Two for the ages

Go back 50 years, beyond even Pete Maravich, beyond any other season of high school basketball in Raleigh, and you won't find anything like what's happening this winter.

There have been players like John Wall before and players like Ryan Kelly before -- but never have there been two that good, among the absolute best in the country, at the same time.

In Wall, a senior guard at Word of God, Raleigh has either the best or second-best prep player in the country, depending on who's doing the rankings. Wall is so highly coveted, Baylor hired his summer league coach. A half-dozen other schools remain in the running.

Not far behind, solidly in the top 20, is Ravenscroft forward Kelly. In any other year, Kelly would be a local sensation. His verbal commitment to Duke last month made national news.

Scout.com rates Kelly 11th, higher than Shavlik Randolph's final ranking at Broughton in 2002. He's a solid second in the area behind Wall, who is ranked No. 1 by rivals.com and No. 2 by scout.com. Kelly is ranked 20th by rivals.com.

There have been great high school players in the Triangle going all the way back to Maravich, but the double-dip this winter is unprecedented.

"I have no idea how our community hasn't picked up on this," said scout.com's Dave Telep, who is based in Wake Forest. "We have maybe the best player in the country, and definitely the best point guard, in Wall. We have a guy who, in my opinion, Ryan Kelly is one of the three or four best power forwards in the country. And they're in the same zip code, same area code. It's astounding, for whatever reason."

It's an embarrassment of riches, and it's unusual anywhere. Over the past eight years, the entire Los Angeles metro area has had more than one player ranked in the top 25 four times. The Chicago area, once. The entire state of Florida, twice.

The Triangle can't match those areas in population, but there's no doubting its rich tradition, both feeding and feeding off the passion for college basketball.

Maybe the question should be, why doesn't it happen more often here?

"I think it should," said Ed McLean, who coached Maravich, among others, at Broughton. "You've got everything. You're living right in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference. People love basketball here."

The Triangle has had its share of top home-grown stars, including Jackie Murdock, Maravich, Randy Denton, Phil Spence, Billy Williams and Danny Young, as well as more recent stars like Rodney Rogers, Donald Williams, David West, Chris Wilcox and P.J. Tucker.

But two at the same time? Never.

"I can't think of two," said former Raleigh mayor Smedes York, a keen observer of the local basketball scene since he played at Broughton in the '50s. "Obviously, we've had some great players, but not as good as No. 1 and No. 11."

The only comparison may be 2002. The Triangle had three impact ACC recruits -- Randolph (Duke), Wake Forest-Rolesville's Eric Williams (Wake Forest) and Leesville Road's Shawan Robinson (Clemson). In scout.com's final rankings, Randolph was 12th, Williams 27th and Robinson just outside the top 100.

Wall and Kelly will meet twice this season, on Jan. 7 (at Word of God) and Feb. 4 (at Ravenscroft), two of the best players in the country battling for the title of best player in Raleigh. Depending on perspective, it's either a once-in-a-generation quirk or a long-overdue occurrence.