VAN COLEMAN
Van is one of the nation's premier recruiting experts. E-mail
As you'll see atop our Mid-Season Update of the Class of 2008 expanded rankings, the biggest jumps toward the run for National Player of the Year revolved around Samardo Samuels (Newark, N.J. St. Benedict's) and Jrue Holiday (North Hollywood, Calif. Campbell Hall).
Brandon Jennings (Mouth of Wilson, Va. Oak Hill Academy) maintains the No. 1 spot as he continues to lead his team as one of the nation's most competitive and is scoring seemingly at will, with many 30-plus outings. Jennings is signed with Arizona.
The new No. 2 Samuels is up from his previous No. 4 ranking. He and his St. Benedict's team knocked off Jennings and OakHillAcademy earlier this season, but the big man's body of work has propelled him closer to earning the claim of the class' top player when it's all said and done. Committed to Louisville, Samuels led his team to the City of Palms Championship in December.
Holiday makes the move from No. 6 to No. 3 after a consistent first half of the season that also saw him step up in big games. The UCLA commit went for two 30-point outings in head-to-head matchups with No. 7-ranked USC recruit Demar DeRozan (Compton, Calif.).
New at No. 6 is North Carolina pledge Ed Davis (Richmond, Va. Benedictine), previously ranked No. 10. He's had a tremendous year so far and been a triple-double threat in almost every game, as we witnessed first hand at the Peoria Tournament of Champions in November.
Other significant risers into the Top 20 include:
OhioState future scorer William Buford (Toledo, Ohio Libbey) from No. 15 to No. 9; Florida State signee Chris Singleton (Dunwoody, Ga.) from No. 28 to No. 17; UCLA-bound Malcolm Lee (Riverside, Calif. J.W. North) from No. 23 to No. 19.
Making the biggest jump is Rashanti Harris (Columbus, Miss. New Hope), all the way up to No. 25 from No. 97. A relentless rebounder, his performance at the City of Palms saw him outplay fellow big men in No. 5-ranked Georgetown blue chip Greg Monroe and No. 28-ranked Florida recruit Eloy Vargas. Harris is considering the likes of MississippiState, Ole Miss, Florida, Tennessee, Texas and Memphis, among others.
Anthony Jones (Houston, Texas Yates) vaults from No. 51 to No. 30, Courtney Fortson (Lenoir, N.C.PattersonSchool) makes the leap from No. 79 to No. 44 and Wesley Witherspoon (Lilburn, Ga. Berkmar) skies from No. 102 to No. 46.
Jones, who signed with Baylor, was dominant in his team's wins at the Houston vs. The Nation holiday event against perennial national powers St. Patrick's (N.J.) and OakHillAcademy (Va.).
Fortson, who signed with Arkansas, is rivaling Brandon Jennings for the top point guard in the class honors as he's kept PattersonSchool above all in prep school competition.
Witherspoon, an unsigned senior, is starting to deliver on his immense potential and will be a valuable spring signing period commodity.
New entries include No. 78 Klay Thompson (Washington State), No. 81 Roscoe Davis (West Virginia), No. 85 Quintrell Thomas (Kansas), No. 88 Jason Clark (Georgetown), No. 89 David Loubeau (Texas A&M), No. 95 Jared Swopshire (Louisville) and No. 96 Tyshawn Taylor (Marquette).
UCLA -- holding the nation's No. 1 ranked class -- Georgetown, Kansas and Florida each have four Top 100 committed players.
OhioState, Louisville, Wake Forest, Arizona, North Carolina and Washington all have three a piece.
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