Carson heating up in the desert

A talented scoring guard Jahii Carson of Phoenix Mountain Pointe High School is emerging as a national recruit in the 2011 class. Five schools have already offered the 5-foot-10, 170-pound point guard and many others are interested.

At this early point, Carson has offers from Arizona, California, Oregon, Oregon State and UNLV. Interest is coming in from Baylor, Connecticut, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Memphis, Purdue, UCLA and USC.

Out of all these options, Carson has a top five school list with an SEC school at the top.

"My top schools are Kentucky, Connecticut, Oregon, UNLV and Baylor," said Carson. "My favorite school is Kentucky. They are looking for a point guard to push the tempo for them. They told me they like a small point guard who is quick and crafty. And they also have a great basketball tradition at Kentucky."

Whoever gets Carson is going to get a guard who can make plays with the basketball. On the season, Carson is averaging 33 points and 7.8 assists per game to go along with four rebounds and two steals.

Arizona State, California, Connecticut, Oregon, Oregon State and USC are the schools that Carson has noticed at his games this year, and he expects Kentucky to be in the stands at one of his games next week.

This summer he will run with the Compton Magic and is focused on rounding out his game.

"I want to improve defensively," he said. "I also want to get better finishing against contact. The big thing for me is to get stronger."