JAMEER NELSON, KYLE LOWRY...MAALIK WAYNS?

by Matt Whitfield



Watching Maalik Wayns play is not like watching any ordinary high school basketball player. For all of 17 years old Wayns already has the size, toughness, and on on-court awareness to be a star point guard in college. Wayns is committed to Villanova and, according to Rivals.com, is the fourth best point guard and 25th best player overall in the class of 2009. High School recruiting guru Bob Gibbons said he believes Wayans can be as good as New Orleans Hornets PG Chris Paul and right now compares him to North Carolina’s outstanding PG Ty Lawson.

Wayns currently attends Roman Catholic High School in Philadelphia. The same school made famous by one-time Parade High School Basketball Player of the year Eddie Griffin. Griffin was a supremely talented, yet troubled, basketball player who sadly had his life and career cut short when he was killed in a car-train accident. When asked about playing in the Eddie Griffin Classic in honor of the former Roman Catholic Alum Wayns said,” I’m honored; he’s probably the greatest player ever to come out of Roman Catholic. I’ll do anything to honor my school [or] honor my city.” Wayns did indeed. Besides putting on a stellar performance in helping lead Team Philadelphia to the sweep, he showed his respect to Griffin by being the only hoopster to play in the event three years straight.

Besides being a top prospect, many recruiting analysts, as well a current and former NBA players, see Wayns as the next great PG to grace Philadelphia. As a top prep product Wayns had other offers to stay in Philadelphia with Temple, St. Joseph’s, and LaSalle. According to Wayns, who always planned on playing basketball in Philadelphia, he chose Villanova because of, “the family atmosphere of the program and the guard orientated program [which] was a right style of a fit for my type of game.”

Only time will tell if Maalik Wayns can follow the footsteps of Kyle Lowry or Jammer Nelson. For now, despite his basketball prowess, Wayns is still just another high school senior who enjoys watching Baron Davis and hanging out with his friends in his spare time. Next year is another story as Wayns will be vying for playing time at Villanova, a team that will be loaded again in the backcourt with Scottie Reynolds, Corey Fisher, and Corey Stokes. Will Wayns play? No one knows for sure, but no one just gets crowned for nothing.

One ting is for certain, Bet On Villanova staying amongst the top of the Big East with backcourt talent like that year in and year out.