Hoophall Observations

[Ricker]

Watched 12 of the 15 games Sat & Sun. There was only 2 hot shooter in all the games, Curtis Jones, a 6'4 jr point guard from Huntington Prep that is ranked #59 in the Jr class hit 7 for 10 from 3 as part of about 28pts
Allonzo Trier going to Arizona clearly is a big time shooter with lots of other skills. Lots of people can dunk, a huge number take the ball to the rim, and quite a few can hit an outside shot, but almost nobody is money from deep.

There were plenty of bigs who could block a shot, but no rim protectors like Brimah. Great power players like Cheick Diallo and Thomas Bryant, finesse bigs like Thon Maker and Josh Sharma, but no Thabeets or Brimahs yet.

In fact there are a ton of 6'4 types who almost hit their heads on the rim, (UniqueMcClean #129 in Jr Class from MacDuffie School) for example. They block a large number of shots. I would also say there were no players that took any plays off in any of the games, kids are playing hard and with abandon. They just can't shoot. and they loose the handle in traffic because they are playing equally great athletes that are playing hard defense. There are also a very limited number of skillful passers. I am pleased to say that in Jalen Adams we have a shooter, leader, athlete, defender, ball handler, passer, as good as any and maybe better than any. I also wish his backcourt mates Donovan Mitchell and Justin Simon were with us.

Malachi Richardson 6'6 2G to Syracuse - nice enough player, didn't shoot great, didn't carry his team,
Brandon Ingram 6'9 Wing with big rep - think Tashaun Prince, skinny, loose handle, avg shot, big potential
Mustapha Herron Sacred Heart - I liked him, strong body, better athlete than I expected
Raheem Solomon Freshman 6'2 guard for Sacred Heart had poise and I bet will develop,
Malik Petteway - 6'7 Sacred Heart - a Cinci type player good in a rock fight type game
Rawle Atkins 6'4 Christ the King - one of those high flyers

Derrick Jones 6'7 that picked UNLV over us, my biggest regret, 31pts 14 rb, when he leaves his feet he should be required to file a flight plan. None of his points were breakaway dunks that I recall. They were all offensive tip ins. He is the most amazing player I have seen with this skill because he jumps faster and higher than anyone else. His own offense involves putting a ball up and then just staying with it until it falls in.

Nazreon Reid a 6'9 freshman who played with Roselle Catholic will be excellent. Maybe 230lbs now, he played the top of the key in a zone defense, hit a couple outside shots, and had a good spin move in the lane waved off with a flop. You'll hear of him.

Isaiah Briscoe on that Roselle Catholic Team - next - he put up 4-5 airballs, had turnovers, a couple of clever assists and took the ball hard to the rim but I didn't see eliteness. It's like watching Jerome Bettis play basketball.

I did like 2 players from Dematha. DJ Harvey a 6'6 Soph with a mid range pull up to his game, and 6'5 Jr Guard Markelle Fuitz who scored 25pts with poise. I bet Harvey will be an impact player.

Derryck Thornton intrigued me but I would want to see him again. Very quick but hard to pay close attention because Trier was so good to watch.

Lastly, you might ask, What does Omari Spellman, Jordy Tshimange, Samuel Japhet Mathias, Ajou Deng (yes there is another Ajou Deng playing for St Thomas More), Levi Cook, have in common? They are all 6'10 or greater, weigh 280 at least, and are pretty good athletes and ball players. Together they are a mountain range. The kind of power we wanted Rakim Lubin to be. Love to have 1 big like that on the team.

My comments about Enoch and Brown are in their threads. Very pleased with Enoch.

Sorry for the length of the post.

 

[Gurleyman]

Don't apologize for the length - thanks for taking the time to go to the games and write it. Like all good reads, it goes by quickly.

 

[chapwilvaug72]

monsieur ricker: olywould luv for yo to join his staff; he really need yo dude; yo need job pronto? it could be arranged

 

[mauconnfan]

No apology required and thank you from all of us is though. Nice summary, great job!

Question on Heron - size? game? Is he a good enough shooter to make it as a tweener? He's a strong looking kid for sure but will need to be a smallish swing or a 2G, does he have the handle. Is he a Kentucky athlete or Pitt?

Thanks

 

[Ricker]

I thought Heron played tough and played big and was a good enough athlete to play for any school. I didn't see him as a tweener at the 3 spot, he can probably fit there easy. I was prepared to be underwhelmed and he turned my thinking around. I don't recall jump shots, but he was strong to the basket. They played against Christ the King with similar players. There was no 6'10 players in the game. Keep in mind, I thought Pitt was getting a star when I saw JJ Moore play years ago, so 1 game isn't everything, but Heron was as good as any of the 6'4 to 6'6 players over the 2 days.

 

[Rdm203]

I thought Heron played tough and played big and was a good enough athlete to play for any school. I didn't see him as a tweener at the 3 spot, he can probably fit there easy. I was prepared to be underwhelmed and he turned my thinking around. I don't recall jump shots, but he was strong to the basket. They played against Christ the King with similar players. There was no 6'10 players in the game. Keep in mind, I thought Pitt was getting a star when I saw JJ Moore play years ago, so 1 game isn't everything, but Heron was as good as any of the 6'4 to 6'6 players over the 2 days.

Well I have watched herron and Shhs extensively over the last 2 years. I have also been going to hoophall for about 6 years and he was as impressive as any junior I have seen up there on Saturday. As I said in another post his game is much improved from last year. His jumper and handle is much better. Working with Ryan Gomes and Mike Sanders has helped. He hit two deep 3s at hoophall. He also has no problem being the man and guarding the other teams best player. Also, Solomon is Herron's steps brother and tyrn flowers also played well. Evans and bossie were intrigued. UCal contacted flowers immediately after the game. Weird that I never seen one uconn coach at the games even before herron committed to Pitt. Oh well

 

[Rdm203]

Flowers is interesting because he grew 4-5 inches over the summer. Now 6'7 long, lanky and could shoot it from deep.

 

[AfgHusky15]

Watched 12 of the 15 games Sat & Sun. There was only 2 hot shooter in all the games, Curtis Jones, a 6'4 jr point guard from Huntington Prep that is ranked #59 in the Jr class hit 7 for 10 from 3 as part of about 28pts
Allonzo Trier going to Arizona clearly is a big time shooter with lots of other skills. Lots of people can dunk, a huge number take the ball to the rim, and quite a few can hit an outside shot, but almost nobody is money from deep.

There were plenty of bigs who could block a shot, but no rim protectors like Brimah. Great power players like Cheick Diallo and Thomas Bryant, finesse bigs like Thon Maker and Josh Sharma, but no Thabeets or Brimahs yet.

In fact there are a ton of 6'4 types who almost hit their heads on the rim, (UniqueMcClean #129 in Jr Class from MacDuffie School) for example. They block a large number of shots. I would also say there were no players that took any plays off in any of the games, kids are playing hard and with abandon. They just can't shoot. and they loose the handle in traffic because they are playing equally great athletes that are playing hard defense. There are also a very limited number of skillful passers. I am pleased to say that in Jalen Adams we have a shooter, leader, athlete, defender, ball handler, passer, as good as any and maybe better than any. I also wish his backcourt mates Donovan Mitchell and Justin Simon were with us.

Malachi Richardson 6'6 2G to Syracuse - nice enough player, didn't shoot great, didn't carry his team,
Brandon Ingram 6'9 Wing with big rep - think Tashaun Prince, skinny, loose handle, avg shot, big potential
Mustapha Herron Sacred Heart - I liked him, strong body, better athlete than I expected
Raheem Solomon Freshman 6'2 guard for Sacred Heart had poise and I bet will develop,
Malik Petteway - 6'7 Sacred Heart - a Cinci type player good in a rock fight type game
Rawle Atkins 6'4 Christ the King - one of those high flyers

Derrick Jones 6'7 that picked UNLV over us, my biggest regret, 31pts 14 rb, when he leaves his feet he should be required to file a flight plan. None of his points were breakaway dunks that I recall. They were all offensive tip ins. He is the most amazing player I have seen with this skill because he jumps faster and higher than anyone else. His own offense involves putting a ball up and then just staying with it until it falls in.

Nazreon Reid a 6'9 freshman who played with Roselle Catholic will be excellent. Maybe 230lbs now, he played the top of the key in a zone defense, hit a couple outside shots, and had a good spin move in the lane waved off with a flop. You'll hear of him.

Isaiah Briscoe on that Roselle Catholic Team - next - he put up 4-5 airballs, had turnovers, a couple of clever assists and took the ball hard to the rim but I didn't see eliteness. It's like watching Jerome Bettis play basketball.

I did like 2 players from Dematha. DJ Harvey a 6'6 Soph with a mid range pull up to his game, and 6'5 Jr Guard Markelle Fuitz who scored 25pts with poise. I bet Harvey will be an impact player.

Derryck Thornton intrigued me but I would want to see him again. Very quick but hard to pay close attention because Trier was so good to watch.

Lastly, you might ask, What does Omari Spellman, Jordy Tshimange, Samuel Japhet Mathias, Ajou Deng (yes there is another Ajou Deng playing for St Thomas More), Levi Cook, have in common? They are all 6'10 or greater, weigh 280 at least, and are pretty good athletes and ball players. Together they are a mountain range. The kind of power we wanted Rakim Lubin to be. Love to have 1 big like that on the team.

My comments about Enoch and Brown are in their threads. Very pleased with Enoch.

Sorry for the length of the post.

Thanks for posting!

 

[mauconnfan]

Well I have watched herron and Shhs extensively over the last 2 years. I have also been going to hoophall for about 6 years and he was as impressive as any junior I have seen up there on Saturday. As I said in another post his game is much improved from last year. His jumper and handle is much better. Working with Ryan Gomes and Mike Sanders has helped. He hit two deep 3s at hoophall. He also has no problem being the man and guarding the other teams best player. Also, Solomon is Herron's steps brother and tyrn flowers also played well. Evans and bossie were intrigued. UCal contacted flowers immediately after the game. Weird that I never seen one uconn coach at the games even before herron committed to Pitt. Oh well

The UConn coaches were always at the wrong school looking for him. He changed once a month for a while right? LOL

 

[BoatShow]

I've never apologized for my length.

 

[huskyblooz]

Couldn't make it up yesterday, but went up there today. Glad I did.
Saw Rabb and Jaylon Brown square off. Think they're still both uncommitted. Both very impressive. O'Dowd had too much size.

Oak Hill is down from recent years, but came back to beat La Villa St Joe's. Love Carlton Bragg's game who's going to Kentucky, I mean Kansas!
Fantastic vision for a big man.

Then Monteverde handled Bishop Gorman. I'm going on record that Ben Simmons (LSU) will be the SEC PoY next year.
Zimmerman & Jeter were very unimpressive. Charles O'Bannion Jr, who's a soph, kept them in the game.

 

[G0UCONN]

No apology required and thank you from all of us is though. Nice summary, great job!

Question on Heron - size? game? Is he a good enough shooter to make it as a tweener? He's a strong looking kid for sure but will need to be a smallish swing or a 2G, does he have the handle. Is he a Kentucky athlete or Pitt?

Thanks

Have seen Heron a few times (not yet this year). The absolute real deal IMO. Great athlete, passer, unselfish, scorer. Very good shooter mid range but not sure about range --- haven't seen him take many threes. He can play at any level. Think he is a combo guard at high D1 level. Future star.

 

[Matrim55]

Lastly, you might ask, What does Omari Spellman, Jordy Tshimange, Samuel Japhet Mathias, Ajou Deng (yes there is another Ajou Deng playing for St Thomas More), Levi Cook, have in common? They are all 6'10 or greater, weigh 280 at least, and are pretty good athletes and ball players. Together they are a mountain range. The kind of power we wanted Rakim Lubin to be. Love to have 1 big like that on the team.

Any of them stand out for having good hands - i.e., the ability to catch the ball in traffic on the move like Okafor? Such an underrated/underappreciated skill, and knowing you have a big man like that can just open the court up for the guards.

 

[superjohn]

I really wish we had Heron in the fold, losing a local talent like that hurts but it seems his dad never had any interest in Uconn as a destination and Kentucky will probably be the pick when he officially signs. A few other young Waterbury kids to keep an eye on are Nyzair Rountree, Shawn Coles and Raheem Solomon.

 

[Fishy]

Barry Rohrrssen played basketball back in the day with Heron's dad - UConn never got in the starting gate there.

Kentucky doesn't really recruit anymore as much as they select, so I'd imagine that the kid would stay committed to Pitt until Kentucky decides what they want to do.

If the kid is rated #25 in the class, Kentucky has to vet 24 other kids before they get to him.

 

[3uconn]

Have watched Heron a couple times, including this past weekend, and in my opinion he would be a perfect fit here. Always wished we were after him harder early on.

 

[Ricker]

Re: Hands for the big wide body guys. All of them were real strong in that category it appeared. Catching and soft touches around the rim. Spellman, Mathias, and Jordy Ts., are the real prospects. Ajou Deng, and Levi Cook have heft and help a team in specific ways. I specifically noted how Levi Cook immediately started setting screens for other players on offense. Having a big body and that attitude can be a value added in itself for a team that needs to get defenders off their shooters and slashers .