Lots of top-flight players showcased at adidas Nations

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GARDEN GROVE, CA – After three sessions of the adidas Nations at the spiffy and immaculate Next Level Sports Complex, my opinion remains as it did when I initially scanned the event’s rosters:

There are oodles of some of the very best players that basketball has to offer, both on the high school and college levels.

Here are some quick observations, going into Sunday morning’s fourth session of six games (four involving the nine teams of high school-level players and the other two matching the four squads of current college players):

*The Australian squad is off to a 3-0 start, after “upsets”, of sorts, against the USA 2013 Red (seniors-to-be) and USA 2014 Blue (juniors-to-be) squads. There was also a victory Saturday night over the team representing Africa.

Not surprisingly – they’re their country’s two-best teen-aged prospects; both are already well known to a lot of U.S. college coaches and NBA talent evaluators – 6-foot-7 Ben Simmons and 6-4 Dante Exum have led the way.

The left-handed Simmons, who made quite a splash at the Pangos All-American Camp – only about 10 miles west of the Next Level Sports Complex, in Long Beach – in June, only turned 16 on July 20.

If he were attending a U.S. high school – and he suggested at the Pangos Camp that it could happen, eventually – he’d already be labeled a “sure-fire McDonald’s All-American” (in 2015).

Exum, a slender point guard-type, was the top scorer during the 17-under FIBA Championships in Lithuania last month. He was scouted by dozens of U.S. college coaches during the adidas Super 64 in Las Vegas late last month. He’s been 17 since July 20.

*Former UCLA and NBA forward Don MacLean (now a broadcaster for the Fox Sports Network) is coaching some of the event’s top high school underclassmen on the USA 2014 Red club.

Foremost among them are 6-7 Noah Vonleh (The New Hampton School in New Hampshire), 6-3 Emmanuel Mudiay (Grace Prep in Arlington, Texas), 6-8 Cliff Alexander (Curie in Chicago) and 6-4 Rashad Vaughn (Riverdale Cooper in Minnesota).

A MacLean-coached club – led by soon-to-be Detroit Pistons rookie Andre Drummond – won the 2011 adidas Nations championship.

Don’t be surprised if this team pulls off the same accomplishment Monday night, when the title game is played at Long Beach City College and televised by the CBS Sports Network.

The third-place game tips at 5 p.m. ET, with the championship title schedule following about two hours later.

*This event has been a delight for those who scout prospect NBA talent for a living.

A healthy portion of the first round of the 2013 NBA Draft is on display here.

Some of the very best 6-foot-10 and bigger freshmen in the coming season have drawn a lot of scrutiny by the 30-plus NBA employees watching the action.

Those are Steven Adams (Pittsburgh), Nerlens Noel and Willie Cauley (both of Kentucky) and Isaiah Austin (Baylor) – and each has matched up against one of the other three a large portion of the three “games” so far.

Some of the players expected to be among the best point guard-types in the coming season – including Pierre Jackson (Baylor), Ray McCallum Jr. (Detroit), Peyton Siva (Louisville) and Joe Jackson (Memphis) – have also gone head to head over the first two days.

McCallum was the best of that bunch Saturday night while helping his team to a win over the squad with Siva on it.

*A couple of players who may be helping their stock considerably with NBA representatives at the events are 6-3 Nate Wolters (South Dakota State) and 6-8 Robert Covington (Tennessee State).

They were very good last season, though many outside of their programs’ natural fan bases may not have noticed. Anyone who follows college hoops should pay attention this season. Thirty NBA franchise’s scouting staffs will.