by Alex Schwartz

Michael Gilchrist '11 of St. Patrick's (NJ) is not only ranked #1 in my list of New Jersey's Fab 45 Upperclassmen, he is the best player in America regardless of class. The 6'7 small forward was the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year last year, over two senior McDonald's All-Americans in teammate Dexter Strickland '09 (North Carolina) and Dominic Cheek '09 of St. Anthony's (NJ), as well as Duke-bound teammate Kyrie Irving '10.

Gilchrist did suffer an ankle injury near the end of the year though, one that originally seemed worse than it truly was. The same thing has happened this season. In a game on Tuesday night against Union (NJ), Gilchrist injured his right knee and was taken to the hospital, where he went to the emergency room. At first there was little information about the actual injury, but things have started to come out.

According to a source close to the player, Gilchrist sprained his right knee and will miss one to two weeks. The source told me that Gilchrist was in the ER "for a little bit" on Tuesday night, but that "he should be good in a week or two". The Celtics play Linden (NJ) this evening in their first full game without their star junior.

Gilchrist is now the unanimous top player in the class of 2011, but that was not always the case, as at one point there were three players considered at the top of the class. The other two, LaQuinton Ross and Tony Wroten, Jr. have since dropped from the top three, with Ross' stock falling quite a bit. Nonetheless both are still high-major recruits and Wroten remains in most peoples' top ten. Gilchrist and Ross were two of only the dozen or so class of 2011 players at the 2009 NBAPA Top 100 Camp, showing their elite status.

Garden State hoops fans will now get to see quite a bit more of Ross, as he is transferring to Life Center Academy (NJ), according to numerous reports. Ross, who was at Callaway (MS) for his freshman year and his since been at Murrah (MS), is expected to be enrolled at LCA in the very near future, if he is not already.

Ross will team with Syracuse-signee Dion Waiters '10 to form a dynamic duo for the team that opened the season at #8 in my New Jersey Preseason High School Top 20. LCA, which just beat Friends Central (PA), could now make a case to be as high as #4 in the state, but is at least #6. In addition, Ross has to be considered at least a top five or six junior in the state and a top 10 or 11 upperclassmen.

Note- both photos are from http://scouthoops.scout.com/