Four-star juniors stock is soaring

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THE RIVALS150: Class of 2014 - Class of 2015

Spend some time talking to coaches and scouts on the West Coast about the class of 2015 and one name keeps coming up. Four-star guard Justin Simon's name is being mentioned by just about everybody.

A 6-foot-4 combo guard at Temecula (Calif.) Valley, Simon currently ranks No. 80 in the class of 2015 and will be on the rise if he continues his fantastic play.

The recent crush of attention as his game has ascended has been amazing for Simon.

"When I was growing up this was never a thought in my mind," Simon told Rivals.com. "Now it is a dream come true so I have to keep working and getting better."

The attention is no dream. At this point Simon has offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, California, Colorado, Creighton, New Mexico, Oregon, Penn State, Santa Clara, USC and Washington while others such as Connecticut, Kansas, Louisville and UCLA are showing more attention.

With the point guard crop in 2014 picked over and the pool of 2015 points looking somewhat shallow, Simon's value has skyrocketed. He can play the point, has the size to play off the ball and is a skilled and confident player on both ends of the floor.

"I'm a combo guard or a point guard," said Simon. "I try to be a leader when I'm at the point. I'll fill lanes, or you can see me on the baseline or in the high post or at the top getting people in position.

"That's why I really like my size. I'm 6-foot-4 maybe 6-foot-5 and rangy. Offensively I can size up the smaller guards and defensively I can guard the one through the three."

While he can handle, slash, create and defend, Simon's jump shot is something that remains a work in progress. It isn't broken by any means, but he recognizes that there is work to be done.

"Right now it's all about confidence and mechanics," said Simon. "I'm trying to get in the gym lately and work on improving. It's really confidence and believing in my shot. I've been working on it since summer, me and my coaching staff are working it."

Since the NCAA now allows juniors to take official visits during their second semester of school, Simon is looking at options for official and unofficial visits. There is no set plan but he mentioned that he may use the officials for schools away from the West Coast while he's considering potential unofficial visits to places such as Washington and Colorado if he can work it into his schedule.

As for making a college choice, Simon has no real timetable. He is, however, starting to go over things in his head and is spending a lot of time watching college hoops in hopes of getting his list to a little bit more manageable size.

"I'd say around the spring or right before it I might start narrowing my list down," said Simon. "I have some kind of idea about who I like but right now it's about building relationships and watching a lot of college basketball."

Just as he did last summer, Simon plans to hit the road with San Diego based Gamepoint. Given the rise in his stock over the last few months, he should continue to be a hot target.

Eric Bossi is the national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.

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