If you have been pay even nominal attention to basketball at any level, championships are being won with defense and great guard play. It's with that in mind that we take on the next couple categories in our week-long series.

DIME DROPPERS

1. Shay Selby
2. April Sykes
3. Destini Hughes
4. Samantha Prahalis
5. Ashley Corral
6. Tyler Ash

At this level, it's easier to drop names than dimes. Throwing the great pass requires vision and an understanding of the game that even eludes the best on the next level. And so it is that many very good high-school players retreat into self-creation. After all, it's easier to know what yourself is going to do and cater to it.

Duke-bound Shay Selby is of the best passers we've seen in a while. She makes impossible passes - the bounce from beyond midcourt that leads a teammate perfectly, the wraparound in traffic - because she sees them, has the quickness and explosiveness to create them, and the strength and coordination to execute them. It could be that last quality that separates her from the rest of the best. April Sykes is similar in her physicality and, as such, is the master of the long ball. She also is one of the nation's most explosive scorers and puts that extended arsenal to great use as a passer.

Destini Hughes of Dallas and Samantha Prahalis of Dickshills, N.Y., have similarly slight builds, but great explosiveness off the floor and equally great body control. Hughes has an excellent understanding that having a defender draped all over you actually increases the chances of executing the pass, instead of vice versa, as most of her contempories attempt. Prahalis makes similar in-traffic dishes, and may be a better inside finisher to pair with that category of pass. Prahalis may go to the mustard too often, however, giving Hughes an edge. After all, taking care of the basketball has priority over delivering it.

With a pair of ankles being restored after years of disrepair, Ashley Corral of Vancouver, Wash., wasn't much able to display her sleight-of-hand repertoire, instead showing a very much improved jumper to go with the best floor command of any point guard in the country. If you want safe, she's your girl, though she has more in the tank when she regains her next gear for penetration and open-floor distribution. Meanwhile, Tyler Ash, like Prahalis, coming from the "Show-You" state (New York) tends toward the entertaining variety of deliveries and has a 6-foot-2 frame that offers her unique vistas on passing lanes.

The kids in the audience are going to have to refer to their parents for help on this one: The physical, ego-sucking, in-your-grill defense played by Tierra Ruffin-Pratt hearkens back to the days of The Glove, Gary Payton, who terrorized opposing offenses when at the height of his NBA game in Seattle. The cherubic guard from Alexandria, Va., and the class of 2009 even has late-game takeover offensive powers as Payton did. Brittney Griner is in an altogether different defensive category, blocking so many shots, even of the most polished inside scorers, that teams either stop shooting with her in the vicinity, or rush the shots they do take, thereby rendering them almost as turnovers.

As pointed out in our match-race section, Nikki Speed's defensive magic lives in her hands. Put it this way: You wouldn't want to try crossing her over too close to the midcourt line. Soon-to-be Sooner Whitney Hand doesn't live up to her name the way Speed might, but she plays defense like Ruffin-Pratt, but with a fraction of the athleticism. Hand is a heart-and-lungs defender, not offering much quarter to anyone, even an opposing player who has size or speed to tip the scales. Her defense against DFW's Brooklyn Pope helped Essence claim two straight tournament titles.

They will nickname Kristen Riley after a credit card at her next stop, which is BYU. We're thinking Master Charge. The semifinal at the End of the Trail was one of the great displays of taking charges, as Riley coaxed Exodus slashers from Samantha Prahalis to 6-3 Shakeya Leary into foul trouble with offensive violations. We hope she is not destined for a career playing in Japan, as Riley certainly would put herself in front of the Bullet Train, if a coach requested it. Imagine being having your own brand of defense played against you, and you can muster the frustration Ruffin-Pratt must have felt with Teranie Thomas shutting her down, with her quick feet and wide wingspan, as DFW Elite Gold upset Boo Williams during the quarterfinals of Nike Nationals.