BEAVERTON, Ore. – The “Arizona” team closed activities by knocking off “Idaho” in the championship of the Great 8 Tournament early Sunday afternoon during the second and final day of The Hoop Circuit’s Prospect Camp at the Beaverton YMCA.
Approximately 150 players, spread over 16 teams, played four games apiece – plus the single-elimination, eight-minute affairs to close the camp – during the James Johnson-fronted event that attracted many of the top Northwest-based prospects from the Classes of 2026 to ’22.
The Arizona team was led by two of the best “sleepers” from the Class of 2022 in the Northwest, 6-foot-4 Devon Malcolm (South Salem in Oregon) and 6-5 Caden Harris (Summit in Bend, OR), along with one of the elite “big” prospects in all of the West from the Class of 2024, 6-10 Austin Maurer (Medford, OR, Cascade Christian).
Malcom (pictured) was the most explosive and entertaining player in the event, mostly due to rocking his “big bang theory”, translated: He dunked over the top of anyone who stood between him and the rim.
Harris was as smooth as accurate a jump shooter as was on display.
And Maurer showed off his “pick-and-pop” potential by nailing a lot of jumpers over the top of the outstretched hands of defenders.
Rounding out the rest of the 10 players who most impressed me with their performances over the weekend (alpha listing/not based on “college potential”):
*Jacob Axmaker (6-0; C/O 2022; Slayton High, OR): Turned in two strong days, both as a jump shooter (hit seven 3s in one of his Saturday games) and clever handler and passer.
*Blake Buchanan (6-10; C/O 2023; Coeur D’Alene, ID, Lake City): He was both the – easily – top college prospect spotted here in his class, as well as the most dominant “big” on both ends of the floor. Has the potential to crack national Top 50 C/O ratings by next spring.
*Zoom Diallo (6-3; C/O 2024; Tacoma, WA, Curtis): As good as “pure scorer” as there was here, in any class. He’ll probably be somewhere in the top 15ish range when I put my western ratings in that class together.
*Lattimore Ford (6-3; C/O 2026; Maple Valley, WA, Summit MS): Wow – it’s hard to believer there are any eighth-graders in the west better than this guy. Terrific “true point guard” who makes consistently right decisions as both a playmaker and shooter.
*Winters Grady (6-6; C/O 2025; Lake Oswego, OR): Big, strong and skilled, with high-level scoring ability via his jump shot and ability to beat defenders off the dribble. Could prove to be the best prospect out of this program since Kevin Love.
*Brooklyn Hicks (6-3; C/O 2023; Lacy, WA, Timberline): There was a bunch of quality point guard prospects among the junior class here, including Jackson Floyd and Mason Williams. Hicks was the best, though, especially on Sunday.
*Jaylin Stewart (6-6; C/O 2023; Seattle Garfield): No one came into the event with a bigger “regional” and “national” reputations (he’s playing in several USA Basketball events). He was just fair on Saturday but picked it up several notches, effort- and execution-wise, on Sunday.
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