FORT WORTH – The 2017 adidas Uprising Gauntlet spring and summer series tipped off with 18 games in the 17s Gold Division over six courts Friday night Game On facility.
OK, a few sentences on one of the games I didn’t watch Friday night:
Twenty-Two Vision (based in Louisville) edged South Carolina Supreme, 66-62.
Those names may not ring any kind of hoops bell for you but these will:
For TTV (for short), 6-foot-5 guard Romeo Langford (New Albany High in Indiana) scored 28 points while hitting nine of 15 shots from the floor (but missing four of five from behind the arc) to go with four assists, four rebounds and six turnovers.
For SCC, Zion Williamson (Spartanburg), listed at 6-8 but looking a lot closer to 6-6 – not that it matters a good gold dang – powered his way to 26 points (13 of 20 from the floor) to go with seven rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and three steals. And that was despite missing all three of his attempts from 3 and failing on all four of his free throws.
Langford and Williamson are, in all likelihood, two of the three best prospects in the national Class of 2018 (the third being, of course, Marvin Bagley III who plays for the Phoenix Phamily on the Nike/EBYL circuit).
Court 4 (where TTV and SCC played) was already crushed with a crowd about four and five rows deep when I walked into the gym Friday evening.
Hence, I’ll see each of those teams on Saturday and Sunday when I find a cool viewing spot in time.
Among the five games I did watch (to various depths):
*Marcus Smart YGC36 (based in Fort Worth) impressed in its win over the Ohio Basketball Club (despite nearly letting a 20-point lead dissipate into a Indiana Pacers-like meltdown vs. LeBron) with nice efforts from guard Grant Sherfield (North Crowley/Class of 2019) and 6-8 forward Jalen Wilson (Denton Guyer/2018). Wilson had 26 points/Sherfield 15.
Sherfield seems to have improved his “point guard” skills since I last watched him at adidas Nations in SoCal in August.
*New World (from Maryland) hammered the Washington state-based Team Bradley Northwester Panthers.
For the Maryland squad, Sherif Kenney (Rock Creek Christian) is quite the physical (6-4ish, 200 pound-ish) point guard in the Class of 2019.
*Game Point/Pump-N-Run (from SoCal) ran away from Garner Road (North Carolina), 75-64, behind the particularly impressive efforts from two of California’s better prospects from the Class of 2018 in 6-11 Fred Odhiambo (Mission Hills Alemany), with 10 points and seven rebounds and two or three blocks (those he oddly wasn’t credited with any) and 6-3 Wayne Arnold (Compton Dominguez), who scored 20 points while dropping four of seven from behind the *arc.
*Team Loaded (the Virginia version) had little difficulty while running past the Colorado Hawks.
A 6-9 player from the Class of 2019 showed off an abundance of promise as Armando Bacot (Trinity Episcopal) went for 21 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots for TLV.
*And, what appears to be one of the deepest squads on the adidas circuit this spring – Dream Vision, with its mix of players from the West Coast) – overwhelmed K Low (Philly, of course, once you realize “K Low” means “Kyle Lowery”.
DV has two quality players from the Class of 2017 in 6-6 Matt Mitchell (Eastvale Roosevelt in SoCal; he signed with Cal State Fullerton in November but is now headed to prep school) and 6-8 Will Weems (Las Vegas Coronado).
They went for 19 and 10 points, respectively, Friday night.
Two of DV’s underclassmen were especially sharp as 6-8 J’raan Brooks (Seattle Garfield) scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while 5-10ish Pierre Cockrill (Napa, CA, Prolific Prep) had 14 points and eight assists.
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