Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

Ten standouts from Nike Elite 100 Camp

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ST. LOUIS – It took two days and Tuesday night’s session of games but I’ve watched each of the Nike Elite 100 Camp’s 10 teams play at least once.

As is always the case, a hefty portion of the nation’s upcoming junior and sophomore classes – in this case, Classes of 2021 and ’22, respectively – have been on display in Saint Louis University’s Simon Recreation Center.

I’m going to give you a list of the 10 players that most impressed me over the Monday and Tuesday games and drills minus the western-based guys such as Devin Askew and Wilhelm Breidenbach (Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei), Paolo Banchero (Seattle O’Dea), Jaxon Kohler (Mt. Pleasant, UT, Wasatch Academy), Richard Isaacs Jr. (Henderson, NV, Coronado) and  Zaon Collins (Las Vegas Bishop Gorman) who’ve I’ve written about extensively over the past year or more.

Here we go, with an alpha pecking order:

Emoni Bates (Class of 2022/6-8/Ypsilanti, MI, Lincoln): The most heavily hyped kid in his class, Bates arrived at the camp Tuesday afternoon and immediately show why he’s one of the most gifted scorers in high school, regardless of class standing.

Kobe Bufkin (‘21/6-4/Grand Rapids, MI, Christian): The left hander was outstanding Tuesday night for his “Cleveland” squad in its loss to “Portland”. I would imagine he’ll be a full-time point guard at Michigan or Michigan State.

Moussa Cisse (‘21/6-10/New York City Christ the King): When “engaged”, he’s about as skilled and explosive a player as there is in his class. He was mostly that Tuesday for “Golden State”.

Zion Cruz (‘22/6-2/Jersey City, NJ, Hudson Catholic): A “point guard-type” who has also knocked in a bunch of jump shots for Toronto while teaming with Devin Askew and (Tuesday afternoon and evening) Bates.

Jalen Duren (‘22/Philadelphia Roman Catholic): The best “true post” in the Class of 2022 and pretty much showed why he has that label while crushing it for “Oklahoma City” Monday and Tuesday.

Micawber Etienne (‘21/6-9/Suffield, CT, Academy): He may be the most underrated of the posts in his class but that status won’t be the case much longer after he followed up a strong Pangos All-American Camp performance earlier this month with dominant efforts over the first two days here. PICTURED.

Chet Holmgren (‘21/6-11/Minneapolis Minnehaha): That rarest of combinations in basketball – a kid who buries NBA-distance 3s while being a dominant rebounder and shot blocker. Oh, yes: He does so despite weighing a 183 pounds.

Chris Livingston (‘22/6-5/Akron, OH, Buchtel): He averaged a team’s-best 14.8 points per game for the USA 16U squad that won a FIBA title in Brazil earlier this month. He’ll end up averaging something close to that here, in less than 20 minutes per game for “Portland”.

Nick Smith (‘21/6-2/Sherwood, AR, Sylvan Hills): He’s the backcourt version of Etienne here – he’s at least somewhat underrated but not for long.

Dariq Whitehead (‘22/6-5/Montverde, FL, Academy): His game is comparable to Livingston’s – hard slashing and assertive finishing.

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