LOUISVILLE – A final-day wrap-up from Sunday’s action at session II of the Under Armour Association spring action at the MidAmerican Sports Center:
*I watched a couple of terrific backcourts Sunday via WE R1 (Delaware-based), in its 53-36 win over Team Felton (South Carolina), and the Houston Defenders in their 69-67 defeat of Net Gain Sports (Minnesota).
WE R1 has, perhaps, the best Class of 2017 starting backcourt anywhere on the club/travel ball circuit in Quade Green (Philadelphia Neumann Goretti) and Trevon Duval (Newark, NJ, St. Benedict’s).
No point guard I saw over the weekend – which also included a Friday stop at the Under Armour event and a Saturday visit to Lexington over the weekend for the Nike EYBL – impressed me more than did Green, who I watched the past two Octobers during the Pangos All-East Camp.
And the 6-2 Duval is more “combo” on this level but likely to be a fulltime PG for whatever college program he selects. Duval formerly played for the New Jersey Playaz on the EYBL circuit.
As for the Houston Defenders, J.J. Caldwell (Cypress, TX, Cypress Woods), came into the spring as one of the 10 or so best PGs in the national class of 2016.
Based on what I saw out of the muscular Caldwell (he’s got the dimensions that would make him look like an NFL cornerback if he were in helmet and pads), he is all of that and maybe a little more.
But the revelation I gathered from watching the Defenders Sunday was that 6-4 Kameron McGusty (Katy, TX, Seven Lakes) may be one of the 10 or so best “shooting guards” in the Class of 2016.
He scores quite effectively in a variety of fashions, be it in transition or half-court settings.
*The Team Breakdown (Florida) “bigs” Dewan Huell (Miami Norland) and Troy Baxter (Gainesville, FL, The Rock School) each have made nice progress since I watched them play in the Under Armour event last May in Houston.
Both still need a lot of strength and fundamentals work but both can safely be slotted as Top 50 prospects in 2016 going into the summer.
*It’s difficult to imagine that there is a more physically gifted “15-under” squad in the country that then one that New Jersey-based SportsU fielded in Louisville.
It pushed its record to 8-0 via 60-28 (Louisiana Elite) and 62-48 (Kansas City Run GMC) victories I watched Sunday.
Its average winning margin on the season: 18.8 points.
SportsU is led by Class of members of 6-9 Nazreon Reid, 6-7 Louis King and 6-3 Atiba Taylor (Roselle Catholic) and 6-0 Jahvon Quinerly and 6-4 Luther Muhammad (Jersey City Hudson Catholic).
The 235-pound Reid opened the game in dandy fashion, facing up KC’s 6-10 Bol Bol, up-faking him and swooshing along the right baseline for a one-handed reverse crunch.
*And, yes, Bol Bol is the son of the late 7-7 NBA player and wonderful political and social political activist from the Sudan, Manute Bol.
I watched Bol Bol play as an eighth grader in October of 2013 during Dinos Trigonis’ Pangos All-Midwest Camp in Chicago and he’s grown at least four inches since.
But he is still beyond “skinny” I would guess weighing in at about 180 pounds or so.
Once the bulk and strength come along and he learns to consistently play with his knees bent and butt down, he is going to be a walking and running definition of “matchup problem” for opponents.
*Another son of a former NBA player who was on display Sunday was 2017 guard Ishmael El-Amin (Minnetonka, MN, Hopkins), who showed off impressive handling, passing and jump-shooting skill for the Net Gains Sports team in its two-point loss to the Houston Defenders.
I saw the same, though, out of the 6-3 son of Khalid El-Amin (who led Connecticut past Duke in the 1999 NCAA title game) during the Pangos All-Midwest Camp in Chicago last October.
The most impressive player for Net Gains Sports in its loss to the Defenders, though, was 6-6 left-handed wing (small forward or shooting guard) Jerry Myles (Moline, IL, Township United).
He must have hit five or six mid-range to deep jumpers, off the catch and off the dribble.
*The Atlanta Xpress 16’s were quite impressive in the win over DC Premier I watched Sunday morning.
The Atlanta squad has a couple of nifty 2017 prospects in 6-8, 210-pound Rayshaun Hammonds (Norcross, GA) and 6-5, 205-pound M.J. Walker (Jonesboro, GA).
*A 16U squad going 4-0 over the weekend was Earl Watson Elite (Southern California).
Six-seven Adrease Jackson (Las Flores, CA, Tesoro) averaged 10.3 points and 10.0 rebounds for EW which also has two double-figure scorers in fellow 2017 prospects Jemarl Baker (Eastvale, CA, Roosevelt) and Jaylen Harris (L.A. Windward).
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