Austin Rivers<\/strong> of Winter Park (Fla.), played against each other on national television. St. Patrick won 75-66.<\/p>\nGilchrist scored 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds and had the stronger supporting cast. In the balloting the week following that game, the panel didn't penalize Rivers much, if at all. He did score 38 points to keep his team within striking range.<\/p>\n
Gilchrist was the eventual Mr. Basketball USA choice, but what if Rivers had scored 38 points in a Winter Park victory?<\/p>\n
State and National Records<\/b><\/p>\n
Raftery and Bailey never played in the NBA, but they have something else in common: both enjoyed record-breaking prep careers for winning programs.<\/p>\n
Raftery scored 827 points in 1959, then a New Jersey single-season state scoring record. Bailey lived up to the tremendous hype that Hoosier Hysteria created around him. Bailey averaged 31.3 points per game as a senior for a state title-winning team in the Indiana single-class tournament. His team finished ranked No. 15 in the National Prep Poll (FAB 50 precursor) and he finished with 3,134 career points, a state record.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not hard for respected scouts to pick out the nation\u2019s best players, but it\u2019s never easy to predict how the season will play out or forecast the one national player of the year award that is truly based on season on-court performance.<\/p>\n
For now, we present some of the eligible candidates who figure to factor in the 2019-20 Mr. Basketball USA race.<\/p>\n
The Early Mr. Basketball USA Favorites
\n<\/span><\/strong>(listed <\/em><\/span>alphabetically)<\/span><\/em><\/p>\nEmoni Bates, Lincoln (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 6-8 Soph.
\n<\/strong>
\nWhy He Could Win:<\/strong> The 6-foot-8 forward with a sweet shooting touch was so impressive in leading Lincoln to the MHSAA D1 state title he was named D1 state player of the year by the Associated Press and Gatorade State Player of the Year as a freshman. Bates led Lincoln to the D1 state crown by scoring 23 points in a 64-62 victory over University of Detroit Jesuit. It\u2019s pretty safe to say Lincoln wouldn\u2019t have been in position to win a state crown without Bates, as he had 31 points and 14 rebounds in a 72-56 state semifinal win over Howell and hit two game-winning post-season shots. For the season, Bates averaged 28.7 points and 10.2 rebounds. Simply put, he's one of the most talented players in the country regardless of class.<\/p>\nWhy He Wouldn\u2019t: <\/strong>It could be argued junior Sharife Cooper was the most productive player in the country last season, but he didn't get the recognition from the panel that he likely deserved based on individual numbers and team success. The panel traditionally tends to favor seniors for Mr. Basketball USA honors, unless the player is a generational prospect (LeBron James, Lew Alcindor, etc.). Simply being a sophomore could hurt Bates' candidacy, as no tenth-grader has ever been named national player of the year going back to 1955. James was the last one to even be in the running back in 2001.<\/p>\n