Our Basketball Players of the Year: Antelope’s great guard and Sheldon’s dominant duo
This trio was defined by three things: grit, versatility and entertainment value.
Jzaniya Harriel of Antelope High School repeated as The Sacramento Bee’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year in leading the region’s top-ranked team from the start of the season to the end. She led the Titans in scoring, rebounding, assisting with a flair for the fantastic play. She is only a junior, a 5-foot-11 guard who has emerged as one of the region’s all-time national recruits, boys or girls.
Sheldon senior guards Xavion Brown and Josh Williams share The Bee’s Boys Basketball Player of the Year honors as a 1-2 combo punch that leveled all comers. Ball handling, play making, scoring — sometimes above the rim — and relentless defense defined Brown and Williams, who led the top-ranked team in Northern California.
Rich Simpton of Colfax is The Bee’s Girls Coach of the Year after guiding the Falcons to a Sac-Joaquin Section Division V championship and into the finals of the CIF Northern California Regional Finals for a team that went 30-5.
Deonard Wilson of Grant is The Bee’s Boys Coach of the Year after leading the Pacers to their first section championship in 21 seasons. Grant went 26-6 and reached the NorCal Division II playoffs.
The All-Metro Teams were compiled through media consultation and coaching input, with emphasis on playoff team success.
The aura of greatness inspired Harriel and the Sheldon duo. Each embraced all manner of expectations this season because they were supposed to lead powerhouse programs with steady and cool resolve. They did.
Harriel averaged 25.9 points, 10.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists for a Titans team went 29-4 and won its second section title in three seasons.
“Trying to be great,” Harriel said, “makes me feel good. It fuels me to continue to do what I love to do, which is play basketball.”
Harriel’s best numbers are what she accumulates off the floor. She is a 4.7 GPA student taking a full load of advanced placement courses. College programs from across the land have offered full scholarships, including Stanford.
She has a fan in her own coach, Sean Chambers.
“Jzaniya is incredible, great, and she just had one of the best seasons of any girls or guys player that I’ve ever seen in 25 years around here,” Chambers said. “She’s the toughest-minded kid I’ve ever coached. She handles the pressure. She’s locked in, and that’s what makes her great.”
Harriel wants to study law. She aspires to be a lawyer, perhaps even a superior court judge.
“I love a big challenge,” she said. “I take it all head on. I want to do what’s right and fair — justice. I read a lot, including civil rights movements in the 1960s with Martin Luther King and inspiring people such as Rosa Parks.”
Sheldon duo of Brown and Williams
Brown and Williams of Sheldon are similar in size — 6-foot-3 — desire and career goals. Their coach, Joey Rollings, called them, “the heart and soul of our team.”
Brown and Williams exhausted opponents with their energy and efforts. Brown will play on scholarship at Appalachian State University, a Division I program in North Carolina. He led Sheldon in assists (5.1), steals (1.8), charges taken, deflections and high-flying “Whoa!” plays above the rim.
Williams was the steady lead point guard, unflappable against pressure defense or the moment. He was second on the team in scoring at 13.9 points behind Arizona State-bound guard Marcus Bagley, who did not make first-team Delta League after missing many league games due to injury. Brown and Williams were Delta League co-MVPs.
Williams could score inside and out and make passes, and he enjoyed playing defense, including diving for a loose ball in the closing seconds of tight playoff games. Sheldon went 28-5 but had its quest for a CIF NorCal Open Division threepeat derailed when the coronavirus pandemic canceled sports across the country.
Williams does not know where he will play in college. He and Brown said they will study kinesiology, the study of body movement. They may get into coaching someday, though they plan to play ball until their bodies no longer allow it.
“I loved my role with Sheldon, controlling the tempo, the game, helping other players if they’re too rowdy or too focused on what’s going on in the stands,” Williams said with a laugh. “Defense is something I value. The easiest buckets are off defense. I’m not familiar with any coaches who let players play when their man keeps scoring on you at will. So play D.”
Brown averaged 9.1 points, but his impact went beyond scoring.
“The ability to make plays without scoring, all of that can impact the game,” Brown said. “Even a good effort on contesting a jump shot helps. Effort and IQ.”
As for playing in college, Brown said he is proud and relieved. Studies have shown that about 1 percent of high school athletes in America land full Division I athletic scholarships.
“I feel pretty good because it shows I’m in that 1 percent,” Brown said. “I’m excited. When I missed games with (a knee strain after a dunk attempt), it made me realize that any game could be your last. I don’t take it for granted.”
Brown and Williams were pained to have their season cut short. They also agreed that if someone would have suggested before the season that Sheldon would be the No. 1 team in Northern California and finished with a thrilling victory, they’d gladly take it.
That’s how it played out. In a NorCal semifinal, Sheldon rallied to beat host Dublin.
“We wanted to end our senior season with win,” Brown said.
Said Williams, “We were so happy to win that last game. Before the game, we talked that it could be our last game. We just didn’t know what was going to happen with the coronavirus. Our goal was to win state, but after realizing that the coronavirus is a big problem for the whole world, we understand that it was nice to at least play that last game and win it. We’re happy to go out with a bang.”