Friday, December 3, 1999

Iolani Classic features
three top 10 teams

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

The Nike Iolani Classic will open later this month with three of the top 10 teams in the USA Today Super 25 rankings and four of the nation's top 50 prospects.

The classic will be held Dec. 17-18 and Dec. 20-22 at Iolani/.

Leading the field will be the nation's No. 1 team, Oakhill Academy of Mouth Of Wilson, Va.

Oakhill, coached by Steve Smith, finished last season No. 1 and has turned out 12 NBA players, including Jerry Stackhouse, Rod Strickland, and Ron Mercer.

The team has three of ESPN's top 50 players: No. 19 Abdou Diame, a 6-8 forward from Senegal who has committed to Auburn; No. 30 Cliff Hawkins (6-1 point guard, Kentucky), and No. 43, Luke Whitehead (6-6 forward, Louisville).

The top individual player in the classic will be DeShawn Stevenson, a 6-5 wing guard for Washington Union (1998-99 CIF Div III Champion) of Fresno, Calif. ESPN ranks Stevenson the No. 3 player in the top 50 and the No. 1 wing guard in the country.

Dominguez of Compton, Calif., is rated No. 6 in USA Today and features a powerful inside game with 7-0 Tyson Chandler and 6-7 Keith Brooks. Dominguez finished No. 6 last season.

Montrose Christian of Rockville, Md., is USA Today's No. 10 team and is coached by a familiar Iolani Classic face, Stu Vetter, who has coached three other top 25 teams in the classic over the years.

Mohamed Diakite, a 6-10 center bound for St. John's, and Marvin Lewis (6-4 guard, Georgia Tech) are two of Vetter's top players.

Also in the field is Central of Little Rock, Ark., which won its state championship last season.

Rounding out the field are Wilson of Florence, S.C.; Provo, Utah; East Anchorage, Alaska; Iolani; St. Louis; McKinley; Roosevelt; Waianae; Radford; Kapaa, and Baldwin.