HAMPTON, Va. – Volume III of the 2016 Nike Elite Youth Basketball League tipped off Friday evening at the eight-court, Boo Williams Sports Complex.
Twenty-one games were contested and I watched all of two of them and healthy portions (aka, “large amount”) of three others.
And, for those of you keeping score – or tabs on me – I watched them in this sequence and on these courts . . .
*Court 6, Team Final (PA) 83, The Family (MI) 60: Team Final and MOKAN Elite are each 7-1 in the D Division.
And, after watching Team Final (from start to finish) for the first time Friday night (I missed it when I watched the first EYBL weekend in Brooklyn last Month), it’s easy to understand why Team Final has lost just once.
Each of its players is a skilled – and willing – passer and shooter (or so it seems) and the squad seemingly didn’t lose a thing anytime Coach Aaron Burt pulled a player off the bench.
Everyone on Team Final impressed, more so, though, juniors (Class of 2017) Lonnie Walker (Reading, PA, High) and Daron Russell (Philadelphia IMHOTEP Charter) and sophomore Cameron Reddish (2018/Westtown, PA, Prep).
The 6-foot-5ish Walker made a 21-point, five-rebound, four-assist and zero-turnover performance (in 27 of a possible 32 minutes) appear to be almost easy. He hit three of his five shots from behind the arc and it could have just as easily been perfection on five tries. He’s one of the top half-dozen or so “shooting guard” prospects in the class.
The 5-9ish Russell (nine points and four assists in 16 minutes) is one of the speedier “point-guard types” I’ve seen this spring and yet rarely played “too fast” Friday night.
The 6-7ish Reddish (17 points, six rebounds and four assists in 30 minutes) did so many things well at his size against The Family (that it’s kind of difficult to definitively project a college position for him right now.
Two fellows from The Family consistently impressed me Friday night: left-handed, 6-footer Amauri Hardy (2017/Farmington Hills, MI, North) and 6-8 Thomas Kithier (2018/Macomb, MI, Dakota).
Hardy is listed at 170 pounds but looks heavier – or, at least, stronger – and got to pretty much anywhere he wanted to go on the dribble against Team Final, finishing consistently over and around taller opponents while scoring a team-high 17 points to go with four rebounds and four assists.
Kithier (in his first game with the program having moving from the Under Armour-based 1Nation club) came off the bench to score seven points and grab two rebounds in 16 minutes.
Those aren’t exactly impressive numbers but his quick bounce, dependable hands and soft shooting touch were evident immediately. He’s a heck of a prospect.
Court 8, Nike South Beach (FL) 83, MeanStreets (IL) 74: Zach Brown (2017/Miami Beach High) looks every bit his listed 7-1 and 245 pounds.
The left hander’s offensive skills seemingly have improved a whole lot (at least from my perspective of having first watched him extensively during the event formerly known as the “LeBron James Skills Academy” in Las Vegas 22 months ago. And he’s not exactly and active rebounder, either.
But don’t dare try launching any half-hearted shot attempts within his reach, as MeanStreets was emphatically instructed via the seven attempts he swatted and several others than he altered into missing.
Six-five Chaundee Brown (2017/Orlando First Academy) – no relation – was the best offensive performer for NSB with 21 points (three 3s), eight rebounds and three assists.
To get to the point without any dilly dallying, no one played particularly well for MeanStreets, although one of the EYBL’s very best players, 6-7 Tugs Bowen (2017/La Porte, IN, La Lumiere), went for 26 points (but he missed 14 of his 22 shots from the floor).
Court 6, Albany City Rocks (NY) 84, Seattle Rotary (WA) 76: Six-four Anthony Gaines (2017/from Kingston, NY, by way of New Hampton Prep in New Hampshire) went for 24 points in 25 minutes in the eased-up ACR victory, hitting eight of nine shots from the field and all eight of his free throws.
At the other extreme, two very good players from Seattle Garfield’s Class of 2017, Jaylen Nowell and Daejon Davis (each 6-4ish), combined for 39 points but needed a collective 38 shots from the field to do so.
Court 1, Las Vegas Prospects 60, Arkansas Wings 46: For the uninitiated, it may have been a stunning jump-shooting performance.
For all of those already familiar with Chuck O’Bannon’s niche as a hoopster, it was “business as usual” for the Las Vegas Gorman product.
O’Bannon – for whom supporters can make a reasonable claim for being the No. 1 shooting guard prospect in the west in the Class of 2017 – scored 27 points in 28 minutes via nine of 16 shooting from the field (including five of 10 from behind the arc) and four of six on free throws.
Court 3, MOKAN Elite (KS) 93, the New York Rens 83: On a night when their jump-shooting standout Hamidou Diallo (Queens, NY, by way of the Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut) missed an uncharacteristic 15 of 24 shot attempts, it was up to Jordan Tucker (White Plains, NY, Stepinac) to keep the Rens close to MOKAN most of the way.
The 6-7 Tucker dropped 29 points in 28 minutes, hitting nine of 12 from the field (including five of seven 3s) and all six free throws.
He also attacked 6-8 Michael Porter Jr. (Columbia, MO, Tolton) quite nicely off the dribble a couple of times.
But there was too much porter and too much Trae Young (Norman, OK, North) in MOKAN uniforms.
Porter, likely to attend high school in or near Seattle as a senior with his father recently joining Lorenzo Romar’s coaching staff at the University of Washington, seemed to be playing at a level a couple of notches beyond the reach of anyone else in the building Friday night.
Porter hit 11 of 19 shots from the field (some of their quite forcefully, thank you very much), including both 3s he attempted, en route to 30 points and 17 rebounds.
And Young made another on-court statement as to his candidacy for any and all “No. 1 point guard in 2017” pecking orders while going for 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds.
It’s amazing in support of me to have a web site, which is helpful in favor of my knowledge.
thanks admin