Johnson This Year's NWAACC Gem

Jed Tai
Special to WashingtonPreps.com

Anthony Johnson averaged 25 points per game in the regular season. Many Division I schools are after his services.

Since he graduated from Stadium High School in Tacoma in 2005, it's been a relatively long road for Anthony Johnson. But three years later, it appears the quick 6-foot-3, 195-pound guard will be on his way to college basketball's highest level. Johnson just finished up a two-year career at Yakima Valley Community College in grand style and should have some nice four-year options to choose from in the upcoming weeks.

"Anthony had about as great a season as anybody could really have," said Yakima Valley head coach Ray Funk. "He was East Region MVP which tells you about the regular season he had and then he played on the championship team and won tourney MVP as well. It doesn't get much better than that."

On the year, Johnson averaged almost 25 points a contest during the regular season and really caught fire in the NWAACC Tournament. After opening with efforts of 25 and 33 points, he exploded for 38 points against Umpqua in the semifinals. After he posted 29 points against Spokane in the championship game, there was no doubt who the best player in the league was.

"He's a scorer," Funk said. "He can get to the basket and the free throw line, but he's also got a canny mid-range pull-up shot that you don't see much anymore. And the knock on him all year was that he had no three-point shot, but he was 7-for-14 from three in the (NWAACC) tournament. He's really quick, long-armed, and a great on-the-ball defender too."

He had scoring efforts of 38, 33, 29, and 25 points in the league tournament. He was named tournament MVP for his efforts.
Over the course of the season, Johnson saw his recruitment steadily rise and now a number of schools all throughout the Pacific Northwest are looking at taking the next step.

"Anthony is getting looked at by a lot of Division I schools right now," Funk said. "Montana is coming in to see him tomorrow and Eastern Washington and Portland State have been recruiting him and would like him to visit. Idaho and Weber State also came to see him play this year and I've talked to one of the Boise State coaches about him."

Funk also noted that many of the schools in the Division II Great Northwest Athletic Conference have been recruiting Johnson all season long. The high-scoring guard is considering all options and is essentially looking at taking as many official visits as he can before making an educated choice.

"I think he's basically looking for that best fit," Funk said. "It's everything from academics to the level of play to the playing time situation to what his role would be on the team to the chance to get to the (NCAA) Tournament. He's married, so he's got his wife to consider as well."