COLORADO SPRINGS, Co. – The members of the high school basketball Class of 2022 have yet to play a “real” high school game as of yet.
But the 30 freshmen that are part of the crew assembled for the USA Basketball mini-camp in the Olympic Training Center this weekend have shown that some impressive debuts are in store for them in a little more than a month.
It’s by far the biggest of basketball “platforms” that any of them have appeared upon and most of them have demonstrated that they’ve suffered from anything approaching “stage fright”.
The second and third practice sessions of the event were held on Saturday, with the 85 or so players in attendance split into two groups alternating workouts between two gymnasiums.
Action is set to conclude on Sunday, with practices scheduled for 9:30 a.m. (MT) and 4 p.m.
I watched both sessions Saturday of the group that included the Classes of 2022 and ’21.
Each of those freshmen succinctly demonstrated why they were invited to the event.
Here’s some of those that most impressed me, listed alphabetically:
*Emoni Bates (6-8/Ypsilanti, MI, Lincoln): May have shot with more range – and accuracy – than any player in this class here Saturday.
*Luther Burden III (5-11/St. Louis Cardinal Ritter): His late grandfather was an All-American at the University of Utah before a brief pro career. Burden is a polish scorer and playmaker and apparently an outstanding football prospect, as well.
*John Duren (6-9/Philadelphia Roman Catholic): He was the most ferocious rebounder that I saw Saturday from the Classes of 2022 and ’21.
*Trejuan Holloman (6-2/St. Paul, MN/Cretin Derham Hall): There was a bit of a hitch on his jump shot and his open-court passing decisions waivered a bit in the evening scrimmages. But he impacted play at both ends of the floor, especially as an energetic defender.
*Dillon Hunter (6-3/Atlanta Westlake): He’ll evolve into a full-time point guard some day but I was most impressed with the form and accuracy of his jump shot Saturday.
*Richard Isaacs Jr. (6-1/Henderson, NV, Coronado): He was clearly the best “pure point guard” from 2022 in the drills and scrimmages Saturday.
*Chris Livingston (6-5/Akron, OH, Buchtel): Livingston scored easily when I watched him Saturday, both on drives and off-the-catch jumpers.
*Shy Odom (6-5/Brookline, MA, Beaver Country Day): Odom was one of the better offensive rebounders I saw – in any class – Friday and Saturday.
*MJ Rice (6-5/Durham, NC, Durham Academy): I didn’t see a more aggressive offensive player Saturday, especially off the dribble, into the lane and at the rim
*Dariq Whitehead (6-5/Bradenton, FL, IMG Academy): He was consistently the most impressive player I saw in this class Saturday. He’s from Newark. (PICTURED)
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