LAGUNA NIGUEL, CA – Before offering a rundown on three days of some very high-quality high school hoops that I witnessed, up close and personal, I’d like to thank the clear sailing I had on the west-bound 22, north-bound 405 and north-bound 605 freeways, as well as my smooth trek east-bound on Alondra Boulevard in Norwalk on Sunday morning,
That mix of freeway good fortune – courtesy the fact that I was traveling during a the narrow window of day and time when such a thing is possible – enabled me to go from the Next Level Sports Complex in Garden Grove to the new-look Cerritos College Gymnasium in Norwalk in about 15 minutes, give or take.
I figure I’m owed a few dozen more of those experiences in exchange for all of the two hours-plus driving ventures to UCLA and USC I’ve been forced to endure over the course sports writing career.
Anyway, that quick jaunt enabled me to watch a session and a half (from 8 to about 9:50 a.m.) of the final morning of games at Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League and then catch nearly five hours worth of the Double Pump Hoop Fest.
Forty Nike-fronted teams were in action in Garden Grove and I was able to get pretty good looks at about 30 of them.
The most impressive squads I watched – not just in terms of how “talented” they might be but how well they played together and executed – were BABC (Leo Papile’s Boston Area Basketball Club program), Houston Hoops and Meanstreets (made up of players from Chicago and surrounding communities), each of which was 4-0 over the first weekend of 2013 EYBL action.
Of course, with that many teams with rosters loaded with so many quality college prospects, narrowing a list of “the players I was most impressed with” to a manageable number.
But here it is, anyway . . . the list of the 10 players who were outstanding when I watched them over the weekend.
Remember it’s not the definitive “10 best prospects” that I viewed – there were some outstanding players who didn’t have particularly strong performances when I happened to watch them.
For all I know, they could have played much better when I wasn’t courtside.
But these guys were very good during the one or two teams I zeroed in on their teams Friday, Saturday or Sunday:
Point guards: Tyus Jones (Howard Pulley; Apple Valley, MN/Apple Valley), Tyler Ulis (Meanstreets; Chicago Heights, IL/Marian Catholic) and Parker Jackson-Cartwright (California Supreme; Los Angeles, CA/Loyola)
Wings (shooting guards or small forward): Theo Pinson (CP3 All-Stars; High Point, NC/Wesleyan Christian Academy), D’Angelo Russell (E1T1; Montverde, FL/Academy), Justin Jackson (Houston Hoops; Tomball, TX/Home-Schooled Christian Association) and Rashad Vaughn (Wisconsin Playground Elite; New Hope, MN/Cooper).
Posts (centers or power forwards): Cliff Alexander (Mac Irvin Fire; Chicago, IL/Curie), Chris McCullough (Team Scan; Wolfeboro, NH/Brewster Academy) and Ivan Rabb (Oakland Soldiers; Oakland, CA/Bishop O’Dowd).
Jones (the consensus No. 1 PG prospect in the Class of 2014) and Jackson-Cartwright (who committed to the University of Arizona a few months back) came into the event about as well known as any prep prospects in the country in the current junior class.
That wasn’t the case for the 5-foot-8 Eulis. But, over his weekend in Southern California, he justified all hype that has been building for him of late, by way of those who follow Chicago-area hoops the closest.
He’ll challenge Jones and anyone for that “best PG in 2014” this spring and summer.
Vaughn reminds me a bit of UCLA freshman Jordan Adams, albeit not quite as thick as Adams was while playing for the Atlanta Celtics. Vaughn could prove to be the best scorer in the class.
Jackson, who is committed to the University of North Carolina, has the same kind of frame possessed by the Memphis Grizzlies’ Tayshaun Prince had as a McDonald’s All-American in Compton, CA – about 6-8 and 175 very lean pounds.
But – albeit right-handed – he’s got a lot of the same skills Prince possessed at the same age.
McCullough has the largest variety of skills of any 6-8 or taller player on hand in Garden Grove.
Alexander was the best low-post scorer (when his teammates were kind enough to throw him the ball) at the event while Rabb was the best rebounder.
I watched guards Jordan McLaughlin (Double Pump Elite/Prodigy; Etiwanda, CA/Etiwanda), Trey Kell (San Diego All-Stars Pump N Run; San Diego, CA/St. Augustine) and Kyron Cartwright (Pump N Run Elite; Compton, CA/Compton) last weekend during the Rock Fish/Mark Mayamura Memorial at Cabrillo High in Long Beach and the Hoop Review in Garden Grove) and they were, predictable outstanding.
Such was the case for the trio on Sunday at Cerritos College.
Others who were outstanding when I watched included:
*The Louisiana Future travel club trio of 6-4 left-handed point guard Dominic Magee (New Orleans Cox), 6-8 power forward James Thompson (Baton Rouge Parkview Baptist) and 6-5 junior Brandon Sampson (Baton Rouge Madison Prep) was terrific.
Each of those players who be McDonald’s All-American selections – if enough of the voters who actually know what they’re watching get a chance to see them this spring or summer, that is.
*Another remarkable group of players was the remarkable trio of 2015 class members that make up the foundation of the Superior Athletes program, guards Kendall Small (Huntington Beach Ocean View), Jeremy Hemsley (La Verne Damien) and Stephen Thompson (Torrance Bishop Montgomery).
*Lastly, 6-5 junior Evan Wardlow (Woodland Hills El Camino Real) and 6-1 sophomore Kenny Smith Jr. (Westlake Oaks Christian) helped AIM High bust out to a 14-0 advantage before being overpowered by Louisiana Future.
Both players already looked much improved since I last watched them in action in December with their high school teams.
Emmanuel Mundlay needs to work on shot, releases ball on way down, but he was most impressive player I saw at eybl by far. Keep up the great work Frank!
“Nike-fronted.” Frank, does Nike pay for these kids to travel to these tournaments? What’s the NCAA exclusion that allows them to do this? Any chance you might write an article about this topic for the layman?