Colorado’s Class of 2019 on display Friday

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PARKER, CO – There are going to be some terrific boys basketball prospects making their high school debuts some eight months or so from now in Colorado.

That was evident during the elementary and middle school portion of the West Coast Elite All-Star Camp/Colorado Friday at Legend High in this Denver suburb.

Six-foot-four Jaedon Bowles scored 25 points while leading the white jersey-wearing to a 74-70 victory over its gray-wearing counterparts in the Top 20 game that wrapped up the first day of the camp Friday night.

The second and final day of the event gets underway Saturday morning when the players already in high school tip off in game action at 11 o’clock.

Each of the 100-plus players expected to attend will play two games each his camp squad with the action concluding with Top 20 and Top 40 games in the evening.

Bowles (Aurora Prairie Middle School) played very well in November in this same event (also held at Legend). And it was quickly apparently that he had put in a lot of gym work since as his footwork and low-post moves had improved considered, as had his confidence in his jump shot and its effectiveness.

And there was also a stretch in the all-star game in which it seemed as if he grabbed six or seven consecutive defensive rebounds.

But the most versatile, polished and vertically explosive of all of the players 6-3 or taller at the event Friday was 6-3ish Kenny Foster (Aurora Falcon Creek Middle School), who was outstanding here in November and was the high scorer as a seventh grader in the Top 20 game here a year ago.

Foster, along with Bowles, Miles Hunt (Cherry Hills Christian School) and Stephen Hayes (Aurora Prairie Middle School), was one of the four players on display Friday that likely have the physical strength as well as the skill sets needed to make the most immediate impact on their high school teams in the fall.

The fiery-haired (I’ve seen some navel oranges that would be jealous) Foster was equally effective via his jump shot, ability to beat defenders off the dribble and as a low-post scorer.

His passing also appeared improved – by a lot – since December.

Hunt – like Foster, on the upper end of 6-3 – powered his way for layups and rebounds in and around the lane. He also knocked in a couple of jumpers from near the arc in the Top 20 game.

He is the son of Melvin Hunt, the interim head coach of the Denver Nuggets.

If his dad is still employed by the Nuggets in the fall, Miles said he will attend Valor Christian in Highlands Ranch.

Hayes (who now looks to be checking in at 6-1ish) has the kind of strength, as well as skill on the dribble and as a passer, to make lot of good high school seniors envious.

He got anywhere he wanted to with the ball in his hands Friday. Once he begins to knock in mid- to deep-range jumpers with consistency, he’ll be a load for even the best high school defenders to try to check.

Ronnie DeGray Jr. (whose father played at the University of Colorado with former NBA star Chauncy Billups and is the head coach at Valor Christian High) was another post (6-3ish) who showed off quite a well-versed variety of both low-post and perimeter skill Friday.

Some other guards who played very well in their camp contests and in the Top 20 game were 5-8 Christian Davis (Denver Waldorf School), 6-0 Payton Egloff (Denver Blessed Sacrament), 6-1 Chase Hettinger (Castle Rock Mesa Middle School), 5-10 Jovan Nelson (Denver Martin Luther King Efficacy Academy) and 5-8 Jamil Safiedine (Denver Graland Country Day School).

Davis may have been the best “scorer” among the point guards Friday – he didn’t miss more than three or four shots when I watched him.

And he rivaled Hayes, Foster and Safiedine among the effective passers on hand Friday.

Hettinger (maybe the strongest jumper in the camp) and Egloff shot well from deep and from mid range while Nelson was as fast as there was on the dribble Friday.