Scheuer: Here are five more of Philly's best high school players

By JACK SCHEUER

Philahoops Columnist

Lionel Simmons is the second-best La Salle player in the last 50 years, according to Jack Scheuer. (Photo provided)

By popular demand, or for people not in agreement with the first installment of the best high school players to come out of Philadelphia last week, here are five more of the most talented youngsters ever to come out of the city.

For you younger people out there, be reminded that we had some great players here throughout the years and you can’t penalize a player just because he played in a different era.

So here are this week’s choices, in alphabetical order:
-Larry Cannon, from Lincoln. A strong 6-foot-5 player, he could do everything on the court. Known more for his scoring, but also had great passing ability.

-Eddie Griffin, Roman’s high scoring forward who could rebound and also get up and down with the guards.

-Walt Hazzard, another of the outstanding players from Overbrook. A terrific floor general who could shoot and also played great defense.

-Earl Monroe, the famous “Pearl.” John Bartram’s gift to the basketball world. One of the first to utilize the spin move, and could score at will.

-Ray “Chink” Scott, from West Philadelphia. Succeeded Wilt Chamberlain as the best of the big men. At 6-9, he shot extremely well from the outside and dominated inside.

Once again, there are many more, like Lionel Simmons, Matty Guokas, Joe Bryant, Bo Kimble, Pooh Richardson, Tom Ingelsby, and the list goes on. Just shows what a great basketball history the city has had.

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-Looking at La Salle: Very important game for La Salle tomorrow night at St. Bonnies. The good Dr. Gianinni has to make sure his team is not looking ahead to St. Joe’s on Saturday. The Hawks and Explorers have split their last six meetings. Saturday’s game should be another Palestra sellout and, hopefully, good hoops.

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-Bad luck Quakers: Nobody has had worse luck than Jerome Allen and his Quakers. Not only have they had some really tough losses, but lost arguably their best player Fran Dougherty on two occasions, and now he’s out for the year. Then, promising big man Darien Nelson-Henry goes down with a knee injury. Things have got to change for the better.

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-Bouncing Around: Over his past nine games, Khalif Wyatt is averaging 24 points . I don’t know if anybody else in the country has done anything like that. Not only is his scoring impressive, but he’s been making some very difficult shots. … One of the reasons Miami is doing so well has been the play of 5-10 guard Shane Larkin. The son of baseball’s Barry Larkin, he’s averaging 13 points a game, and leads the team in assists. … Don’t look now but Nik Vucevic is averaging 12.5 points and 11.6 rebounds. He’s also the only Orlando player to have played in every game. Imagine that, a durable center.

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-Jack Scheuer is a Big 5 Hall of Fame college basketball writer. His “Off the Boards” column appears on Tuesdays. His ‘Off The Boards’ columns are archived HERE.

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Jack Scheuer

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Jack Scheuer is in his 41st season covering Philadelphia college basketball. A member of the Big 5 Hall of Fame, Scheuer was born and raised in Philadelphia. He began his sportswriting career for the Evening Bulletin before a long stint covering the Phillies, Sixers and City 6 for the Associated Press. Scheuer’s “Off The Boards” column appears on Wednesdays during the season.