Heavily-recruited 6-2 Class of 2013 Anthony Barber on November 29, 2011.
[At left is the player I came to scout, Anthony Barber (in red jersey number 12) of the Class of 2013 warms up for the Heritage game.] Anthony Barber is ranked as the 4th best point guard in the Class of 2013 by ESPN.com, which ranks him 5 out of 5 stars. MaxPreps.com rates Anthony Barber as the 12th-best member of the Class of 2013! Plus, they rate him 5 out of 5 stars. Rivals.com rates Anthony Barber as number 24 in the Class of 2013, and has him listed as a 4-star recruit.
One thing is for sure: Anthony Barber won’t be going to the University of North Carolina: the Tar Heels have committments from point guard Marcus Paige from the Class of 2012, and just yesterday got a committment from Class of 2013 Nate Britt.
I drove from Charlottesville, Virginia to Newport News, Virginia during the afternoon, so that I wouldn’t have to look for Heritage High School in the dark! I had actually been to the Heritage High School gym once already, when I saw them upset Hampton in basketball over 10 years-ago.
I had left the house at 9:42, and listened to WKAV-1400, Charlottesville’s all-sports station. It was raining hard and the temperature was going down. I had brought with me some Diet Caffeine-Free Dr. Pepper, and some Lays potato chips.
I stopped at Citgo to buy more diet Coke to drink. On 1400, they were now talking about the fact that Urban Meyer, the former University of Florida head football coach, might be hired to coach at Ohio State.
In the Hampton-Heritage game, Hampton led the Heritage Hurricanes 18-8 at the end of one quarter. Hampton then extended their lead to 32-18 at the half. I kept track of Anthony Barber’s statistics for this game. Anthony Barber needs to work on his 3-point shooting and also free throws.
Hampton won this game 73-40. Hampton was very impressive, and looks like a candidate to win the state Group AAA championship this year, in my opinion.
Anthony Barber shot 5-10 from the floor (jump shooting and leading the fast break). He was 0-5 on three-pointers. From the foul line, he was just 3-7. He finished with 13 points. However, he was very unselfish, and only shot when he had a wide-open shot! He is a pure point guard, one who makes his teammates better!
As I was driving back to Charlottesville, Virginia after the game, I was thinking of who Anthony Barber reminds me of. He may be 6-3 instead of 6-2, and he’s gained some pounds. He had previously been listed at 165. Anthony Barber is not the next Allen Iverson (no one is) but he’s more of a pure point guard.
If Anthony Barber were to pick the University of Virginia or Virginia Tech, neither school has had a pure point guard like Anthony Barber! For whatever reason, he does not dunk the ball during games: he just lays the ball in to the basket without using the backboard for his layups. I’d say that he has the style of Washington Wizard point guard John Wall!
