2008 Memphis Basketball Signing Class

Tyreke Evans
6-6/215/Guard/Philadephia, Pa./American Christian School
Will be featured in a documentary film, Gunnin' For That No. 1 Spot, which is scheduled for release in July 2008 ... A consensus top-six recruit in the 2008 class ... Picked as the top player in the 2008 class by SLAM and Dime magazines ... Named the No. 2 player in the country in RiseMag.com's ... Also rated third by HoopScoop, third by ESPN.com, Scout.com and Hoopmasters.com, and sixth by Rivals.com ... ESPN.com rated him the No. 1 shooting guard ... Ranked No. 2 point guard by Scouthoops.com and No. 3 point guard by Rivals.com ... Selected to the 2008 Parade Magazine All-America first team ... Second-straight year he was a Parade All-America, as he was a fourth team member in 2007 ... Named the 2008 Pennsylvania Player of the Year by the Associated Press ... Named MVP of the 2008 McDonald's All-America Game in Milwaukee, Wis. ... Finished McDonald's game with 21 points (9-of-15 FG), 10 rebounds and four assists to help lead the East squad to a 107-102 victory ... Second player in his county's history (Delaware County) to play in the McDonald's Game (first was Barry Bekkedam in 1986) ... Third Southeastern Pennsylvania player selected to McDonald's All-America Game in last three years (Gerald Henderson and Wayne Ellington played in 2006) ... Also played in the 11th annual Nike Hoops Summit in Portland, Ore., and the Jordan Brand All-American Game in New York, N.Y. ... Had 23 points (8-of-15 FG/7-of-9 FT), seven boards, four assists and three steals in the Jordan Brand Classic ... Selected co-MVP of the Jordan Brand Classic (shared with Brandon Jennings) ... Scored 11 points and added eight boards, four assists and three steals to help lead the USA Junior National Select Team to a 98-78 win over the World Team at the Nike Hoops Summit ... Averaged 32.1 points, 8.8 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 4.3 steals for American Christian in 2007-08 ... Scored 50 points in two games his senior season ... Picked the Philadelphia Inquirer's Southeastern Pennsylvania Player of the Year... Also named to the Inquirer's All-Southeastern Pennsylvania first team ... A varsity starter on American Christian's squad since seventh grade ... Scored over 3,300 points in his high school career.

Angel Garcia
6-11/210/Puerto Rico/East Chicago Central HS
Played for the World Select Team at the 11th annual Nike Hoops Summit in Portland, Ore., in late April ... Had four points (2-of-3 FG) and four rebounds for the World Select Team ... Named one of Hoosier Basketball Magazine's Top 60 seniors in 2007-08 ... Rated No. 47 overall player and No. 17 power forward by Rivals.com ... Scouthoops.com rated him the No. 36 overall player and the No. 19 power forward in the country ... Ranked the No. 72 overall player and No. 22 power forward by ESPN.com ... Rated the No. 62 player in the nation by RiseMag.com in its final 2008 rankings ... As a senior at East Chicago, averaged 17.2 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.1 blocks ... Earned Associated Press Indiana All-State high honorable mention in 2007-08 ... Helped lead East Chicago to a 20-4 overall record and the Indiana Class 4A regional title game ... The Cardinals fell to South Bend Riley in the regional championship ... Had six blocked shots in helping lead East Chicago to its 13th sectional title with a 67-51 win over West Side ... In summer of 2007, played for Puerto Rico in the FIBA World Championship and averaged 13.8 points and 7.8 boards ... Averaged 10.9 points (third on team) and 7.3 rebounds (second on team) for the Cardinals as a junior ... Blocked a team-high 30 shots ... East Chicago finished 2006-07 with a 23-3 overall record and won the Indiana Class 4A state crown ... Scored 25 points and grabbed nine boards in helping lead East Chicago to an 87-83 victory over Indianapolis North Central (Eric Gordon) in the Indiana Class 4A state championship game ... The state title was East Chicago's first since 1971.

Matt Simpkins
6-9/215/Forward/Sacramento, Calif./Capital Christian HS/Berkeley HS/The Patterson School (N.C.)
Ranked No. 74 by Scouthoops.com ... No. 24 power forward by Scouthoops.com ... No. 80 in Rivals.com ... No. 25 power forward in Rivals.com position rankings ... Rated the No. 70 player in the nation by RiseMag.com in its final 2008 rankings ... Named to Northern Cal's Best starting five in summer of 2007 by highschoolhoop.com ... In summer of 2007, had 22 points, 11 rebounds and five blocks in second annual Sac vs. Bay Showdown ... Also participated in 2007 Pangos All-American Camp and was the camp's third-leading scorer at 20,3 ppg ... Highest scoring game at camp was a 33-point performance (second to Brandon Jennings' 36 points at the camp) ... Was named MVP of the showdown's underclass game ... As a junior at Berkeley in 2006-07, helped lead the Yellowjackets to a 21-7 overall record and a 12-2 Alameda Contra Costa League mark ... Berkeley won the league regular season title ... Selected to the California All-State Junior second team by calhisports.com ... In summer of 2006, ranked among the top 10 players at the Adidas Camp (one of two 2008 recruits in the top 10) ... As a sophomore in 2005-06, averaged 16.7 points, 12.8 rebounds and 6.2 blocks for Capital Christian ... Squad's second-leading scorer and top rebounder and shot blocker ... Helped lead the Cougars to a 28-5 overall record and a 13-1 Golden Empire League mark in 2005-06 ... Capital Christian won the Golden Empire regular season crown and reached the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V final.

Wesley Witherspoon
6-8/185/Forward-Guard/Lilburn, Ga./Berkmar HS
Rated the No. 27 player in the nation by RiseMag.com in its final 2008 rankings ... Rivals.com rated him the No. 34 overall player and the No. 5 small forward in the nation ... Ranked the No. 56 overall player and the No. 12 small forward by Scouthoops.com ... ESPN.com rated him the No. 48 overall player and the No. 9 small forward in the country ... Played in the Jordan Brand All-American Game in New York, N.Y., in late April ... Had 13 points (4-of-5 FG/5-of-8 FT), four boards and a team-high three steals for the winning Blue team (124-114 victory) at the Jordan Brand game ... Selected to the 2008 Atlanta Journal-Constitution Georgia All-State Class AAAAA first team ... Averaged 18.6 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists his senior season at Berkmar ... Helped lead the Patriots to a 23-6 overall record and the Georgia Class AAAAA Sweet 16 in 2007-08 ... The Sweet 16 appearance was Berkmar's deepest state tournament run since 2001 ... Scored 32 points vs. Sprayberry in the Class AAAAA tournament opening round ... Brothers, William (Air Force) and Wynton (George Washington), also played Division I basketball.