Family lineage usually plays a part in athletic success, and in that Kiree Hutchings is blessed.

Hutchings' father, Norman Hutchings, played basketball for Pete Newell Jr. at Santa Cruz. His mother, Lynn Cantrell, played hoops at Soquel.

Two of Hutchings' cousins, Malik and Michael, played football at Deer Valley and De La Salle, respectively.

The younger Hutchings - Prep2Prep's Central Coast Section Junior of the Year - has met Newell and received some positive feedback.

"He said he likes my game and I have good court vision and run the team well," Hutchings said. "He said I showed good leadership."

Hutchings started playing ball in fourth grade but didn't really become enamored of the sport until two years later. Now he's hooked, haunting Meder St. Park near UC-Santa Cruz often when he's not playing for the Cardinals or the West Valley or Hand Down Man Down travel teams.

Bob Bramlett coaches Hutchings with West Valley and Rob Shipstead with Hand Down Man Down.

"West Valley has played a big part in my success and I play with Hand Down Man Down just to be with my friends," he said.

The extra gym time has been beneficial as the 5-foot-10 point guard helped pace the Cardinals by averaging 15.5 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

His junior campaign was his third on varsity. As a freshman at Harbor High, he averaged 11.1 points and as a sophomore at Santa Cruz on a more balanced team, he averaged 8.5 ppg.

The highlight so far, Hutchings said, was scoring 34 points in a regular season game at Aptos.

Here's what former Cal star and West Valley coach Al Grigsby said about Hutchings a year ago to NorCalPreps.com: "Kiree is a natural point guard who is a great kid, great student and is very coachable. What I like about him is he's not afraid to work at getting better. With his leadership and ability to guide his team, he has the potential to be very good."

Lest opponents think they'll get a break from the Hutchings scourge when Kiree graduates, they may have a surprise coming. Seventh-grader Jevon Hutchings, Kiree's brother, is on his way up.

"He's a pretty good shooter," Kiree said.

Also considered: David Parsons, G/F, Sacred Heart Cathedral

NOTE: We would like to thank our readers for all of the nominations you sent in for the season-ending CCS basketball awards. It is a daunting task to narrow down our selections to just the top few as we recognize there are lots of great players who make contributions on the court that are not necessarily well-documented but mean a great deal to the success of their teams. We salute all of the players that have made this a wonderful season of CCS basketball.