FRISCO, TX – If you had the opportunity to be courtside for each of Each 1 Teach 1’s Elite Youth Basketball League games on Mother’s Day in the Fieldhouse USA, you might have come away with the same conclusion as I did by late Sunday afternoon:
Anyone aspiring to the title of No. 1 high school basketball prospect in the Class of 2015 is going to have to make a compelling on-court argument as to why he is more deserving than Ben Simmons.
The six-foot-nine left hander from Melbourne, Australia by way of Montverde Academy in Florida and the Nike-fronted E1T1 program, played on a level well beyond just terrific while helping his team to victories over The Family (101-85) and Athletes First (84-82).
No one, in his size range in the Class of 2015, does more quality things with the ball in his hands than does Simmons, who committed to signed with LSU next November last Oct. 14.
That couldn’t have been more evident than during E1T1’s final game of the weekend.
Simmons scored an efficient 33 points by way of 13 of 17 shooting from the field (including one of his two attempts from behind the arc) and six of seven from the free-throw line to go with 12 rebounds, three assists, two steals, a blocked shot and only one turnover in the victory over Oklahoma’s Athletes First – a game that was as competitive and entertaining as any played during Weekend II of the EYBL 2014 season.
Just as importantly as those numbers, however, was Simmons’ ability to handle and pass the ball while getting his team into its half-court offensive attack against the Allonzo Trier-led Athletes First, and also seemingly come up with a key play – at either end of the floor – each time Trier & Co. seemed on the verge of pulling ahead and gaining some momentum.
Earlier Sunday Simmons scored 26 points (10 of 14 from the field, including a 3, and five of six free throws) with five rebounds and an assist in his team’s win over Michigan-based The Family.
E1T1’s 59-46 loss to Cheick Diallo and Team SCAN on Saturday is the only blemish on its record at the midway point of the EYBL season, which resumes next weekend in Hampton, VA.
It also got a couple of solid efforts from 2015 guard Antonio Blakeney (Orlando Oak Ridge), who hit 20 of 42 shots from the field and nine of 11 free throws for a collective 51 points Sunday.
Other Sunday standouts included:
*A lot of recruiting analysts and Internet sites list Isaiah Briscoe as a “shooting or combo guard”.
LOL!
Don’t be misled – he’s a “point guard”, by inclination, skill and know-how.
Briscoe (Roselle Catholic) helped the New Jersey Playaz wrap up a marvelous weekend (4-zip) Sunday with victories over Northwest Xpress (89-57) and Mean Streets (68-59).
The average margin for the four weekend wins was 18 points as Briscoe averaged 21.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls – your Weekend II EYBL 2014 Most Outstanding Player . . . Isaiah Briscoe!
At the midway point of the 2014 EYBL spring campaign, he and Jalen Brunson (Mac Irvin Fire/Chicago Stevenson) are clearly the league’s two best point guards, regardless of class.
*Team Scan and the Oakland Soldiers batted .500 on Sunday but their standouts, Cheick Diallo and Ivan Rabb, continued to show no signs of conceding any “No. 1 in 2015” rating to Simmons, Briscoe, Trier (Athletes First by way of Oklahoma City and his prep school, Montrose Christian of Rockville, MD) or anyone else.
No “true posts” (if you, like me, are more inclined to refer to Simmons as a “wing”, of sorts) have played more productively – and, often, spectacularly – than have Diallo (Centerreach, NY, Our Savior) and Rabb (Oakland, CA, Bishop O’Dowd).
*He may not have the vertical, lateral or straight-ahead explosiveness that Diallo and Rabb possess but 6-9 and 240-pound (my estimates) Jessie Govan once more used the EYBL to showcase why he is also one of the better post prospects in the Class of 2015.
Govan (Wings Academy in the Bronx) led the New York Lightning to wins over Team Scan and the Travelers on Sunday after splitting games with the Playaz and CIA Bounce on Saturday.
His weekend averages: 17.0 points and 4.9 rebounds.
He may seem a bit methodical at times in the post but he showed off a nice variety of jump hooks and other low-post moves over the weekend.
*The Texas Titans – with a roster of players located in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area – had one-sided wins over the Oakland Soldiers (76-61) and Albany (NY) City Rocks (86-48) on Sunday.
Forward Mickey Mitchell (Plano West, located about 10 minutes from the building where the games were played) who is committed to Ohio State) didn’t score a lot – 4.5 points per game – Sunday but also chipped in 8.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game.
And another forward from the 2015 Class, D.J. Hogg (a Mitchell teammate at Plano West), wrapped up a 21.0 points per game-weekend with 25 points against 25 points against the Soldiers and 21 more against City Rocks.
He connected on 17 of his 33 attempts from behind at the arc as the Titans lost only their opener on Saturday (to Team Penny of Memphis) on the weekend to improve to 6-2.
*Speaking of Team Penny (and how is that for a nifty transition?), it improved to 7-1 with a 4-0 weekend.
The Brothers Lawson – Dedric is from the Class of 2016, Keelon from ’15 – are each averaging 15.5 points per game, with Dedric going for 7.0 rebounds per game to Keelon’s 6.2.
*I didn’t see much of All-Ohio Red during EYBL/Round I (in Sacramento) but did on this weekend.
And 6-8 forward Esa Ahmad (Shaker Heights in Ohio) and 6-3 guard Jalen Coleman (Lumiere Academy in La Porte, IN) each showed why they have spots rooted out in any consensus Top 75 – give or take – in the Class of 2015.
Ahmad showed off as much perimeter skill (including a highly dependable jump shot, with ample range) as any player in his size range at the event not named Ben Simmons.
And Coleman –I saw a lot of him last summer at adidas-fronted events, as well as with Lumiere Academy during the Tarkanian Classic in Las Vegas in December – had 23- and 24-point efforts on Saturday before averaging 8.7 points during the three games the team played on Sunday (making for the fourth game All-Ohio Red didn’t play in Sacramento because of final-day travel issues).
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