Handful of possible McDonald's All-Americans featured at the Crush of the Valley Basketball Showcase

Washington signee Zoom Diallo and Alabama-bound Aiden Sherrell, lead the No. 4 team in the nation; Co-host Salesian, Centennial, Monterey Trail and Riordan headline CIF squads

One of Northern California's top boys basketball showcases takes place over three days at Contra Costa College in San Pablo starting Friday. 

The 9th annual Crush in the Valley Basketball Showcase could feature up to five McDonald's Al Americans, including three from Prolific Prep, which is ranked fourth in the country by SBLive Sports. 

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Aiden Sherrell, a 6-foot-11 post, and 6-6 forward Derrion Reid, are both signed with Alabama, while Zoom Diallo, a 6-4 senior point guard is headed to Washington. Reid is out for about a month with a knee injury, but Sherrell and Diallo will be at full force when the Crew take on Dream City Christian of Glendale (Ariz.) 6:15 p.m. Saturday in a big showdown game. 

Zoom Diallo, Prolific Prep
Zoom Diallo, Prolific Prep / Photo: Nate Latsch

Dream City features another possible McDonald's All-American in 6-5 senior guard Jamari Phillips (Arizona signee) who played 2.5 seasons at Modesto Christian. Other top prospects for Dream City include Emmanuel Stephen, Ifaola Fawaz, and sophomores Ikenna Alozie and Miles Sadler.

Prolific Prep, which also stars two of the top players from the classes of 2025 (A.J. Dybantsa) and 2026 (Tyran Stokes), and Dream City Christian are two of several academy schools participating in the event. 

Besides Dream City and Prolific Prep, the rest of Saturday's schedule features California Interscholastic Federation schools, including four state-ranked squads in No. 3 and co-host Salesian-Richmond, No. 4 Corona Centennial, No. 23 Monterey Trail and No. 25 Riordan. 

Ten more players to watch Saturday:  

  • Connor Amundsen (Clovis North), the 6-3 senior guard had 26 points and 11 assists in a 78-66 win over Jesuit-Carmichael in Monday's MLK Classic at De La Salle. 
  • Jase Butler (Branson), the 6-4 guard is an Illinois signee who had a game-high 33 points in a 69-66 loss Monday to state No. 8 St. Joseph-Santa Maria. 
  • Carter Bryant (Centennial), a 6-8 wing has signed to Arizona and is another possible McDonald's selection. 
  • Semitri Carr (Branson), the lightning quick 6-1 guard is one of the top juniors in California.
  • Eric Freeny (Centennial), a 6-4 senior guard signed to UCLA.
  • Andrew Hilman (Riordan), a 6-4 sophomore guard 
  • Cameron Holmes (Millennium), a 6-5 sophomore shooting guard with eight college offers, including Arizona, Kansas and Oregon.
  • Aaron Huntin-Claytor (Salesian), a 6-3 point guard and Hawaii signee
  • Zion Sensley (Riordan), a high-flying 6-8 senior wing signed to St. Mary's College
Zion Sensley soars above the crowd in Monday's MLK Classic at De La Salle
Zion Sensley soars above the crowd in Monday's MLK Classic at De La Salle / Photo: Dennis Lee
  • Tyler Thompson (Vanden), the 6-6 wing has signed to Montana

The entire event over three days features 25 teams, 17 games and is co-hosted by Salesian and NextMax Inc. All games are played at Contra Costa College (2600 Mission Bell Dr., San Pablo). 

FRIDAY

3  p.m. — Prolific Prep Green vs. DNA Prep

4:45 p.m. — Gleden State Prep Grey vs. William Jessup

6:30 p.m. — Western Canada Prep vs. Golden State Prep Black

8:15 p.m. — Accelerated Prep vs. Bella Vista 

SATURDAY

10 a.m. — Moreau Catholic (10-7) vs. Fortune School (9-10)

11:30 a.m. — Bishop O’Dowd (11-6) vs. St. Patrick-St. Vincent (11-6)

1 p.m. — Monterey Trail (17-1) vs. Branson (14-6)

2:30 p.m. — Vanden (12-7) vs. Clovis North (16-5)

4:15 p.m. — Millennium (14-3) vs. Salesian (19-1)

6:15 p.m. — Prolific Prep (19-3) vs. Dream City Christian (22-9)

8 p.m. — Centennial (17-8) vs. Riordan (10-4)

9:30 p.m. — Weston Ranch (15-3) vs. Bullard (15-6)

SUNDAY

9 a.m. — Simpson vs. Prolifc Prep Green

10:45 a.m. — Golden State Prep black vs. Golden State Prep Grey

12:30 p.m. — DNA Prep vs. Western Canada Prep

2:15 p.m. — Dream City Christian vs. Accelerated Prep

4 p.m. — Bella Vista Prep vs. Prolific Prep


Published
Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports
MITCH STEPHENS, SBLIVE SPORTS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.