Central Section Class of 2022: Final Top 40 Player Rankings

As the 2021-2022 academic school year comes to an end and seniors are graduating throughout California, I provide the final Top 40 Player Rankings for the Class of 2022, which is updated from the last rankings compiled at the end of July, 2021. The previous rankings for the Class of 2022 were released on Silver Waves Media and can be found using the following link: https://www.silverwavesmedia.com/news_article/show/1176231.

Along with observing many of these players over the course of the past 3 years, these final rankings include recent player evaluations from the Fall individual showcase period, the recent CIF sanctioned high school season, and the Spring club season that just wrapped up, as many players on this list participated in events as unsigned seniors during the April NCAA Live Periods. The criteria for these rankings are based on a combination of potential to play at the collegiate level, as well as high school performance. I received input from coaches, media, and other members of the prep basketball scene in the Central Section on players in these rankings, but the order of the players is my own ranked order. The impact of Covid-19 and the transfer portal are evident, as there are far less players making their way to four-year programs than in previous years. In an area that is already underrecruited, it is important to produce these rankings on a platform like Nothing But Net Magazine in order to provide the needed exposure for a majority of players outside the top 5-10 prospects per class from the Central Section. Player rankings for the classes of 2023, 2024, and 2025 will be released over the next few weeks. 

The Class of 2022 has been led by standout combination guard Joseph Hunter since I started doing these rankings in 2020, and nothing has changed, as the Fresno State commit remains at the top spot of these final rankings. Hunter averaged over 30 points per game his senior season, surpassed the 2000 point scoring mark, set the Panther’s single game record for scoring with 54 points, was a nominee for CalHi’s Mr. Basketball, and was arguably the best pure scorer in California for the 2021-2022 basketball season. Given all these accolades, along with the various other accomplishments over his illustrious high school career, it is a no brainer that Hunter comes in at the top spot for the Final 2022 Rankings. Although the rest of the Top 10 are relatively the same players, the order of #2 through #10 did see some changes. Jackson Tucker jumped from #5 to #2 after a stellar senior campaign, where he led the Division 1 Champions, Bakersfield Christian, in points, rebounds, and assists per game. Tucker’s high level of play garnered him a lot of attention from college coaches at the Division 2 and 3 levels, and he will be taking his game to Concordia of Irvine this upcoming academic year. Lejuan Watts of Bullard also moved up a spot to #3, as he led the Knights in points and rebounds en route to the Division 3 State Semifinals. Watts will continue his playing career at Eastern Washington, along with former Central of Fresno Grizzlies standout Cedric Coward (transferred from Willamette). The biggest move upward in the Top 10 is the Clovis West big man Tyus Parrish-Tillman, who went from #8 to #4 in the Final 2022 Rankings. After missing his entire Junior season due to injury, Tyus bounced back and was the force in the post that helped the Golden Eagles win their 1st Open Division Sectional Championship. Parrish-Tillman was a double-double machine and will continue his academic and playing career at Biola. Cameron Brown of Independence rounds out the Top 5 and will be headed to University of Redlands next school year. 

Kingsburg’s shooting guard Matthew Ruegge was the lone newcomer to the Top 10, as he set a single game scoring record for the Vikings of 47 points and set the school record for career made 3 pointers (119). Ruegge was one of the top scorers in the Section and key for Kingsburg, who graduated 4 of 5 starters from the previous year’s SoCal Regional State Championship. The Final 2022 Rankings featured 10 players that were not listed in the previous version of these rankings, with Immanuel’s Ryan Chavez making the biggest impact at #19. Some players dropped out of the Top 40 due to not playing this season for a variety of reasons. Golden Valley of Bakersfield finished with four players in the Top 40 (Markell Brooks, Jermaine Dabbs, Jlen Slaughter, and Kemonte Jackson), which was a key reason they were able to capture the school’s first Section Championship in the program’s history, winning the Division 3 Title. Division 1 Champions, Bakersfield Christian, had three players on this list, as Erick Chaney and Zach Hiebert came in at #7 and #25 to complement Tucker at #2. Although the college commitments are not what we have seen in the past, there are a lot of players in these rankings that will end up on Junior/Community College rosters by the start of next season. Included in the player rankings below are player name, height, the high school attended, player’s position, where they were previously ranked last year, and the college they will be attending next school year.