Comments about ‘High school boys basketball: Neal Monson's above-the-rim play leads Waterford’

High school dunks are sweet. I remember Wade Bronson always dunking and getting ally-oops and put back dunks they are very exciting

Going to Utah and playing for the Mad Hatter??? What a waste that will be. Change your mind while you still can...............

Monsons a good players but he's not playing against much competition. Rowland Hall has no heigth. Their tallest other player is like 6'3". Monson at 6'10"+ should be able to do this especially at this level. Who can't dunk like this when your that tall and have at least a little athletic ability playing against inferior competition. I think Monsons one of the best players in the state but I'd like to see what he could do against better teams/players.

I'll tell you what he did... he nearly averaged a double double (8 rebounds 10 points) and 2 blocks in playing the best teams in the nation last year in Las Vegas and Los Angeles! Against the Indiana Elite who went 6-11, 7-0 front line. Against the best teams from New York, Atlanta, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Dallas, Los Angeles.

Playing in Utah 2A ball is not going to get Monson ready for MWC basketball.

Thank you for your insightful, profound, positive comment. You know, Neal probably plays twice as many games against much better competition in the off season than he plays in the high school year! See above comment. Or better yet, search the recruiting blogs on sltrib and read for yourself! You may be surprised at what these kids played against and accomplished!

Fred, where are you Fred? Oh, you must be busy eating crow because you shallow, uninformed comment was exposed for what it was! Swallow carefully now Fred!

I agree that a lot of 2a teams do not push neal to his limits, and that a higher classification might help his development. But being able to spend 4 years learning the game of basketball from his coach, and father, Reid Monson, makes up for that. Reid is, without a doubt, one of the best, if not THE best high school coach in the state. He takes players of all skill levels and has a way of helping them become the best players that they can possibly be. He has built a great program and has developed some great players over the years and has done a great job helping Neal bl;ossom as a basketball player.

With Washburn and Foster on the roster, Monson won't see much playing time for the next 3 years. Ask Morgan Grim about that. Regardless of the competition in AAU ball, playing 4 years against 2A & 3A competition just doesn't prepare a player for D1 MWC basketball. It's not a real challenge for a 6'10" kid to go up against 6 footers all year long.

Why is it that all you guys think that 1A, 2A, and 3A is girls ball or something? Ya, Rowland Hall is horrible but their are some bad 4A and 5A out there too. Bring your team to 1A school in Northern Utah and find some hard nose, fun to watch, and very talented basketball. 4A and 5A does not have all the talent in the state. That's just what Monson found out when he came up North and got schooled by Andersen and crew. He needs to pick up his physical play much more before he will see the floor at Utah. Great player though and his father is a great coach. It is fun to watch a kid his height move as smooth as he does. It was truly fun to watch. Congrats on his talent and scholarship with Utah. It would be awesome to spend four years with your Dad coaching. His brother is pretty good also. In fact if his brother shot more, they would be harder to beat.

He got a better education at Waterford. That alone will make up for it.

Anybody ever heard of the Craig Rydalch. Great career at Utah, went to 1A South Summit at the time.

Monson is going to be as good as he and the Utah coaching staff allows him to be.

Wish we had the money to take our kids all over the US to play. I guess you just need height and money and your kids will go far! It is all about play time and if you can afford to take your kids to out of state camps and to play against and with bigger and better teams they will be the best. Right?

I'm not saying he hasn't played and done well against better competition. It's just they write this article thinking that he has done something thats not been seen very often in high school basketball. He had a great game against one of the lower 2A teams. It mentions he had 3 blocks in the first quarter. Well being his heigth and considering they had none, he should have that many blocks or more and have a great game. I think he will be a great player at Utah and can play at that level. It's just they think he does something spectacular and its against not much competition.

Rowland Hall needs a little respect. Their coach deserves a little more respect. I was impressed with Rowland Hall last year at the 2A tourney. Good team. Great coach.

GO REGION 13!!

If Waterford were to play a 5A team such as Alta or Bingham, they would get killed! and Neal would not be the "dominant force" he is at the 2A level. Binghams Clifford would work Neal on the offensive and defensive side of the ball.

Great kid - Great family.
Good luck Neal.

These blogs always seem to bring out the jealousies and negativities of people.

Why wouldn't people be happy for kids that get D-1 scholarship opportunities coming out of high school from Utah? I don't get it.

As a non-U of U fan I hope you do great.

Are you ready... to be shaken out of your little dream world reality? Monson and Clifford played side by side in the Double Pump tournament in LA last July against some of the top recruited preps in the country. Here are the stats:

Scoring Average
Kyle Collinsworth 19
Nicholas Paulos 11
Neal Monson 10

Rebounding Average
Neil Monson 8
Ben Clifford 7
Kyle Collinsworth 5

Notice Monson outscored Clifford (not mentioned in the leading scorers) and out rebounded him by one rebound per game.

I agree! You'd think that people would either come on here and congratulate the kid or be quiet. But instead, they come on here and say things like he couldn't do that here or in this situation! To what purpose, what positive thing comes out of making comments like that? I can only guess that it makes the success seem less so that the fact they don't have this success is not such a big deal. Funny thing is, the trash comments they make aren't even accurate! Neal played against the best high school players in the nation this summer and did quite well. We are talking 17 year old and even 16 year old teams that would absolutely hand it to the likes of Alta and Bingham! You can ask Ben Clifford that and he will tell you!

Where are you Alta? What is your response to the above. The stats are from the final eight Pump And Run 17u team at the Double Pump tournament in LA. I could post the results of the 16u (also a final eight team that missed the final four by one possession against the Derek Smith All Stars from Louisville) of when they played the Alta varsity in an AAU tournament last spring to tune up. I will be kind and not post that result but mind you they are all juniors right now and two of their top players (they did play 10 in the Alta game) are from 3A schools including the second leading scorer and leading 3 point shooter in the Double Pump tournament. I don't mean to be unkind but I am hoping to get people to understand and inform themselves of the reality of Utah high school basketball before they just make off the cuff comments.

If Waterford was to play alta, altas center Cody Johnson would do the same thing he did against him when he was at Juan Diego. He would contain him to only 3 or 4 points. Johnson is the most underated big man in the state.