West Oaks and SIAA sharing the spotlight
West Oaks Academy has built up its boys basketball portfolio to the point that the small Orlando private school has for the second time landed a regular season road game against renowned high school hoops juggernaut Oak Hill Academy of rural Virginia.
Oak Hill, a model for boarding school powerhouses since the 1990s, is No. 2 behind Montverde Academy — Central Florida’s own boarding school hoops giant — in a composite listing of six preseason national polls compiled by MaxPreps.
That’s nothing new for Oak Hill, which has averaged 34 wins per season under 34th-year head coach Steve Smith while pulling in a pipeline of college prospects and turning out a steady stream of NBA Draft picks, including Carmelo Anthony and Rajon Rondo.
The Jan. 28 game at the Hill will give West Oaks, which plays as an independent outside the Florida High School Athletic Association, a big shot at notoriety against a basketball brand name. The Flame is in the national conversation with a No. 47 preseason ranking by PrepCircuit.com and a stable of prospects that includes Auburn point guard signee Tyrell Jones.
“That’s probably the most accomplished high school program in the country over the past 25 years,” West Oaks coach Kenny Gillion said of Oak Hill. “It’s a big opportunity.”
West Oaks’ 2011-12 team, which claimed a 38-1 record and the Sunshine Independent Athletic Association championship, lost 93-73 at Oak Hill against a team that finished 44-0.
This year West Oaks is off to a 9-1 start going into a game against Jones High School (0-1) on Saturday night in the Breast Cancer Awareness Classic at Oak Ridge. That eight-game showcase starts Friday with a doubleheader that includes FHSAA defending state champ Oak Ridge (2-0) playing another Orlando SIAA team, Downey Christian (1-1).
Saturday night’s feature game pits host Oak Ridge, which was No. 30 in the PrepCircuit preseason rankings, against Kissimmee Osceola (0-0) in a clash of Class 9A title favorites.
Gillion said out-of-state trips, like a recent weekend in Mississippi where the Flame suffered its only loss to date against Aspire Academy of Louisville, Ky., shine the national spotlight on blossoming prospects like junior team scoring leader Selton Miguel, a 6-5 native of Angola who is in his third year at the school. But the third-year Flame head coach added that getting to play more games against Florida’s traditional high school programs — like Jones — is also a plus.
The Flame beat Edgewater, an 8A state contender, 86-69, and edged Osceola 78-76 in games that were preseason exhibitions for those two FHSAA powers. West Oaks is scheduled to play a total of eight FHSAA foes, including a Jan. 24 home game against Florida Prep of Melbourne and a Dec. 18 game against 6A contender Sarasota Booker at the prestigious City of Palms Classic in Fort Myers.
That’s a far cry from the days when the FHSAA forbid its member schools from playing SIAA members.That rule was erased by the state legislature.
“We play more FHSAA teams this year than we’ve probably played in our other years combined,” Gillion said. “I think it’s as teams being to realize that West Oaks is a regular private high school. We don’t have fifth-year guys. Probably before there were more people thinking these (SIAA) guys may be some renegade guys with no rules, no structure.” West Oaks was a founding member of the SIAA after it was banished from the FHSAA a decade ago after being heavily fined for football and basketball rules violations.
Gillion said West Oaks has worked hard to improve its reputation and rebuild relationships with schools outside the SIAA. That doesn’t mean all FHSAA teams are on board with playing SIAA members, which include Central Pointe Christian Academy of Kissimmee, a program that has five players who represented Puerto Rico in international U17 play this summer; and DME Sports Academy of Daytona Beach, which has a top 10 national sophomore prospect in 6-9 Moussa Diabate, who was in the FHSAA at Florida Prep last season.
Central Pointe, which features touted shooting guard Victor Rosa (6-5, Jr.), joins West Oaks and Downey Christian in facing FHSAA teams in the BCAC event.
“It’s good for Florida basketball because you’re getting more college coaches and scouts coming in to see all of the guys,” Gillion said of FHSAA vs. SIAA matchups. “As long as we communicate and follow the rules both of the leagues help each other.”
Some FHSAA coaches still say the SIAA schools are outlaw programs with too many advantages to offset. The Sunshine league is loaded with international talent and most of its members, including West Oaks, provide housing for students. That makes it enticing for young prospects like West Oaks ninth grader Fray Dieud Nguimbi, a 6-7 perimeter player from the Republic of Congo.
SIAA squads are not bound by the FHSAA’s practice start dates and 25-game regular season limit. West Oaks is set to play at least 34 games in a season that started Nov. 9 with a 74-72 win at DME.
Jones coach Alex Jackson said he has no problem with facing West Oaks this weekend.
“We know they’re in a whole different league and have different means of getting players,” Jackson said. “But I really think it’s going to be a good early season measuring stick for us. It’s great competition.”