Oak Hill Academy, Mouth of Wilson, Va. vs St. Vincent-St. Mary, Akron, Ohio

ESPN2, 7:30 p.m.

Where -

Cleveland State Convocation Center (13,106)

USA Today Super 25

1. Oak Hill Academy, Mouth of Wilson, Va.

23. St. Vincent-St. Mary, Akron, Ohio

Oak Hill Academy Warriors

1. Ivan Harris F, Sr.

4. Isiah Swann G, Jr.

5. Marcus Williams G, Sr.

6. J.R. Reynolds G, Sr.

33. Dion Dacons F, Sr.

Key reserves - Byron Joynes, Jarvelle Scott

St. Vincent-St. Mary Irish

12. Dru Joyce G, Sr.

05. Corey Jones G, Jr.

02. Sian Cotton* G, Sr.

23. LeBron James F, Sr.

24. Romeo Travis C, Sr.

Key reserves - Willie McGee, Brandon Weems, Tim Marks, Preston Sims and Marcus Johnson. (*There is some guesswork involved in the listing of SVSM's starting line up. I cannot be certain that Sian Cotton will be a starter nor am I certain that Cotton and Corey James will wear the numbers I have them listed as wearing.)

1. LeBron James

9. Ivan Harris

39. Marcus Williams

60. J.R. Reynolds

Receiving consideration: Byron Joynes, Jarvelle Scott, Romeo Travis, Dru Joyce.

Oak Hill Academy

Ivan Harris - Ohio State

Marcus Williams - Connecticut

J.R. Reynolds - Virginia

Byron Joynes - Interest in Texas, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, and Connecticut.

Jarvelle Scott - Tulane, Mississippi.

St. Vincent-St. Mary

LeBron James - NBA

Dru Joyce - Akron

Romeo Travis - Akron

Odds and ends -

LeBron James - Most people will get their first good look at LeBron James during tonight's game. The hype over this kid has been such that almost anything short of an all-time performance will fail to meet expectations. He is a very special player, but he's just 17 years and he occasionally plays it.

However, those rough spots are few and far between. He is a remarkably skilled player who deserves to be listed with the top high school players of any generation. While at 6'8", 235 pounds, he's big enough to play any position on the floor at this level, he will settle into a point forward role. Dru Joyce is the Irish point guard, but James will handle the ball far more than Joyce will. There is no weakness to James' game, but I'd point out his passing ability as one of the areas that just makes him special. He plays very hard and is something of a throwback in that he values substance over style in this the Sportscenter age. He is a unique talent.

Marcus Williams - UConn's point guard of the future, will start at point for Oak Hill. Williams is a 3L player - lean, lanky and lefty. He's got a ton of range on his jumper and is a threat two steps behind the arc. Watch for the lob pass; he throws it as well as anyone. Marcus is averaging 13 points and 11 assists.

Ivan Harris - Harris should be a lead pipe cinch for the McDonald's game, but he doesn't get as much notice as he should nationally. He's a rugged 6'7", 210 pound forward who can score a bit from the perimeter, but who makes his living scoring around the basket.

Isiah Swann - Swann is a shooting guard in the class of 2004 who has received early interest from UConn. Maryland is reportedly leading for his services.

Byron Joynes - Joynes is a small hill who happens to play basketball. He's around 300 pounds and probably needs to embark on the Hassan Fofana path to a slimmer Byron. His turn of foot wouldn't impress a toddler. He's also not much of a jumper, but he uses his weight effectively when rebounding and can break someone in half with a hip check.

What to expect - Although the Irish have a couple of players who will play division I ball, without James they are overmatched by Oak Hill. Corey James has been their leading scorer and Romeo Travis is a capable player despite being undersized for what they'll ask him to do against Oak Hill. While James is content in most games to let his teammates get their points before he looks for his, I imagine he will try to take over the game tomorrow. Oak Hill has beaten SVSM in each the past two years, but they have been life and death to overcome spectacular efforts from James - I expect another tonight.

Oak Hill comes in this year with their usual bus load of talent, but they don't bring as much size as they have in the past and the bigs that they bring off the bench are not terribly mobile. Despite that, Oak Hill is still the faster and deeper team and they'll look to force the tempo. Harris is their most reliable interior scorer and Dion Dacones is an underrated, undersized forward who can also score inside. Isiah Swann is a guard who does most of his damage from the mid-range on in while Marcus Williams and J.R. Reynolds lead a streaky perimeter shooting corp. I'll be interested to see what kind of defense Steve Smith has designed to help his smaller line up handle James.

Prediction - Of the three meetings between the two schools, this is SVSM's best opportunity to knock off Oak Hill. There's no DeSagana Diop or Carmelo Anthony type of superstar on this Warrior team and they're trying to sort themselves out after adding six new players to the Gold team roster. My best guess - LeBron James and the home court advantage lead to a narrow SVSM win.