NORWALK, CA – The Cerritos College gymnasium was the seven-hour home Sunday to some of the better “pre-high school” basketball players in California – and beyond – during the first “Elite King of Kings 32”elementary and middle-school camp.
The second day of the event (it was played Saturday at Gahr High in Cerritos, just a couple of miles south of the community college facility where things were held Sunday) featured non-stop action on three courts from about 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
And the middle court, home to the “Best of the Best” all-star game, provided a nice showcase for many of those aforementioned exceptional seventh and eighth graders.
Among the standouts – both during the camp’s two days of games as well as the Best of the Best clash – were a couple of 6-foot-5ish eighth graders who are northern California residents and members of the Nike EYBL/Oakland Soldiers travel program.
And, as their play in the all-star game and throughout the weekend demonstrated succinctly, Shemar Morrow (Sacramento) and Kyree Walker (Oakland) are gifted with an abundance of size, strength, explosiveness and – even more impressively – basketball skill.
Other “bigs” (a relative term, of course, when referencing elementary and middle school-aged players) on display over the weekend included the San Diego Select program duo of Obinna Anyanw and Chibuzo Agbo, both of which – like Morrow and Walker – are in the 6-4/6-5 range.
Two players who are closer to 6-3 but were equally impressive over the weekend were Jadon Jones (Long Beach) and Jalen Green (Fresno).
Jones is the son of Derrick Jones, the head coach at Long Beach Wilson who had a terrific career at Cal State Fullerton and overseas.
Another Long Beach-area standout eighth grader over the weekend with impressive hoops bloodlines was 5-11 Josh Camper. His dad, Brian, was a Long Beach State standout under Seth Greenberg and also played overseas.
Among the “non-Californian” players who impressed during the event were guards Nico Mannion (Scottsdale, AZ) and Jordan Toles (Baltimore), as well as forward MarJon Beauchamp (Seattle).
Mannion was the most complete guard in the camp and his play would have to put in the conversation with Walker and Morrow for “best in the camp” designation.
I watched his father (Pace Mannion) played at the old “Superstar Camp” in Pt. Loma (CA) as a Las Vegas Chaparral High senior-to-be in the summer of 1977. He was later a standout at the University of Utah (with Danny Vranes and Tom Chambers) and played six seasons in the NBA.
Toles is an “attacking” scorer while Beauchamp is a fluid and skilled offensive player with deep-and-easy jump shot.
A couple of other very good point guards were Robby Beasley (Dublin, in northern California’s “East Bay”) and Devin Askew (who attends Sacramento Country Day Middle School with Morrow).
And the best jump shooter in the camp was – by quite a lot, actually – Ryan Evans (in the Orange County community of Coto de Coza).
All in all, it was a superb event for approximately 250 participants organized and run adroitly by Ryan Silver, Julius von Hanzlik and camp administrator-deluxe MiDian Holmes.
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