Peyton Watson Named 2021 McDonald's All-American
February 23, 2021 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ UCLA men's basketball signee Peyton Watson has been selected as a McDonald's All-America selection, as announced on Tuesday.
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In all, 48 high school seniors โ comprising the top 24 boys and top 24 girls in the nation โ have been selected by a committee of basketball analysts. These top high school players will not face off in any McDonald's All-American Game this year (due to COVID-19). However, a virtual celebration is being planned to give these high school student-athletes the recognition they deserve.
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Watson, a 6-foot-7 guard/forward from Long Beach, Calif., averaged 23.2 points and 8.0 rebounds per game as a junior in 2019-20 at Long Beach Poly High School. He has been ranked as the No. 8 prospect in the country by 247Sports.com โ and the No. 3 small forward in the nation by the same recruiting service.
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This marks the 12th time in the past 16 seasons in which UCLA's program has had an incoming player selected to the McDonald's All-America rosters. Moses Brown competed in the McDonald's All-America Game in 2018, while Kris Wilkes and Jaylen Hands played in the contest in 2017.
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Watson has been ranked as the state of California's No. 1 player by ESPN.com. In 2019-20, he guided Long Beach Poly to the program's 11th consecutive Moore League title before earning All-CIF Southern Section Division I honors. As a sophomore in 2018-19, he helped Long Beach Poly to a perfect 12-0 league record.
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