McDonalds rosters finalized
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Wednesday night, the rosters for the 2015 McDonald's All-American Game to be
held the United Center in Chicago on April 1 were announced. Headlined by 2015's
No. 1 player Ben Simmons the selections are sure to be debated until
game night but the rosters for the 38th edition of the game appear to be
relatively surprise free.
East team
Dwayne Bacon, 6-foot-6 SF, Mouth of Wilson (Va.) Oak Hill
Florida State (No. 22)
Antonio Blakeney, 6-foot-4 SG, Orlando (Fla.) Oak Ridge, LSU
(No. 13)
Isaiah Briscoe, 6-foot-3 PG, Roselle (N.J.) Catholic, Kentucky
No. 9)
Jaylen Brown, 6-foot-7 SF, Marietta (Ga.) Wheeler, Undecided
(No. 2)
Thomas Bryant, 6-foot-10 C, Huntington (W.V.) Prep, Undecided
(No. 36)
Cheick Diallo, 6-foot-9 PF, Centereach (N.Y.) Our Savior,
Undecided (No. 6)
Henry Ellenson, 6-foot-9 PF, Rice Lake (Wisc.) High, Marquette
(No. 17)
Jawun Evans, 6-foot PG, Dallas (Texas) Kimball, Oklahoma State
(No. 27)
Luke Kennard, 6-foot-5 SG, Franklin (Ohio) High, Duke (No. 24)
Dedric Lawson, 6-foot-8 PF, Memphis (Tenn.) Hamilton, Memphis
(No. 26)
Ben Simmons, 6-foot-9 PF, Montverde (Fla.) Academy, LSU (No.
1)
Diamond Stone, 6-foot-10 C, Whitefish Bay (Wisc.) Dominican,
Undecided (No. 5)
West team
Carlton Bragg, 6-foot-9 PF, Cleveland (Ohio) Villa Angela-St. Joseph,
Kansas (No. 14)
Jalen Brunson, 6-foot-1 PG, Lincolnshire (Ill.) Stevenson,
Villanova (No. 15)
Deyonta Davis, 6-foot-9 PF, Muskegon (Mich.) High,
Michigan State (No. 23)
P.J. Dozier, 6-foot-6 PG, Columbia (S.C.) Spring Valley, South Carolina (No. 34)
Brandon Ingram, 6-foot-8 SF, Kinston (N.C.) High, Undecided
(No. 18)
Chase Jeter, 6-foot-10 C, Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman, Duke
(No. 8)
Malik Newman, 6-foot-4 G, Jackson (Miss.) Callaway, Undecided
(No. 3)
Ivan Rabb, 6-foot-10 PF, Oakland (Calif.) Bishop O'Dowd,
Undecided (No. 7)
Malachi Richardson, 6-foot-5 SG, Trenton (N.J.) Catholic,
Syracuse (No. 30)
Caleb Swanigan, 6-foot-8 C, Ft. Wayne (Ind.) Homestead,
Undecided (No. 16)
Allonzo Trier, 6-foot-4 SG, Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep,
Arizona (No. 12)
Stephen Zimmerman, 6-foot-11 C, Las Vegas (Nev.) Bishop Gorman,
Undecided (No. 10)
Intriguing matchups
While the general public only gets to see the ESPN televised game, the best part
of the McDonald's All-American festivities are the three closed practices and
day before the game scrimmage. Other than the scrimmage -- which is a near full
dress rehearsal with clock and officials -- teams don't face each other until
the actual game so some of the matchups we are looking forward to could happen
between teammates.
One of the better rivalries between two players has been that of undecided small
forwards Jaylen Brown and Brandon Ingram. The No. 2 (Brown) and No. 18 (Ingram)
have had several outstanding man to man battles on the high school, grassroots
and summer camp circuits and it is always fun to watch the athletic brawler
Brown match up against the lanky skill guy in Ingram.
Longtime teammates at Bishop Gorman, the setup of the West squad should make it
so that Stephen Zimmerman and Chase Jeter have no choice but to go head to head
during practice sessions. We've never really had a chance to see the two big men
square off so that could be very interesting.
Another intriguing low post battle could be between the East's Diamond Stone and
the West's Caleb Swanigan. Though he's slightly short for the center position,
Swanigan thrives in the post because of his strength, long arms and high level
of skill. Most of all, few bigs can match his strength but in Stone he will be
going against somebody who plays a very similar game. The only difference is
that Stone is two inches taller.
When it comes to wing scorers, there are all kinds of matchups we are looking
forward to. The East's Dwayne Bacon and Antonio Blakeney and the West's Allonzo
Trier and Malachi Richardson should provide for any number of fun to watch
matchups between high scorers who are unafraid to let the shots fly.
Final roster notes
The highest
ranked players to not make the game are No. 3 Skal Labissiere, No. 11
No. 21 Justin Simon and No. 25 Jalen Adams. Of that group,
Labissiere (didn't play for his high school), Smith (knee injury, missed season)
and Adams (fifth-year prep schooler) were ineligible to be voted into the game.
While there will certainly be spirited debates about who did or didn't make it,
there are no truly unusual or controversial -- according to where they are
ranked -- selections for this year's game.
Two of this
year's McDonald's All-American's have interesting family ties. Jalen Brunson's
father Rick played in the 1991 game while P.J. Dozier's uncle Terry played in
the 1985 game.
This year's
McDonald's All-American Game features nine undecided players, compared to just
two last year.
LSU and
Duke are the only programs with multiple (two) players selected to the game.
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