The recent addition of Stephen Madison, who paddled across the Columbia River is big. The 6'6 versatile wing who played for Prairie last year will be wearing the blue and gold of Jefferson next season and coupled with Terrence Jones, it's hard to come up with a better one-two punch even on a national level. Which begs the question. Is Jeff now one of the best teams to ever come out of the state? Are they arguably one of the best high school teams in the nation? Certainly you could make a case for Jefferson to be the best public high school basketball team in the nation. Or getting a bit more picayune, the Demo's are hands down the best public high school with an enrollment under 550 on the planet.

How many times have you watched a team warming up that you have little knowledge about and tried to deduce who the stud's and dud's were? Standing in a hot gym and watching Madison during warmups for the first time, I pegged him for the rich kid who's parents had 'bought' his way onto the AAU team with the full price tag that was inflated to include a scholarship written in to include a talented player who didn't have the fortunate means. Madison looked like he belonged in a John Hughes movie from the 80's as a character actor alongside Molly Ringwald. Maybe even a stand-in for Anthony Micheal Hall. As he trotted out with the starting unit, I figured it was one of those big hearted coaches who rewarded hard work in practice with starting and 'this kid" would be pulled at the first time stoppage. At that time I had no idea who Stephen Madison even was. Also, my apologies to his Mom and Dad for even thinking such idiotic thoughts.

There are players who have gifts that as a fan, you find yourself mesmerized by. Stephen Madison is one of those players. He's not exceptionally quick, nor does he look amazingly athletically talented. What he has is some gifts that few others possess. His ability to read the game like a clairvoyant is the first thing you notice. His tipped passes and steals far exceeded my expectations because of his innate ability to read a play before it happened. Or at least his talent to start acting on a play unfolding before the other players have made the 'read.' He's also one of those kids 'who's always around the ball.' Always. He reads the ball off the glass like Marty Luenen. He's not afriad to take the ball to the hole even around bigger players but has a very sweet jumper. He has, simply put...'it.' Spending a year of practices with Jefferson should only pay dividends.

Depending on what Jefferson Coach Pat Strickland has in the works, it should be a hoot if he starts Madison in the backcourt with catquick and sweet shooting 6'1 Antoine Hosley next year. The two would compliment each other nicely. Hosley may be one of the most overlooked players in the state. With just Hosley and Jones on the roster next season, I felt all along the Demo's were as good as 6A power Jesuit, who'll be led by the ever-improving 6'9 Kyle Wiltjer. Add Madison into the mix and suddenly were the Crusaders and Jeff to play somewhere over the next season, it would be basketball nirvana to the hoop junkie. Advantage Jefferson in my book.  

Which leads me to the next topic. Where does Jefferson belong on a national level. The USA Today Top 25 is filled with private schools and if you break apart the private schools such as Jesuit, Mater Dei and Oak Christian, then you have these prep schools like Oak Hill Academy and Findlay Prep. Findlay Prep out of Henderson Nevada is a new school that appears to be more of a semi-pro basketball academy than a high school. They snatched Seattle product Avery Bradley out of Bellarmine Prep to move down there and instead of Bellarmine Prep ending up in the USA Today Top 10, Findlay captured the high school national championship with a win over Oak Hill Academy and finished the season 36-0. The eastern seaboard has always been flush with the private schools that appear to be more like 'basketball academies'  than 'private high schools' and those operations almost seem to run more like a year round AAU operation. Jefferson has lost two top players who were recruited to the East Coast over the past couple of years. Terrance Ross two years ago and this past season the talented 6'4 Krystal Forthan has headed East.

To validate Jefferson's case of belonging this season high atop the national scene and for giggles, take out all the private schools  from the season ending USA Top 25. Thats 15 of the 25. Then look at the remaining 10 public schools. Schools like Fairfax and Westchester out of Los Angeles lost their top talent to graduation. Terrence Jones merits consideration for being one of the Top 10 talented seniors in the nation. Voters are going to have a hard time not putting Madison and Jones on the First Team All-State ballot and Hosley may be right up there too. Thats a loaded deck. Even on a national level.

If there are any West Coast team I still have my eye on for giving Jefferson a battle besides Jesuit, it has to be three Seattle area teams. Franklin is easily the biggest public basketball powerhouse on the West Coast year in, year out in my book but I like two others to steal the Puget limelight. This season, keep an eye on Kentwood who returns the top ranked post in the nation in 6'10 280 pound Joshua Smith. For Garfield, they return my personal favorite player to watch in the nation in 6'5 junior Tony Wroten who is ranked the #2 point guard according to most national pulications. Garfield hasn't had a guard this good since Brandon Roy. I do know if I'm a basketball coach for these two high schools, I'm a little nervous. Both players have decided to go out for football this season. Currently Kentwood and Garfield are talking with ESPN for a nationally televised matchup on December 3rd or 4th. I wish Jesuit and Jefferson would do the same.

Which leads me to the final point. All the public schools mentioned have enrollments over 2000 students. Jefferson should come in around 515 students this season. I know this is one of these little rambling, "even though our team finished 4-27, we could make a case for being #1 because we beat Johnson High, who finished 14-10 who beat......."


So, can anyone else come up with the "Best Dang Public High School Team in the Nation With Enrollment under 537?"