Basketball
has always been a game played from the inside
out—from the hoop outwards. A regulation court is 94 feet long and 50 feet
wide, but it is within the narrow painted lane, known as the paint, where games
are often won or lost. It is the space where centers traditionally dominate, as
scorers on one end of the court and protectors on the other. The youth game often does not possess clearly
defined back to the basket players until the 7th grade level and
sometimes beyond. Yet, the 2020 class
has a group of players that few that maintain a very strong post presence.
What do we look for in a center? An
effective center should have the ability to deny the opposition any easy points
in the paint, offensively a great center will have an arsenal of shots that
make him impossible for one man to guard.
More than just putting up points, a traditional center employs the
low-post technique—a physically demanding, back-to-the-basket set of offensive
and defensive fundamentals. The low post—an imaginary region on both sides of
the key—is one of the most important areas of the court, and one that a team's
center must control.
Basically, the center acts as his team's last
line of defense, while also performing many of the unpleasant work that few
others are willing to do. It entails highly desired, lowly recognized duties,
everything from setting screens and posting up on offense, to jamming up the
painted lane around the hoop and turning away shots in the defensive zone. One of the toughest yet underappreciated positions
in today game – but still one of the most important and coveted; every team
WANTS a big no matter how good the team is.
With the end of season rankings soon
approaching for all grades Prolific Performance Basketball (P2BBall.com) will
be presenting a series of top positional groupings for all classes – these are
not our formal rankings; rather an introduction to the top players in their
respective classes at their positions. They
are not listed in a specific order and there is not a direct correlation to national ranking position – P2BBall.com will
release its formal national player ranking starting September 15, 2014 after
the identification of the Reclassed student athletes.
Below is a
list of 10 of the Top Centers in the class of 2020:
1.
Jason
Harris – West Coast All Stars
2.
Donavan Billings – Wisconsin United
3.
Isaiah
Todd – Team 4-Real
4.
Montez
McNeil – Banneker Kings
5.
Kendall
Munson – Oakland Soldiers
6.
Marcus
Dumervil – Ft. Lauderdale Lions
7.
Raymond
Terry – Indiana MVP
8.
Tyjavious
Bedgood – Dream Team Elite
9.
Josiah
Hardy – Leesburg Basketball Club
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