Jalen Lewis (Left) and Mikey Williams start out as the top two rated players for the Class of 2023. Lewis has a chance to be Northern California’s next dominant big man and the social media hype around Williams is as big as any non-celebrity athlete we’ve ever encountered. Photo: Ronnie Flores/@WhosNextHS
Our boys basketball coverage for Gold Club VIPs continues with a first look at the state’s top incoming ninth-graders. The freshman (2023) class has terrific talent on the perimeter, a potential dominant post from NorCal, and two players who could one day be as big or bigger than Melo Ball, popularity wise. Many in the group are already mature and it’s important to keep that in mind when projecting future success, especially for post players who often develop later. Some of the state’s better freshmen also won’t contribute right away because they are joining strong programs with veteran players.
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Related: California’s Top 8th Graders Since 1982
Note: This post is for Gold Club members only. You can now sign up for the 2019-20 basketball season at rates of $3.99 per month or $9.99 for three months, which by the way will carry you through most of the the season. Yearly rate of just 6.8 cents per day also can be done. For details, CLICK HERE.
The first 2023 Cal-Hi Sports Top 25 for the 2019-20 school year is based on evaluations from this past summer’s NCAA viewing periods and non-viewing showcases and middle school events over the past year.
The baseline of where we begin with each prospect begins with high school basketball, so keep that in mind when you view the initial rankings for the 2023 class because most of them have only a few regulation varsity basketball games under their belts. These rankings will expand as we see more varsity games this winter and change over time as players develop and new ones emerge during the 2019-20 high school season. Cal-Hi Sports realizes some talented ninth graders will sit behind talented upperclassmen, while a select few remain in junior high this school year. We did not factor in projected playing time with the high school team into our rankings. We also realize not every 2023 prospect participated in a spring or summer showcase or with their high school team this fall and we might not have had an opportunity to evaluate them. That’s why we limit this list to 25 players.
