| LaQuinton Ross |
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| All Tweets | DraftExpress: Life Center Academy gets upset win over St. Mark's. Good game. LaQuinton Ross finishes w/26 points. Alex Murphy 9. Tarczewski 15+ 10 blocks?
2011-01-16 12:19:35 | DraftExpress: LaQuinton Ross of 1st half: McDonald's All-American. LaQuinton Ross of 2nd half: Underacheiver who just floats around aimlessly.
2011-01-16 12:05:48 | DraftExpress: LaQuinton Ross has scored just two points this half. Intensity level has been zero. Totally apathetic. Team still up 65-61 w/4 min left.
2011-01-16 12:03:09 | DraftExpress: Big upset brewing. At half: Life Center 44-St Mark's 35. LaQuinton Ross 21 pts, 4-5 3P. Murphy 7 pts, 2 ass, 4 TO,Tarczewski 1 point, 5 blks
2011-01-16 11:34:37 | DraftExpress: 18 points in 10 minutes for LaQuinton Ross. Doesn't even look like he's broken a sweat yet. Maybe people were too quick to write him off?
2011-01-16 11:16:41 | |
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Ohio State, Sophomore
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| Physicals | Positions | Rankings | Misc |
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H: 6' 8"
W: 219 lbs
Bday: 00/00/0000
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Current: SG/SF
NBA: SG/SF
Possible:
| Rank 35 in NCAA Sophomores
RSCI: 32
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High School: Life Center Academy
Hometown: Jackson, MS
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Predraft Measurements |
Basic Per Game Statistics - Comprehensive Stats - Statistical Top 25s |
Player Page | Player Stats | Related Articles | Add to My Draft Express
| HoopHall Classic Scouting Reports: Elite Prospects (Part Two)
January 22, 2011
Jonathan Givony
A year and a half after our last scouting report update, LaQuinton Ross' (#60 Scout, #53 Rivals, #64 ESPN) strengths and weaknesses are looking abundantly clear.
His frame is filling out nicely since we last saw him, as he's sporting a pretty developed upper body and now stands around 6-8. More smooth than he is explosive, Ross can create his own shot with ease, showing very nice ball-handling skills for a player his size. He mostly uses his dribble to find space to get off a beautiful looking jumper, which he can hit both off the dribble or with his feet set.
Ross buried a barrage of shots in the first half, scoring 21 points in 16 minutes. Some of them were extremely tough looks which, in Ross' unique way—expressionless and effortless--he converted with incredible ease. His shooting ability at his size alone makes him a very intriguing prospect, but he can do more than that, especially when he applies himself.
As a slasher, Ross can get to different spots on the floor, showing nice ball-handling skills and the ability to create shots for teammates. He's more likely to pass the ball off or pull-up for a jumper than make a strong move all the way to the basket, though, as he's overly unselfish (or passive) to a fault at times, and is lacking a degree of explosiveness and aggressiveness as well.
Defensively, Ross hasn't made very much progress since we last saw him, as he still shows extremely poor fundamentals and puts little to no effort in on this end of the floor. His arms are always at his sides and he never bends his knees, having no qualms about allowing his man to catch the ball wherever it is on the floor that he desires. Ross will need to make some huge strides with his off the ball defense if he's to see any playing time at all at Ohio State under Thad Matta. He'll also have to start boxing out his man and get back quicker on defense.
What's interesting is that Ross actually has very nice instincts on this end of the floor, as he anticipates well in the passing lanes and has terrific timing coming up with blocks. He just needs to improve his fundamentals and play with much more intensity, which may be easier said than done.
Ross is the type of player whose career could still go in many different directions, as its clear that he is incredibly far ahead of the curve in many areas, but is also well behind in many others. Going to play for a coach like Thad Matta at Ohio State might be the best decision he ever made, but there are many recruiting analysts that question whether he'll actually last there.
It might be just a matter of time and maturity until the light-bulb comes on for Ross, but judging by the way he's dropped in the recruiting rankings—from once being considered the #1 prospect in his class to now finding himself well out of the top-50—and the fact that he's a year or two older than his peers, he has many more doubters than believers at this point.
 [Read Full Article]
Initial High School Player Scouting Reports, Part One
August 14, 2009
One year after evaluating LaQuinton Ross for the first time, we haven't seen a great deal of change in his game. He's still the same ultra-sized and very smooth wing player with unremarkable athleticism, and he's still extremely skilled for his age. Ross has solid ball-handling skills for his height, yet they are still improvable. He's capable of pulling up smoothly off the dribble from mid-range when the situation calls for it, and has a very nice stroke from beyond the arc as well, even looking adept at coming off screens. His shot-selection left something to be desired, but he did make some nice passes at times and generally looked more mature.
Ross doesn't know how to use his size to post up smaller players, though, and seems to show a very concerning lack of aggressiveness in general on the offensive end, looking far too passive at times and way too content just letting things come to him. He surely lacks a bit of fire and toughness to his game.
Defensively, Ross' fundamentals are still fairly poor, although he does seem to be putting in slightly better effort than we remembered. He gets beat off the dribble fairly easily still, though, and it's not quite clear what position he'll be able to defend at the collegiate level, although his length and excellent instincts getting in the passing lanes do help out.
Ross was a very highly touted player from an extremely young age, but there are some concerns that he's not improving as quickly as some of his peers and that his mentality leaves something to be desired. He's still far too young of a prospect to write off, and we'll have to see what he looks like after another year of high school basketball next summer.
[Read Full Article]
adidas Nations Experience: 2010/11 High School Prospects
August 20, 2008
The adidas Nations gave us a better opportunity to evaluate LaQuinton Ross' game than we were able to in Las Vegas, allowing us to pick up a few more things that we might not have seen initially. Again it was hard not to notice how impressive of a scorer Ross is for such a young player, mainly because of the natural instincts he already displays. He has a super low dribble considering that he’s 6-8 and 15 years old, which allows him to create shots with ease from the perimeter and get to the rim. His body control in the lane is very impressive as well, and he generally makes everything look very easy even when executing very difficult moves.
On the downside, Ross plays absolutely zero defense, to the point that it’s almost laughable at times how easily his lets his opponent score. He gave up deep position in the paint time after time to basically anyone that wanted to post him up, and offered such little resistance that it was almost impossible for them not to score. He also didn’t show much in the ways of passing ability, looking to go one on one pretty much anytime he got the ball on the wing, even if there were multiple defenders around him.
You don’t get the feeling that Ross is a selfish player or a bad kid—it just seems like he’s received little to no coaching at this point in his development and thus is living strictly off his instincts. He’s apparently transferring to a bigger school next year, Word of God Christian Academy, where he’ll be playing with John Wall and a number of other highly regarded prospects, so that might end up being a good thing for him in order to develop his all-around game. There is absolutely no question that the sky is the limit on his potential, but he can absolutely not buy into his own hype just yet.
Editor's Note: We've been informed that Ross is actually a year older than his class, as he's turning 17 in November.[/b]
[Read Full Article]
Initial Scouting Reports, High School Classes of 2010 and 2011
August 1, 2008
Considered (for some time now) by some to be the top prospect in the entire 2011 class, we may have caught LaQuinton Ross on a bit of a down day it seems. In terms of talent and upside, there is no mistaking what we have on our hands here. Ross is a legitimate small forward prospect in the Anthony Randolph mold, despite standing 6-8, which gives him tremendous size to play on the perimeter. He is extremely athletic with long arms and terrific scoring instincts, which immediately becomes evident when you see how he operates on the court. Ross can create his own shot with ease from the perimeter thanks to his strong ball-handling skills, either to take the ball all the way to the basket and finish with excellent body control, or pull-up off the dribble smoothly with a nice looking mid-range stroke. He can post up a bit and utilizes quick and slithery spin moves to get around players and then lay the ball in. The game obviously comes very easy for him, even if there is still a lot of room for improvement.
Ross’ decision making looked very poor when we saw him—as he easily lost focus, got frustrated with his teammates, and generally displayed very poor body language. He seems to complain a lot when things don’t go his own way, and showed a distinct lack of effort in terms of doing the little things to help his team get back in the game. His rebounding looked sub-par (not boxing out) and his defense non-existent (even if his length and lateral quickness give him lots of potential here), and his shot-selection offensively left a lot to be desired. Ross perimeter stroke needs a lot of work it seems—he had trouble knocking down free throws from what we could tell too. Ross’ fundamentals in general are not the best—he obviously has a world of talent but still needs to learn to bring it all together.
6-8 perimeter players who can score the way Ross can in a variety of ways and are still so young will always draw a tremendous amount of attention from a very early age. He’s not a finished product by any stretch, though, and still has a long ways to go before being ready to justify the hype that’s being thrown at him right now. We will have to keep watching him over the next few years and see how he’s progressing.
[Read Full Article]
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