Burlison on Basketball

Frank Burlison | High School Basketball | College Basketball

A whole lot of Utah hoopers on display in SLC Saturday

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SALT LAKE CITY – If you want a nice definition of “one-stop shopping, basketball-wise”, the Saturday E.A.T./Utah Camp at the Saint Vincent de Paul Parrish School will do just fine, thank you very much.

In this case, “one-stop shopping” is more accurately defined as “one-stop evaluation” of most of the top high school – and middle school – boys’ basketball players in Utah.

Props to Chris Popoola, Seena Namdar (Camp Coordinator and Salt Lake City College Assistant Coach) and the entire  E.A.T. (Elite Athletic Training) crew for attracting a deep group of outstanding players and putting them in position to play in a competitive environment.

Heading a 90-plus group of players in attendance Saturday were the respective Gatorade and Max Preps Utah Players of the Year for the just-concluded season.

Senior guard Quentin Meza (Cyprus in Magna), who became just the eighth player in the state’s history to score 2,000 career points, was honored by whoever does the selecting for the sports drink empire.

And bagging Max Preps honors was junior forward Brody Kozlowski, whose Corner Canyon (in Draper) won the State 6A title and earned a spot in the April 6-8 State Champions Invitational, held at Georgetown University in Washington, DC.

Among the other seniors (Class of 2023) were a player who already knows where he will be attending college in the fall, 6-foot-8 Collin Murray-Boyles (Mt. Pleasant Wasatch Academy), who is bound for the University of South Carolina.

The left hander is a nice athlete with a lot of perimeter skill.

Some of seniors – still looking for college destinations – who played well Sunday included guards Kaden Erickson (6-5/Syracuse); Yorgio Golesis (6-0/Salt Lake City Skyline); Chudi Anosike (6-5/Murray) and Mason Bendinger (6-4/Woods Cross), as well as forward Isaac Garrett (6-8/Pleasant Grove).

Each of those seniors (including Meza) is capable of playing NCAA Division I basketball, at some level (remember, there are 360 – give or take – NCAA-affiliated DI programs).

Garrett is on a tier with the other high-quality athletes – at his size – in the western class of 2023. And Golesis’ footwork is something to be envied by basketball players anywhere.

Among the juniors at the camp who could challenge Kozlowski in the “Utah Player of the Year” race for next season who stood out Saturday were the Sandy Alta trio of 6-8 Jaxon Johnson (pictured), 6-7 Carter Doleac and 6-0 Ace Reiser.

Johnson (who will team with Kozlowski with the Utah Prospects for one of better set of 17s forwards on the adidas spring/summer circuit) has gotten taller – I could see him topping out at close to 6-10 – has refined his skill even beyond the elite level that it was late summer.

Would I be surprised if he’s among the top 10 “prospects” in this western class a year from now?

Nope.

Others there from the class of 2024 who turned in nifty performances included 6-7 Chris Cox (Salt Lake City Cottonwood); 6-9 Malick Diallo (Wasatch Academy); 6-9 Derelle Desire (Draper Juan Diego); 6-5 Dutch Dowell (Salt Lake City Olympus); 6-1 Cooper Lewis (Lehi); 6-4 Tanner Davis (Smithfield Sky View) and 6-4 Hayden Gribble (Herriman).

Cox, like Kozlowski and Johnson, is more “wing forward” than “post forward”.

Diallo is expected to anchor the Utah Prospects frontline, alongside Johnson and Kozlowski. He’s a member of the Mali national program.

Desire (who is a standout on the Great Britain national program) is a left hander with a lot of shooting range and accuracy.

Dowell (who averaged 24 ppg for a 24-3 program that also includes an exceptional class of 2024 point guard, Jordan Barnes), Lewis, Davis and Gribble put on strong jump shooting performances Saturday.

A couple of the better players in the Utah class of 2024, guard Tiger Cuff and forward Blake Rawson (each from 6A runner-up American Fork), were unable to attend the camp.

The most compelling of the class of 2025 players on hand was 6-8 Tyrin Jones (Layton Christian Academy), a kid with immense upside relative to physical growth and skills’ development.

Kobe Allen 6-1 (Taylorsville) and 6-2 Jax Allen (Cedar Valley) – no relation – were two quality sophomore guards that impressed me as playmakers and shooters.

Real Salt Lake Academy (based in Herriman) is home to a sophomore (6-5 J.J. Apathjang) who was forceful and productive on Saturday and to two guys who were among a large group of freshmen standouts Saturday.

Coach Dave Evans’ two terrific players from the class of 2026 who were so good Saturday are 6-7 Junior County (he’s going to be a college point guard someday, IMO) and 6-5 Massaer Mbodj.

Two of the better “scorers” – as in, jump shooting, mid-range pull-up and hard drives and finishes – at the event were freshmen guards in 6-3 Luke West of South Jordan Bingham (11.6 ppg) and 6-4 Bryce Mella of Orem Mountain View (18.8 ppg as the state’s top freshman scorer).

Highland of Salt Lake City was well-repped by two freshmen in 6-7 Soren Ries (runs well and a lot of range and accuracy as a jump shooter) and a real point guard in 6-foot Isaiah Drisdom.

Drisdom played with about as much polish and “feel” as a point guard as you’re going to find in a 15-year-old just one season into his high school career.

And, considering his hoops bloodlines, that’s not surprising.

His dad, Timothy Drisdom, was a standout point guard from Southern California (Calvary Chapel in Downey and the elite L.A. Rockfish club program) before starting at the position for the late and oh-so-great Rick Majerus at the University of Utah.

Eighth graders (with a few seventh graders sprinkled in) were at center stage for the final two games of the evening.

And guards Jax Oyler (superb handling, passing, and scoring skill) and Bode Sparrow (strong and impossible to stop on drives; he’s also a football standout)

Oyler is bound for American Fork (where former Utah all-timer Ryan Cuff is cranking out terrific teams and guards) with Sparrow set to attend Davis in Kaysville.

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