Derrick Favors, a 6-foot-9 high school basketball forward, and John Wall, a 6-4 point guard, have different skill sets, but each rising senior can claim to be the top-ranked player in the country.

Wall is No. 1 on the Rivals.com Top 100 list, and Favors generally is No. 1 on most other lists, including those of recruiting analysts Dave Telep of Scout.com and Bob Gibbons of All-Star Sports.

Favors and Wall played on the same court in back-to-back games Friday night at the Smith Center in Chapel Hill during Gibbons' Tournament of Champions.

Club teams from throughout the nation came to the Triangle for the three-day tournament.

The title games begin at 2:30 p.m. today at the Smith Center.

But for many of the players, the club tournament is a chance to play against the best, to see and to be seen.

Not that Favors and Wall are lacking collegiate suitors.

After his Atlanta Celtics' game, Favors rolled through a partial list of schools that have offered scholarships. The list includes N.C. State, Duke, North Carolina, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Memphis, Kansas and Kentucky.

Telep asked Favors if any coaches had told him that he was their top priority, the guy they had to have, and Favors nodded and said, "All of them."

A few minutes earlier, Wall summed up his recruiting quickly by saying he was wide open.

Choosing between the two is like deciding between a linebacker and a running back.

Wall is eye candy. Just when you think he can't top the last play, he makes an even more flamboyant one.

He had more stunning plays in a first-round loss to the Carolina Fire -- led by Panther Creek's Earnest Ross -- than most players have in a career.

There was the perfect 30-foot pass to the left when everybody thought he was passing right.

A bounce pass for a layup somewhere amid a 360 spin.

Assorted drives left Carolina Fire coach Darryl Robinson rubbing his head.

Wall even bounced an inbounds pass off an opponent's back and hammered home a dunk.

There were other eye-blinking plays, but mostly Wall showed incredible speed with the ball and uncanny vision.

"No one on this circuit has guarded him all spring," Telep said. "No one can stay with him."

But Wall isn't known as a great shooter.

"Put it this way, if he improves his jump shot, he is going to double his money," said Telep, referring to Wall's expected transition from NCAA stardom to the NBA.

Gibbons compared Wall to Mouth of Wilson senior Brandon Jennings, an Arizona recruit.

"Wall is the fastest player in the country," Gibbons said. "He is at a different speed than anyone else, and he is a great passer.

"He is the best point guard in the country and one of the two or three best players. He might even be the No. 1 ... but I don't think so."

Telep and Gibbons are among the majority who favor South Atlanta High's Favors as No. 1.

"I had him No. 1 at the end of last summer, and no one has played better," Telep said. "If you want to be No. 1, you need to play better than No. 1. No one has. I feel very comfortable having him as the top prospect."

The long-armed Favors averaged a triple-double at South Atlanta. He blocks shots almost effortlessly. His timing is so good that he knocks away shots without fully extending.

"He plays with the intensity of a [UNC star] Tyler Hansbrough and is more skilled than Tyler was at his age," Gibbons said.

"He works like Hansbrough, but he reminds you of [former UNC center] Sam Perkins. Favors is one of the best shot-blockers I've seen."

Both agree that right now, Favors is No. 1.

"But if I was a college coach, I'd love to have either one," Telep said.

DEGRAFFINREED PICKS: Hannah Degraffinreed of Millbrook has committed to Merrimack College in Massachusetts to play basketball.

She helped the Wildcats to a 26-5 season, averaging 10.4 points and 10.5 rebounds.

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