LA GRANGE, Ill. – Patrick McCaffery got an early start Saturday on a sophomore season that will provide a platform to demonstrate why he is one of the very best high school players and college prospects in the national Class of 2019.
For those of you trying to sort out that sentence, rest assured that the very best high school players – based upon how guys happen to play while in high school – isn’t always the same thing as being among elite college prospects.
Got it?
Anyway, McCaffery is on track to be an exceptional player for the next three seasons at West High in Iowa City. And, in his case, he also happens to be a top-flight prospect for all the programs among the upper-tier of college hoops, too.
How top-flight a college future does he have?
Oh, based upon what I’ve seen over the past year – including the USA Basketball “mini-camp” in Colorado Springs a few weeks ago and the first two and a half Pangos “All-Frosh/Soph Camps” – I would put him among the 15 or so best prospects in the class.
McCaffery was a Top 30 all-star game selection and my choice as the No. 1 freshman a year ago at the Pangos All-Midwest Frosh/Soph Camp.
And, after Saturday at the Park District Recreation Center in this Chicago suburb, I’ll expect I’ll tab him as the No. 1 sophomore at the event following the conclusion of the camp Sunday afternoon.
His basketball skill level (from inside and around the lane and from the perimeter) is well beyond that of any player – regardless of class – that you’re going to find anywhere in his 6-9 or so size range.
Fast-track 25 or so pounds of muscle onto his frame and he’d probably be able to earn some quality on-court minutes this coming season with the University of Iowa team coached by his pops, Fran McCaffery.
Some of the other standouts Saturday included:
*The 6-2 Amauri Pesek-Hickson was too quick and too strong on the dribble to be kept away from the rim by defenders, and his mid-range and deep jumpers kept those same defenders from sagging very far from him.
He transferred from Central to South in Omaha over the summer and, following the move, will not be allowed to play varsity at his new school until Jan. 11 of 2017.
His standing with college recruiters (he said he’s attended camps at the University of Nebraska and Drake University) is sure to climb rapidly later this winter and spring once more of them get a look at him;
*Justin Warren (Chicago Whitney Young) and Joel Watts (Chicago St. Rita) were as good as I saw among point guards in the 2019 and ’20 classes, respectively, setting up teammates with slick and on-target passes while scoring comfortably whenever they decided to launch jumpers or take the ball all the way to the glass;
*A nifty effort was turned in by another of Coach Gary DeCesare’s St. Rita players as 6-6 sophomore Jeremiah Oden hit at least four jump shots – including three 3s – during his first game with “Ohio State” late Saturday afternoon;
*I’m not sure I saw him hit a jump shot during the two games I watched him play for “Kansas” Saturday evening. But there wasn’t a stronger, quicker and bouncier athlete on display than 6-0 Markese Jacobs (Chicago Uplift Community High), who was also the most space-crowding perimeter defender I watched;
*The most advanced of the “big” posts (as a reminder, McCaffery, even at 6-9, plays mostly from the perimeter-in) I saw Saturday were 6-9 Taeyon Neal (Chicago Providence St. Mel School) and 6-9 Nolan Foster (Mattawan, MI, Mattawan) – both in the Class of 2019 – and, among the freshmen, 6-9 Raymond Terry (Gary, IN, Bowman Academy);
*And, lastly but not even close to “leastly”, there was an eighth grader who more than held up quite well vs. the freshmen and sophomores.
After his Saturday effort, 6-5 Patrick Baldwin Jr. (his dad is an assistant coach under Chris Collins at Northwestern) stands a reasonably likelihood that he’ll be tabbed to the final all-star game played (either in a Top 25 or 30 format) Sunday afternoon.
He attends Haven Middle School in Evanston (where Northwestern is located) and I would imagine that any of the Chicago-area high school powers-that-be – and want-to-be – would love to get his name onto a 2017-18 varsity roster.
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