COLORADO SPRINGS – Fifty-four high school players were on hand Saturday during the opening of a two-day USA Basketball “mini-camp”.
The event, which concludes with morning and afternoon workout sessions on Sunday, will help in the formation of international touring teams in the summer and in making decisions on the bulk of the U.S. roster for the Hoop Summit in early April in Portland.
With a handful of McDonald’s All-American voters (including myself, Evan Daniels of Scout.com, Jerry Meyer of 24/7 and Eric Bossi of Rivals.com) on hand, 15 seniors are also, directly or indirectly, using this as an opportunity to make on-court itches for their respective candidacies for the 2017 McD’s AA squad.
In reality, some of those 15 are hovering near the “locks/near locks” category.
Four of those are point guards Trae Young (Norman, OK, North), Trevon Duval (Bradenton, FL, IMG), Quade Green (Philadelphia Neumann-Goretti) and Colin Sexton (Mableton, GA, Pebblebrook).
Each is unique to the other in the pecking order and quality of their various strengths as was illustrated Saturday, examples being the remarkable deep jump shooting of Young, the ability to get to the rim at will by Sexton, Duval’s power and explosiveness on the dribble and Green’s nifty repertoire of mid-range “flips” and “floaters”.
If Isaiah Washington (Brooklyn St. Raymond’s) and Jaylen Hands (El Cajon, CA. Foothills Christian) were, from my perspective, the six best “point guard-types” in the class would have been in attendance.
My choice as the best “shooting guard” in the Class of 2017, Gary Trent Jr. (Napa Valley, CA, Prolific Prep by way of Apple Valley, MN, and – very briefly — was in the building Saturday and hit his usual assortment of mid- and deep-range jump shots.
Two of the best “center/power forward-types” in the class are Wendell Carter Jr. (Atlanta Pace Academy) and Austin Wiley (Hoover, AL, Spain Park) and both dominated in drills and scrimmages Saturday with their combination of size, power, footwork and shooting touch.
They hooked up briefly in the final scrimmage of Saturday morning, with Wiley scoring over the top of Carter with a couple of jump hooks.
Carter’s pet move Saturday was a turnaround jumper from the left short corner and he converted on it at least three times when I was watching.
Another “big” of note on display was Jaren Jackson Jr. (La Porte, IN, La Lumiere Academy) who didn’t score from in and around the low post with the frequency of Carter and Wiley but was an impressive rebounder and shot blocker.
None of the aforementioned point guards, or Trent, have committed to a college as of yet. Neither has Carter but Wiley and Jackson are bound for Auburn and Michigan State, respectively.
The best “power forward” in the building, both sessions, was P.J. Washington (Henderson, NV, Findlay Prep) who crushed it as a rebounder and face-up scorer from the free-throw line and wings.
But the most impressive player – in any class – on Saturday was Michael Porter Jr (Seattle Nathan Hale by way of Columbia, MO, Tolton), who scored with near-absurd frequency in just about every fashion conceivable.
Compelling arguments could be made by some (including myself) for Carter or DeAndre Ayton (Phoenix Hillcrest Academy) being the No. 1 prospect in the Class of 2017 but Porter has been my choice for that designation since his performance in the early-June Pangos All-American Camp in Southern California.
His efforts in July and then on Saturday only served to strengthen that conviction about the University of Washington-bound Porter.
The other 2017 players on hand Saturday were Jarred Vanderbilt (Houston Victory Prep), Matt Coleman (Mouth of Wilson, VA, Oak Hill Academy), Kevin Knox II (Tampa, FL, Catholic), D’Shawn Schwartz (Colorado Springs Sand Creek) and Lonnie Walker (Reading, PA, Reading).
I’ll go into more detail about the 20 players from 2019 and 19 from 2020 here in a later post.
But some of the guys who most impressed me Saturday in the 2020 class included 6-foot-10 Isaiah Todd (Richmond, VA, John Marshall), 6-3 R.J. Hampton (Little Elm, TX, Little Elm) and 6-1 Nico Mannion (Scottsdale, AZ, Pinnacle).
Those doing the same in 2019 Saturday were 6-1 De’Vion Harmon (Denton, TX, Guyer), 6-5 Scotty Lewis and 6-6 Bryan Antoine (both from Ranney in Tinton Falls, NJ), 6-6 Jaime Jaquez (Camarillo, CA, Camarillo), 6-7 Christian Brown (Hopkins, SC, A.C. Flora) and 6-10 James Wiseman (Nashville, TN, The Ensworth School).
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