Wilkes Smooth Like His Dad

TEANECK, NEW JERSEY -- Omar Wilkes, the 6-4, 180 pound combo/shooting guard from Loyola High School in Los Angeles and son of the NBA and Laker legend Jamaal Wilkes, had a strong showing at this week's adidas ABCD camp held at the Rothman Center on Fairleigh Dickinson's campus.

Wilkes averaged 10.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 0.4 steals while shooting 58 percent from the field. He participated in last month's NBPA camp in Richmond. "There is a lot more competition here (ABCD)," he said.

Wilkes is an especially dangerous perimeter marksman who squares well to the basket and maintains body control on difficult pull-up attempts. "I expect I'll primarily play the wing guard in college with a backup role at the point," he said.

Kansas, California, UCLA and Southern California have all offered scholarships. Wilkes officially visited Kansas earlier this spring and took unofficial visits to UCLA and Southern Cal.

Stanford, which he also unofficially visited, is also on his list. It would be extremely unlikely for the PAC 10 school not to tender a scholarship offer once he finishes the essay part of his application and gains admission to the northern California school. The admission issue would seem pretty strong in his favor too. Wilkes, who plans to major in business, has a 3.8 GPA and scored 1270 on the SAT.

The final school on his list of six is Florida. The Gators have not yet offered a place on the roster. Wilkes said he wants to make a college decision before his final season at Loyola starts.

Wilkes averaged 22 points, six rebounds, five assists and four steals per game during his junior season.

Next up for this well-spoken young man is the inaugural AND1/Hoop Group High School National Championship at the Palestra in Philadelphia, tomorrow and Sunday.

This tournament was not certified by the NCAA, so no Division I coaches can attend. This is ironic considering all the energy the NCAA has put into getting legislation enacted with the goal of curtailing the AAU-type events. Here is an eight-team tournament made up of high school squads with HS coaches during the first recruiting period in July 2002 and college coaches can't go.

Loyola HS will be competing with the other seven regional winners, DeMatha Catholic (MD), Mount Tahoma (WA), Proviso East (IL), Putnam City (OK), St. Patrick’s (NJ), Stone Mountain Redan (GA) and Vance (NC).

Wilkes will then hook up with the Pump N Run squad at the adidas Big Time Tournament in Las Vegas and Best of the Summer in Los Angeles.