Throwback Vid: Lawrence North (Oden/Conley) vs. North Central (Eric Gordon) - 1/19/2006

Tonight on ESPN at 7:00 pm US Eastern Standard time, two of the best teams in the United States will collide in Columbus, Ohio for a nationally televised High School clash.

#2 ranked Findlay Prep (NV) Pilots will travel to the home of #5 Northland (OH) Vikings in a game that will feature five players committed to high-major schools in addition to at least five more, plus a minimum of six other future DI players. Tristan Thompson & guard Cory Joseph lead Findlay Prep, a team that went undefeated en route to a mythical high school national title last season. Northland is led by one of, if not the best post player in the country in the Ohio State bound Jared Sullinger, 'baby' brother of former Toledo player Julian Sullinger, & former Buckeye JJ Sullinger. He is joined by fellow Ohio State recruit JD Weatherspoon, a high riser forward, among other players. Sullinger & Weatherspoon are apart of Ohio State's 2010 " Super Six" recruiting class. A collection of highly touted players that has Columbus talking of a possible freshmen impact similar to the " Thad Five " of 2006.

This nationally televised game got us thinking about some of the other big high school games from the Midwest that it made on ESPN this decade. Everyone of course remembers the 2003 Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary vs Oak Hill game. Lebron James vs the #1 team in the country was must see tv. Derrick Rose & Simeon High School (Chicago) man handling Oak Hill in 2007 on ESPN was semi-memorable. But most of all, we look back to the January 19, 2006 clash between two schools in the East side of Indianapolis. Lawrence North which featured former Ohio State stars Greg Oden & Mike Conley Jr. versus a North Central school that featured former University of Indiana guard & current LA Clipper, Eric Gordon. Now some will argue that platforms such as ESPN should not feature high school games, but when the talent is of the caliber of these players in some of these games, it is hard to argue against in our opinions.



Mike Conley Jr. supporting high school/and youth development basketball. Short clip from the Adidas Nations camp where Sullinger played. (Summer 2009)



JD Weatherspoon Mixtape by City League Hoops