ESPN's Joel Francisco on some top Bay Area talents

Joel Francisco of ESPN is looking at some Bay Area talents in action this week here and here:

Jabari Brown (Oakland, Calif./Oakland)
2011, SG, 6-foot-5, 190 pounds) Brown tossed in 31-points, mostly from deep range, and his shot selection was efficient. He is a terrific catch-and-shoot type and his touch is feathery. He has an improved step-back jump shot off the dribble, but overall his perimeter game (ball handling) needs to improve for the next level.
 
Richard Longruss (Oakland, Calif./Bishop O'Dowd)
2012, WF, 6-6, 200 Teammate Brandon Ashley gets most of the notoriety, and rightly so, but Longruss was O'Dowd's best player on this day. He is a basketball player in every sense of the word at both ends of the floor. His length is impressive and he's a terrific all-around defender. Offensively, he is an outstanding rebounder and he can play inside and out. The potential is there for the high-majors to get involved.

Brandon Ashley
2012, PF, 6-8, 215 After a subpar first half in terms of effort (struggled to finish with contact) and production, Ashley dominated the second half as he led his team to a semifinal battle against an outstanding Long Beach Poly squad. Ashley utilized his length and soft hands to convert numerous baskets in the paint area. Defensively, he had a number of high-level blocks where he was able to keep the ball in play to get spark his team's transition game. Overall, Ashley has an immense upside but his fundamentals (brings the ball down) and skill-set (limited post moves) need to improve immensely for him to maintain his lofty national ranking.

He who has the gold, rules

It's coming. High school and club team basketball sports are going fullblown mainstream on television, much more than what we witness now.

With that in mind, ESPN televised a Friday night football matchup between Grant High and Folsom High. The juggernaut came to town, re-writing the so-called rules and left some wondering what hit the area.

Local media, coaches riled by ESPN attitude
Joe Davidson
Sacramento Bee
August 28, 2010

According to some of those involved, the worst part of Friday's prep football showcase on ESPN was that ESPN was there.

Coaches said the sports network barged into Folsom this week, flexed its biceps and took control of seemingly every working detail of the Folsom-Grant encounter, turning a lot of heads and stomachs...

Go here for the remainder.