Muir High’s Greene Is Trying to Beat Odds

SANTA BARBARA —  Darren Greene wants to be recognized as a Division I college basketball prospect, but he knows the odds are against him.

Greene, who is entering his senior year at Muir High, realizes that selling coaches on your athletic abilities is the toughest part of the game. That is why he went all out last week at the Superstar Camp at UC Santa Barbara.

Superstar, in its 17th year, annually draws the top high school talent in the West. Two hundred and eighty-eight players, mostly from California, were invited to this year’s camp.

Most important to Greene, however, is that about 150 college coaches attended.

Green, a 6-foot-5 forward, is trying to make up for lost time. He missed the second half of last season after spraining his right ankle in a game against rival Pasadena. He returned for the playoffs, but was ineffective.

Things got worse before they got better. Greene, a member of Slam-’N-Jam’s Victoria Park team, broke his nose in the first game of spring league and had to sit out.

The injuries cost Greene practice time. The Muir senior is trying to be an effective player at two different positions. He was moved to forward last season because of a lack of size on the team, but his natural position is off-guard. To maintain his skills at the guard position, Greene said he needs as much practice as possible.

Attending Superstar provided Greene with five days of games, all of which he played as a guard.

“This is my first time at the camp and I wanted to take full advantage of what it had to offer,” he said. “I’ve felt really good here. They keep you so busy you don’t have much time to eat or even think or worry about anything.

“My main priority coming in here was to work on the transition of forward to guard and improve my ball-handling skills. There’s a lot of competition here, so it’s an excellent opportunity to work on your game and see how good you are. In Pasadena, I’m one of the better players, but here I’m just one of the crowd.”

Greene, who said he is being recruited Cal State Long Beach, certainly helped his chances in Santa Barbara. He was a leader of his camp team and was selected among the top 80 players.

While Greene turned in a solid performance at Superstar, he was nearly overshadowed by teammates Phillip Turner and Jacque Vaughn. Turner, a 6-3 senior guard, and Vaughn, a 5-11 sophomore guard, also made the top 80.

Vaughn was named to the top 15, selected by the coaches on the last day of camp. He was the only sophomore to be chosen.