by Alex Schwartz

Ranked 7th and 22nd respectively in the Northstar Basketball Pre-July 2012 Top 100, Jarnell Stokes and Shaq Goodwin are two of the best players in the nation. A pair of 6'8 power forwards, Stokes and Goodwin led Memphis YOMCA to the finals of the Nike Peach Jam/EYBL Finals.

After falling to BABC in the championship game, Stokes and Goodwin were kind enough to discuss their recruitment with Northstar Basketball.

Stokes, who attended Memphis Central (TN) for his first three years of high school, listed Arkansas, Memphis, Tennessee, UConn, Florida, Kentucky, and Ole Miss. He was not sure about who had offered and said that other schools are involved as well.

Asked who is coming after him the hardest, Stokes (pictured on left) responded, "Probably Arkansas and Memphis."

Stokes, who said he does not feel any local pressure to stay home and attend Memphis, claims no favorites and is "just wide open right now." He said he has yet to visit any of the schools he mentioned.

"I plan on [taking visits] visits when the school season starts," said Stokes, who will be transferring to Oak Hill Academy (VA) for his senior year.

On why he decided to transfer to Oak Hill, Stokes remarked, "It's to play in games like this [the championship] whee you put it all on the line and perform. I think I need to play on national television more and get national competition more so I can get used to game like this."

Stokes has an affinity for Carmelo Anthony, who once starred at Oak Hill. How much did that play into his decision to attend the hoops powerhouse?

"He had me liking him since I was a little kid and I always watched videos [of him] . . . at Oak Hill and I look up to Oak Hill and Carmelo Anthony," Stokes said.

Shaq Goodwin has a very different list than Stokes, as the Southwest DeKalb (GA) star listed Georgia, Memphis, UCLA, Florida, and Alabama.

"That's my top five," said Goodwin, who is set on playing both basketball and football at the next level.

Asked if he would be able to play both sports at those schools, Goodwin replied, "Yeah, that's why they're my top five."

Those are by no means the only schools that are showing interest in Goodwin (pictured on right), as a whole host of colleges are after him.

"I can say all schools are looking at me except Syracuse, UConn, Duke, and North Carolina," Goodwin said.

Of the schools in his top five, Goodwin has visited Memphis, Georgia and Alabama. He said that he plans to visit UCLA in the coming weeks.

"The top five in general," Goodwin said of which schools are coming after him the hardest at this point.

Goodwin's primary AAU team is the Atlanta Celtics, which features Memphis-bound Damien Wilson and recent UCLA commit Jordan Adams. In addition, ex-Celtics coach Korey McCray is now an assistant coach at UCLA.

Despite all of that, Goodwin said the connections to the Tigers and Bruins will "not really" impact his decision. He also noted that he does not have a single favorite at this point.

Note- photo of Jarnell Stokes is from http://www.ny2lasports.com/default.aspx; photo of Shaq Goodwin is from http://scouthoops.scout.com/