McPhail coming to light

Kevin McCarthy
 

We don’t know where or how the sports term sleeper originated but it seems a misnomer. Rather than applying the term to a player, it’s the media guilty of snoozing while the player was there all the while for discovering. Take Deer Valley High senior Andre McPhail, for instance.

McPhail is chairman of the boards

Let’s fill the local basketball world and beyond in on a secret of sorts: McPhail averaged a double-double last season at 15.2 points and 15.5 rebounds per game. This on a successful 19-8 Wolverine team.

So where has the love been?

While playing this spring and summer for Team Superstar, the 6-foot-7, 230 pound McPhail enjoyed a number of highlight film moments the past few months.

Just who is this masked man of sorts?

"I’m a pretty strong rebounder, I have nice right and left hand jump hooks, a sky hook and I play aggressively," according to McPhail.

Here’s LeRohn Dodson, his Team Superstar club team coach: "Andre is big, strong and a good rebounder. Depending on what college team and league, he will be able to earn playing time right away and he’ll have the chance to work his way into an all-conference player."

Dodson added, "Andre has also improved his offensive game. Not only has he got the jump hook, he also has worked on his face-up jumper. Plus, he has also turned into quite the defender. Against teams like Each 1 Teach 1, Indy Spiece and Worldwide Renegades, Dre guarded some of the top wings in the country and more than held his own. His game has really expanded. He’s proven he’s a solid mid-major player."

Team Superstar played in four prominent tournaments this summer, the Adidas Invitational [Indianapolis], the King James Summer Classic [Chicago], plus events in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. "Because we went deep into each tournament, we played something like 28 games in 20 days," Dodson explained. "Andre can rebound with the best and outside his area. He was beating bigger guys to the ball. The recruiters were impressed."

For the first two showings, most of these were college coaches and assistants from other than the west.

"But Andre got nicked up a bit and sort of hit the wall in Los Angeles," according to Dodson.

So some of the west and west coast recruiters didn’t see the earlier in-the-paint beast in full form.

But that hasn’t stopped or even lessened recruiting interest.

Per McPhail, UC Riverside has offered, as have Colgate and Portland State. Those colleges showing strong interest include Utah, Hartford, Cal State Bakersfield and West Point with Portland, UC Santa Barbara, Cal Poly, San Diego State, Wyoming, San Jose State and Utah State also in the mix.

What McPhail is currently working on is broadening and lengthening his game. "I’ve mostly played the post so I’m working on my ballhandling and passing and shooting range."

What sparked the flame was getting a letter from USC entering his sophomore year -- that arrival gave him the first inkling about the possibility of earning a future basketball scholarship.

McPhail is on target academically and looking to possibly major in sports medicine or go the business route in hopes of becoming a sports agent.

Sports run in the family as McPhail’s mother played junior college basketball in Washington and an uncle played in the National Football league.

The young man recalls his best basketball moment being a game during his freshman year awhile attending a private school. "The game was in Oakland, with the crowd yelling and screaming," McPhail related. "I had to step up and I scored 55 points in that game but we lost 72-68."

Asked how his friends would describe him, McPhail said, "They would say I’m a friendly guy, not shy, who like to help people and help others succeed."

There’s already a number of college coaches desiring McPhail’s assistance and he’s more than ready to apply his big shoulders in doing some carrying.

But first comes the Deer Valley season and the team has been bolstered by the transfer of backcourter Quincy Smith from Salesian High. Smith lives in Antioch and will now have a much shorter commute to school.