It’s not trendy to say, but it has to be stated. McDonald’s All-American high school basketball players are the most overrated athletes in the world today.

How could it be? These 16-17 year olds are what major Division I coaches drool over, and get hired and fired over as well. They aren’t God’s gift to basketball, and you can win without them; trust me it’s been done before.

Last night, these glorified meal tickets for major programs showed their talents in front of a nationaly televised audience, and I didn’t watch a minute of it.

I decided to stroll the 2002 McDonald’s list for guys that I either don’t remember or never heard of. I found four.

– Travis Garrison, DeMatha Catholic High School (Hyattsville, MD) = Garrison is possibly one of the reasons Maryland didn’t make its traditional NCAA Tournament appearance. He is averaging 6.7 points per game and is still coming off of the Terrapins bench.

– Elijah Ingram, St. Anthony High School (Jersey City, NJ) = Ingram transferred from St. John’s to New Mexico State. This is how the Associated Press led that story: former St. John’s guard Elijah Ingram, one of six Red Storm players who broke curfew at a strip club on a road trip, has transferred to New Mexico State. Enough said.

– Evan Burns, Fairfax High School (Los Angeles) = San Diego State forward Evan Burns went down with an injury to his left knee Saturday when he landed awkwardly during a pickup game at the Aztec Recreation Center. Has never played a minute for the Aztecs, but must be enjoying that San Diego weather.

– DeAngelo Collins, Inglewood High School (Inglewood, CA) = I couldn’t find stats on Collins, as he went straight from high school to pros. This couldn’t be a good sign. Eventually, I found his name on a roster of the Florida Flame in the NBDL.

Annually, when this list comes out there will be those looked over (Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick and Washington’s Nate Robinson as example), those who are gifted future all-NBA talents (Carmelo and Lebron) and those who will literally need to perfect the line, “do you want fries with that.”