Written By Senior Editor Ronnie Flores

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Last summer at the Reebok Summer Championships, Brandon Jennings, the point guard for Southern California based Belmont Shore, lived up to his billing as the nation's top prep player and prospect when he nailed a three-pointer to send the open division championship game into overtime. The Dinos Trigonis coached club eventually won 78-73 over Team Breakdown from Florida.

While Team Breakdown returns its electrifying backcourt of Kenny Boynton and Brandon Knight to this year's event, the new floor general for the defending champions will have some big shoes to fill now that the No. 1 player in the 2008 ESPN 100 is off to play professional ball in the Italian League.

And his replacement is well aware of it.

"It's a pretty big thing to live up to, taking Brandon's spot, remarked Cezar Guerrero a 5-foot-10 sophomore-to-be that played at St. John Bosco of Bellflower, Calif. during his freshman campaign but reportedly will be playing elsewhere this upcoming season.  

Guerrero is quickly developing a reputation as one of the nation's best players in the national Class of 2011. At the recent Fullcourt Press All-West Camp, in fact, he was the only 2011 prospect to be selected to play in the Cream of the Crop Top 25 all-star game where he scored 10 points and dished off four assists.

Guerrero, who is known for his quickness and can stop on a dime, was one of the better underclass players in attendance at the All-West Camp along with Jeremy Tyler of San Diego High. Tyler is the No. 2 ranked prospect in the 2010 ESPN 100 behind Knight but was unable to play in the Top 25 game because of a prior commitment. He's scheduled to play for California Supreme at Main Event, one of the three major events running simultaneously this week in Sin City that are staples of the July evaluation period.           

While Tyler dominated the action on the camp's first day, it was the diminutive Guerrero who had the individual highlight of the camp on that same day when he executed a 360-degree lay-up in traffic that had onlookers buzzing. It's still quite early in the recruiting process for Guerrero, but with continued development it's easy to see him playing at some of the schools on his early list such as UCLA, Arizona and Texas.  

"I can feel it, Guerrero said of asked if he can feel his game blossoming or if he notices by the attention he's starting to receive.

He not only has big shoes to fill starting Tuesday as Belmont Shore opens play in the Create-N-Finish Cup along with the tournament's other top seeded teams, he also has to live up to the expectations placed on him at home in Huntington Park, Calif. His older brother and mentor, Joe Covarrubias, was quite a player himself.

Guerrero was too young to watch his big brother play at Huntington Park High School, but we can. Covarrubias was a three-year standout that averaged 20.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists as a senior in 1994 when he was named to the prestigious Los Angeles City Section 4-A All-City team along side talents such as Tremain Fowlkes (Fresno State) and Kris Johnson (UCLA). The 6-foot Covarrubias had a bigger frame and actually was a better scorer than young Cezar was at the same stage, but didn't have the same lightning quickness his brother possesses. Another obvious advantage his younger brother has is the experience and lessons only an older brother can teach.    

"When I was his age, I didn't know what to do as far as getting exposure, Covarrubias explained. "His world is going so fast so I want to be there to help him with the things he can't see.  

Not too many players of Latino descent on the West Coast were offered Division I scholarships when Covarrubias played in high school. Although the exposure opportunities are much greater in today's Internet world, the numbers are not much greater for young Latino players so Covarrubias wants to make sure his brother takes advantage of the tremendous opportunity he has with Belmont Shore over the next five days in front of the basketball recruiting world.

"I want him to do it the right way, Covarrubias said. "I want him to keep his composure on the court and stay humble off it. I want him to keep away from the negative stuff.

So far this summer, the reviews have been nothing but positive.  

Besides Guerrero, many of the California's best prospects were on hand for the 2008 Fullcourt Press All-West Camp and its Top 25 All-Star Game. Read Below for a recap:
 
The 2008 Fullcourt Press All-West Camp didn't have the crowd pleasing ending that last year's event did when upstart guard Leon Sutton from Spring Valley High in Las Vegas had a spirited one-on-one duel with eventual EA SPORTS National Player of the Year Brandon Jennings. This year's Cream of the Crop Top 25 game, however, was more competitive overall and one of the better played all-star games at a Pangos event in recent memory.

It was a hard-fought game that featured a handful of the West Coast's top players from the Class of 2009, 2010 plus Guerrero. The game was a 104-97 victory for the Black All-Stars over the White All-Stars, but the real story was the individual standouts looking to make a positive impression before heading to Las Vegas to play in of the shoe company sponsored showcase events this week.

The most impressive performer of the Top 25 game was 6-foot-6 Hollis Thompson (Loyola, Los Angeles, Calif.). He has a nice combination of skills handling the ball on the perimeter and facing the basket on the wing. The wiry Thompson is also active on the boards and can shoot the three effectively, as he finished with a team-high 15 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots in near succession. With a little more strength, Thompson could develop into one of the better Big East players in two or three years. He's a solid Georgetown commit.

Other standouts for the Black All-stars included 6-foor-5 Anthony Brown (Ocean View, Huntington Beach, Calif.) and his prep teammate, 6-foot-6 Ryan Okuudibonye. Brown scored six points but more importantly is developing into one of the top 50 prospects nationally in the Class of 2010 and potentially the best player at Ocean View since strongman Ricky Butler (UC-Irvine) 20 years ago. Okuudibonye was actually selected to play in the Top 50 game, but arrived late and was allowed to participate in the main game. He made the most of his opportunity, nailing two three-pointers and finishing with ten points. Add 6-foot-3 guard Avery Johnson, another 2010 prospect that did play in the Top 50 game, and it looks like the Seahawks will field a fine team in two years if not next season.     

Another standout for the Black team was 6-foot-1 Deonta Burton (Cabrillo, Long Beach, Calif.). He scored nine points and made a variety of solid defensive plays as he usually does. Burton still needs to work on his lead guard skills and at his size, we always felt he might have a better future on the gridiron because of his aggressiveness. He told us he is going to be strapping it up this fall.                                                 

For the White All-Stars, Roberto Nelson (Santa Barbara, Calif.) was the leading scorer, along with Kevin Young (Notre Dame Prep, Mass. via Perris, Calif.) with 16 points. He shot a solid percentage from the outside and did his usual work around the basket (5 rebounds, 2 assists). Nelson was hitting the boards hard and he's always had good instincts for the ball. In fact, he has the ability to draw fouls and get to the charity stripe as well as any guard in the national 2009 class. Nelson, who will play with the Compton Magic at the Adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas, is still open in his recruitment and is considering USC, Ohio State, Washington, UCLA, Cal, Arizona, Arizona State, Utah, Florida, Nebraska and Maryland.

Michael Snaer (Rancho Verde, Moreno Valley, Calif.) also had a nice camp and solid all-around effort in the Top 25 game (13 points, 4 assists, 3 rebounds) to bounce back from what one veteran observer felt was a less-than-stellar performance at the Reebok All-American Camp. The 6-foot-5 Snaer effectively uses his strong body to finish at the rim and when he's on from the outside he's as tough to defend as any senior-to-be on the West Coast. Snaer was once a soft USC commit but has reopened his recruitment holding offers from Missouri, Florida State, Marquette, Arizona, and UNLV.    

Arguably the California's best perimeter defender, Justin Hawkins (Taft, Woodland Hills, Calif.), was all over the court for the White All-Stars as he finished with 11 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and two steals. The 6-foot-3 Hawkins told us he's gunning for Jason Kidd's single season state record for steals (245 set in 1992 while the Dallas Maverick guard played at St. Joseph of Alameda) during his upcoming senior season at Taft. It's a lofty goal, but if any California player can approach that mark it's probably Hawkins. Either way, when his senior season is completed and head coach Derrick Taylor tabulates his final numbers, the four-year standout headed to UNLV will be high on the all-time state list for career thefts.

The Top 50 game was highlighted by some strong outside shooting by a variety of players while 6-foot-4 Kareem Jamar caught our eye in the Top 75 game. The junior-to-be at L.A. City Section power Westchester is one of the most improved prospects we've evaluated since the end of the 2008 high school season. He didn't play much for the Comets' varsity last year season but he has big plans this upcoming winter.

"I've been working on my ball-handling and on-the-ball defense, Jamar said. "I am going to be starting this season.

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