. Dynamic Prep (Irving, Texas)

Record: 23-1

7. Grayson (Loganville, Ga.)

Record: 30-2

8. Stony Point (Round Rock, Texas)

Record: 38-2

9. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)

Record: 29-3

10. Ridge View (Colombia, S.C.)

Record: 29-2

11. Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.)

Record: 21-4

12. John Marshall (Richmond, Va.)

Record: 25-3

13. Central Cabarrus (Concord, N.C.)

Record: 31-0

14. Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.)

Record: 28-0

15. St. Rose (Belmar, N.J.)

Record: 29-2

16. Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.)

Record: 31-5

17. North Mecklenburg (Huntersville, N.C.)

Record: 28-3

18. Myers Park (Charlotte, N.C.)

Record: 27-3

19. Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.)

Record: 31-4

20. Huntsville (Ala.)

Record: 32-3

21. Imhotep (Philadelphia)

Record: 25-3

22. Salesian (Richmond, Calif.)

Record: 31-2

23. Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.)

Record: 27-4

24. Oak Ridge (Orlando, Fla.)

Record: 27-4

25. Kell (Marietta, Ga.)

Record: 28-3

On The Rise:

Wayzata (Minn.)

Fishers (Ind.)

Great Crossing (Ky.)

The methodology: the HSS staff creates the Super 25 rankings while considering various data points, including strength of schedule, prospects, the more traditional stats—did the team win or lose?—as well as overall point differentials.

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Gregg Popovich’s grandson, a teammate of Tim Duncan’s daughter, received a technical foul

Gregg Popovich’s grandson, a teammate of Tim Duncan’s daughter, reached an important milestone: He picked up his first technical foul.

One of the great sports duos of the 21st century may not be together at the NBA level, but the days of Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan sharing a sideline together are far from over.

Apparently, Popovich’s 5-year-old grandson is a teammate of Duncan’s daughter in their youth basketball program. San Antonio Express-News reporter Mike Finger tweeted out this information, sharing that not only do they play on the same team, but that Popovich’s grandson had a major milestone:

He picked up his first technical foul.

As Popovich retells it, the kid deserved the T.

“I don’t know if it’s in the blood, but it’s true. … The guy stole the ball from him, and he tackled him,” Popovich explained to the reporter.

The San Antonio Spurs head coach is no stranger to technical fouls. It’s unclear how many exactly he has racked up over his 28 years as head coach, but a quick YouTube search will give you an idea of some memorable ones. He also holds the distinction of the fastest-ever ejection, being kicked out 63 seconds into a 2019 game against the Denver Nuggets after he complained about a non-call, called a timeout, and then continued to argue with the referee.

We’ve never seen him go as far as his grandson and tackle a ref, though.

Learning that two kids in the bloodline of Popovich and Duncan share a court is a scary thought, and not just for opponents. Imagine being the coach of a team in which you are in charge of relatives of two of the best basketball minds of all time. Talk about a pressure-filled scenario.

Duke commit Isaiah Evans scores 21 points in a row, finishes with 48 in playoff win

Duke commit Isaiah Evans put North Mecklenburg on his back as he scored 21 points in a row and finished with 48 in a win over Myers Park.

There are some all-time great playoff moments in which a player simply wills his team to victory. Reggie Miller scored eight points in nine seconds against the New York Knicks in 1995. LeBron James scored 25 straight points against the Detroit Pistons in 2007.

This weekend, we experienced a high school version, as Duke commit Isaiah Evans at one point scored 21 points in a row to lead North Mecklenburg (N.C.) to an upset victory over nationally ranked Myers Park and advance to the Final Four.

Evans finished the game with 48 points to help the Vikings take down the Mustangs 79-63.

Jay Anderson, with Prep Hoops North Carolina, posted a video to social media platform X with some highlights:

Evans got to the rim with speed and agility. He hit shots from deep. And he always seemed to be in control of the game, at one point recovering a loose ball and pulling up for 3 in a single motion.

Contested or uncontested, it didn’t matter. You might want to make sure your volume is low before watching this video:

Evans, listed at 6-foot-6 and 170 pounds, is ranked by the 247Sports Composite as the No. 14 player in the class of 2024 and the third-best small forward.

Cooper Flagg may be getting the most recruiting attention, but with games like these, Evans must be making the Duke program and its fans excited to see what’s next.

Grayson defeats McEachern to win first boys basketball championship in team history

Grayson won the championship over McEachern behind a double-double from Jacob Wilkins and stifling defense on Ace Bailey from Anthony Alston.

For the first time in program history, Grayson boys basketball is atop the Georgia state championship throne.

The Rams took down McEachern and five-star recruit Ace Bailey by a final score of 51-41 on Saturday night to win the Class 7A state title. Entering the weekend ranked No. 8 in the country on the Super 25 national rankings, Grayson finishes its season with a record of 30-2 — bookended with a season-opening win and championship both over McEachern.

Jacob Wilkins, a four-star wing committed to Georgia, posted 12 points and a dozen rebounds for Grayson, according to the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. He led the charge on the glass, as Grayson outrebounded McEachern 47-27.

As important as the rebounding was 6-foot-2 guard Anthony Alston’s defense on Bailey, a 6-foot-8 wing committed to Rutgers. Bailey scored 14 in the first half before Alston told Grayson head coach Geoffrey Pierce to let him go one-on-one for defense instead of zone, according to the AJC.

“Alston was the defensive player in our region this year for a reason,” Pierce said to the outlet. “He’s one of the best defenders I’ve ever coached. He came to me at halftime and said, ‘Don’t go zone anymore. I’ve got him.’ So, hats off to him for that.”

Thanks to Alston’s physical defense, Bailey scored only four points in the second half.

McEachern led by two near the end of the first half before Grayson ended the first half on a 6-0 run and then started the second half on another 6-0 run, quickly switching the small deficit to a 10-point lead.

The Rams held on, winning the game by 10.

It’s been a long time coming for Grayson, who has advanced deep into the playoffs for years but had been unable to win the title. The Rams reached the quarterfinals six of the previous eight years, getting to the Final Four four times and the title game once, and that heartbreaking, one-point championship loss in 2020 was as close as you could come to grasping the trophy without touching it.

This year, they grabbed the trophy and would not relinquish it. The Grayson Rams have won the championship.

Is it time for high school sports to adopt more video challenges?

Manasquan’s loss in the New Jersey high school basketball semifinals due to a missed call sparks the question: Should video challenges be allowed?

The aftermath of the New Jersey high school basketball semifinals game in which Manasquan’s would-have-been game-winning buzzer-beater was overturned and ruled to have been released after the game clock expired was pretty cut-and-dry:

The New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association (NJSIAA) rulebook states that video can’t be used to challenge a referee’s decision. It also prohibits protesting a game’s result due to an official’s call.

Per the rulebook, Camden won despite the NJSIAA publicly acknowledging the call was incorrect and apologizing.

There’s no argument because the rulebook states there can’t be.

But we can certainly ask: Why?

In the NBA, games can be protested. We’ve seen it multiple times this season alone—for instance, in mid-February, when the New York Knicks lost to the Houston Rockets due to a call officials later stated was incorrect. Or in late February, when the Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons due to a non-call by officials that was later stated to be an incorrect ruling.

Throughout professional sports, we’ve seen rules change in a single offseason following an inarguably disastrous referee decision. Think of the NFL’s short-lived pass interference challenge rule in the wake of the New Orleans Saints vs. Los Angeles Rams playoff game in 2019.

There are also some instances in high school sports where video replay is acceptable. In the California Interscholastic Federation, for instance, video can be used to both call for suspensions and appeal the decisions. In New Jersey just last year, video was likely used in the decision to suspend Camden’s season after a fight broke out during a game. (The difference there, though, is that these videos likely aren’t challenging the decision of an official. It’s making a new decision to affect future outcomes without overturning an existing result. But if video is deemed reliable here, perhaps it can be reliable in other instances).

Video is often widely and immediately available. The Manasquan vs. Camden game was streamed live by NFHS Network. Many other basketball games have fans with phones out and cameras open at nearly all times. Shouldn’t a modern rulebook acknowledge that referees, being human, will make mistakes and that there are times when challenges are necessary?

But it’s not exactly an easy answer—at least, not everywhere. With thousands of high school sporting events every week, reliable video isn’t everywhere. Some sporting events are extremely sparsely attended, and others take place on a field that might not allow for tight enough camera work from a phone (think of a soccer pitch, for instance).

Adding the necessity of video adds another element that would pose additional disadvantages to athletic departments from poor zip codes, ones that may already struggle to provide basic amenities for a sports program. Then, regardless of zip code, ensuring enough video angles to make the correct decision would be nearly impossible. In NBA and NFL games, fans have access to pretty much any angle, slow motion, freeze-frame, and zoom-in capabilities. A couple of phones can’t do that.

Plus, anecdotally, it would be a logistical nightmare. There are lots of calls made by amateur referees that could be challenged on a night-to-night basis. Game pauses would be more brutal than in the pros. And with high schools already suffering from referee shortages around the nation in large part due to abuse from parents and coaches, it doesn’t seem like a sound idea to set the groundwork for phones to be shoved in officials’ faces. (Let alone coaching shortages, with some parents seeming to feel increasingly entitled to berate them).

With that said, there’s probably a middle ground. Challenging individual calls during a high school basketball game would be a logistical nightmare, but there are ways to make exceptions in extreme moments. For instance, when there is video evidence readily available for a call that could decide a championship?

It’s time to enter the 21st century.

Mistake acknowledged but result won’t change for Manasquan HS

Manasquan will not be given a deserved victory over Camden

Manasquan should have upset Camden on Tuesday.

The NJSIAA acknowledged that in a statement on Wednesday, saying the officials admitted they blew the call at the end of the playoff game against Camden.

The basket should have counted. However, it was waved off after review and that is the way it will stand forever.

For all the details on how the hoops robber went down, click here.

Controversial call mars finish of New Jersey HS playoff game

The playoff game between Manasquan and Camden was marred by an apparent wrong call by officials

It appeared as if Manasquan High School had pulled off a stunning upset of Camden High School Tuesday in a New Jersey High School Group 2 playoff game.

Then, the officials stepped in and changed the result of an apparent buzzer-beater and Camden had won a game it appeared to have lost.

Per CourierPostonline.:

Alijah Curry sank two foul shots with under 10 seconds to go to give Camden the lead, but Manasquan rushed down the court for a final shot. While the first shot was off the mark, Griffin Linstra had a put-back that touched off a wild celebration for Manasquan.

However, the officials ruled the final shot came after the buzzer and the Panthers advanced to the championship game.

From all video accounts I’ve seen, that basket should have counted and Manasquan should have beaten No. 3 Camden 47-46 #njhoops pic.twitter.com/3tvT6uasRj

The Manasquan coach was upset … rightfully so.

Manasquan is looking to see if the wrong can be righted.

USA TODAY High School Sports Super 25 boys basketball rankings, week of March 4, 2024

The latest boys basketball Super 25 as the season moves toward March postseason action.

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As the 2023-24 season nears an end across the country, here is the latest USA TODAY Sports boys basketball Super 25.

1. Montverde Academy (Fla.)

Record: 30-0

2. Columbus (Miami, Fla.)

Record: 25-4

3. St. Paul VI (Chantilly, Va.)

Record: 33-2

4. Plano East (Texas)

Record: 38-0

5. Harvard-Westlake (Studio City, Calif.)

Record: 32-3

6. Dynamic Prep (Irving, Texas)

Record: 23-1

7. Stony Point (Round Rock, Texas)

Record: 37-1

8. Grayson (Loganville, Ga.)

Record: 29-2

9. Don Bosco Prep (Ramsey, N.J.)

Record: 28-3

10. Myers Park (Charlotte, N.C.)

Record: 26-2

11. Ridge View (Colombia, S.C.)

Record: 27-2

12. Long Island Lutheran (N.Y.)

Record: 19-4

13. John Marshall (Richmond, Va.)

Record: 24-3

14. Central Cabarrus (Concord, N.C.)

Record: 29-0

15. St. Rose (Belmar, N.J.)

Record: 27-2

16. Roosevelt (Eastvale, Calif.)

Record: 31-3

17. Prolific Prep (Napa, Calif.)

Record: 29-5

18. Wisconsin Lutheran (Milwaukee, Wis.)

Record: 26-0

19. Huntsville (Ala.)

Record: 32-3

20. Imhotep (Philadelphia)

Record: 24-3

21. Salesian (Richmond, Calif.)

Record: 30-1

22. Winter Haven (Fla.)

Record: 27-1

23. Bullis (Potomac, Md.)

Record: 25-2

24. Sidwell Friends (Washington, D.C.)

Record: 22-4

25. Kell (Marietta, Ga.)

Record: 27-3

On The Rise:

McEachern (Ga.)

Oak Ridge (Fla.)

Wayzata (Minn.)

The methodology: the HSS staff creates the Super 25 rankings while considering various data points, including strength of schedule, prospects, the more traditional stats—did the team win or lose?—as well as overall point differentials.

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4-star USC commit Trent Perry scores 42 in Harvard-Westlake quarterfinals win

Trent Perry, a top-tier point guard prospect committed to USC, scored 42 in Harvard-Westlake’s playoff win.

USC men’s basketball is struggling to push through a variety of injuries this season and continue winning after three straight years of NCAA tournament appearances and high expectations entering the season. Near the bottom of the Pac-12, the program’s scouting department must have been watching the Harvard-Westlake regional semifinals game on Saturday with a gleam in their eye.

Trent Perry, a four-star point guard committed to the Trojans, put up 42 points and made important free throws at the end of the game to lead the Wolverines to a 73-72 win over Carlsbad and secure an appearance in the regional finals.

According to Dan Lovi with the LA Daily News, Perry had 29 points in the second half. He also had seven rebounds and five assists in the game, according to the outlet.

Harvard-Westlake’s next game will be against Roosevelt, a team the Wolverines beat less than two weeks ago to win the CIF Southern Section Open Division championship. Their upcoming matchup will be on Tuesday: the State Open Division semifinals.

Perry, who is listed at 6-foot-4 and 175 pounds, will look to show out once again.

This season, USC has not lived up to expectations after returning multiple starters and recruiting elite prospects Isaiah Collier and Bronny James. A large part of that is due to injuries — Collier and veterans Boogie Ellis and Joshua Morgan have missed significant time this season, throwing rotations into flux.

With Perry, ranked the No. 38 player and No. 5 point guard on the 247Sports rankings, leading a Trojans recruiting class that also includes three-star power forward Brody Kozlowski and three-star shooting guard Liam Campbell, USC will hope to finish this season by showing progress in the conference tournament, and then pick it up next year in the Big Ten with some new talent.