LAS VEGAS — Oakland Soldiers traveling-team coach Lou Ritchie pointed toward the ceiling in Bishop Gorman High School’s gymnasium while talking about Class of 2011 phenom guard Nick Johnson.

“Nick can do anything he sets his mind to,” Ritchie said. “He can go up there and touch those sprinklers if he wanted to.”

Ritchie was talking about Johnson’s potential as a basketball player, but he could have been discussing the prospect’s leaping ability.

Standing nearby, waiting for one interview after the other to be finished with his son, was Johnson’s father Joey Johnson — the man responsible for his son’s springs for legs.

“I get all that from my dad, no question about it,” Nick Johnson, a 6-foot-3 combination point guard and shooting guard, said when asked about his athleticism.

“I was born this way. I’ve never had to work on jumping exercises or agility drills or anything like that. What my dad gave me has allowed me to concentrate on other parts of my game.”

Joey Johnson, a former ASU player, was once measured with a 52-inch vertical leap. That measures to 4 feet, 4 inches. The elder Johnson was listed at 6 feet, 3 inches, during his playing days. Add that up: Just by him leaping, the top of his head could go to 10 feet, 7 inches. The standard height of basketball rim is 10 feet.

He dunked a basketball in 1993 on a rim hoisted 11 feet, 7 inches, which was a world record until Harlem Globetrotters Michael “Wild Thing” Wilson and Sean “Elevator” Williams dunked a ball on an 11-8 rim in 1996.

Joey Johnson’s son can not dunk a basketball that high, at least not yet.

“He says he can but he still has a couple of more years,” the elder Johnson said with a laugh

His son’s vertical leap is close to 45 inches. Ritchie said the “leaping ability of both is freakish.”

“That kind of leaping you see from Nick is not teachable,” the elder Johnson said with a laugh. “I’m amazed about some of things he does myself. The biggest thing is I can tell that he just loves the game.

“That’s what comes through to me the most, not just his leaping ability. He loves everything he’s doing out there.”

Arizona is in a good position to land Nick Johnson and another coveted recruit, Mesa guard Jahii Carson. Each has said recently that Arizona is currently atop their list because of the amount of time and energy UA coach Sean Miller and his staff have recruited them.

ASU is also actively recruiting them. Herb Sendek and his staff have been to most of their games here, as has Miller and his staff. If ASU or UA happens to sign both, it would be a major in-state coup. Johnson will be a senior with Henderson (Nev.) Findlay Prep, but he hails from Gilbert.

Joey Johnson, brother of the late NBA guard Dennis Johnson, said his ASU background plays no part in where he wants his son to play.

“We’ve been over all this with him,” the elder Johnson said. “When the decision is made, I will be happy with whatever he decides. I will help him do some research and background work, but ultimately it’s where he’ll be most comfortable and where he’ll flourish the most.

“Where I played college ball has no bearing on what he’ll do, none whatsoever. I just want him to be happy and comfortable wherever he goes.”

After the second day of games here Friday, the younger Johnson was asked by a Las Vegas reporter about his college choices. He rattled off Arizona, ASU, St. John’s, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, Louisville, UConn, North Carolina, Kentucky and Wake Forest. The younger Johnson went so far as to say a school’s location does not matter.

“I have three homes,” he said. “My dad lives in LA. I go to school in Vegas and my mom (Michelle Johnson) lives in Arizona. It doesn’t matter where I go. My mom and dad will find a way to get to my games.”

Joey Johnson, who trains young basketball players in Los Angeles, has a preference when it comes to location.

“Personally?” he said with a laugh. “Personally, I want him to stay close. But, yeah, if he makes a choice to go further away, I’m going to get the ticket and go there, too.”

Joey Johnson was thankful he drove from Los Angeles in time to see his son play Saturday in the Fab 48 tournament here. The younger Johnson executed a thunderous one-handed dunk off an inbound pass from teammate Jabari Brown. Plenty of oohs and aahs filled the gymnasium. His father jumped out of his seat but not too high. Everybody was safe around him.

When told that he got a taste of how others reacted to his dunks, the elder Johnson said with a laugh, “That’s true. I never looked at it that way. I’m sure he’ll bring that out of me many times again.”

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