Posting from Hoophall games
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Sluconn Husky
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I think that's assured.
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Sluconn Husky
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Sluconn Husky
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Here's hoping the door hasn't closed on Palmer.
With both UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley on the side lines, Wilson-Manyacka said it was “cool” too see them in the stands wathcing the top teams and players compete.
“It’s just something for motivation, just for our team to get better over the course of the season, even though we lost (Friday),” Wilson-Manyacka said.
www.masslive.com
With both UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley on the side lines, Wilson-Manyacka said it was “cool” too see them in the stands wathcing the top teams and players compete.
“It’s just something for motivation, just for our team to get better over the course of the season, even though we lost (Friday),” Wilson-Manyacka said.
Jordyn Palmer leads Westtown past Bullis at Hoophall Classic
UConn head coach Geno Auriemma and South Carolina’s Dawn Staley were both on hand to watch this game at the Hoophall Classic.
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Sluconn Husky
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Click for clips of both players:
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Here's a summary of some impressions from the tournament. The player impressions are primarily based on their one game in this tourney. In the first high school game I ever saw Stefanie Dolson, for example, she only scored two points.
So, my player evaluations from this tournament are not predictions about college or pro success. But, naturally, one can and I do extrapolate some things and, besides, I've seen some of these players before in person, as well as many in video clips (more on clips below).
If the players who didn't impress me with their shooting had made a lot more of their shots, I would have been a lot more impressed. And vice versa.
That said:
Best player? Easy: Kaleena Smith. She's was best three point shooter, best driver, best passer, and no one demonstrated a higher BB IQ. While she only had two assists, I have seen her be a prolific assister, and her high school stats support that.
Best team? Long Island Lutheran (LUHI). Eyeball, they had the best teamwork and five really good offensive players. They were the only team to shoot over 40%, and they shot the most and best, by far, from the arc: 11-17 for 65%.
My all tourney team? Tough to narrow it to 5. But just based on this tourney: Kaleena Smith (best player), Jerzy Robinson (33 pts, plays all positions), Savannah Swords (a 6-2 Ash Shade, all-over-the-court hustler/banger), Jordyn Palmer (crafty, cagey, adroit), and Olivia Vukosa (the only obvious-quality big). Honorable mention: LUHI's 5'6-8" (?) point guard, Taylor Brown.
How about my best candidates for UConn—i.e., not already committed elsewhere or to UConn. Well:
Some comments of some of these available players.
Smith - Clearly the best.
Palmer - Did not impress me in the first half. She seemed to be a fumbly dribbler under pressure (4 TOs). She completely turned me around in the second half. 6-1. Not track & field athletic, but basketball skilled. Nose for the basket. Knows when to shoot, hesitate, pass, deke left or right, hold em, fold em — just maturely in-control with craftiness, caginess and adroit body control.
Brown - Had never heard of her. Very impressed with her point guard skills, IQ, shooting, and assisting. 20 points on 8-17, 2-3, 2-4, 8 assists, 4 steals and 2 rebounds. Best PG after Smith in this tourney.
Samuels - I'd say she is two inches taller than her sister and bulkier. She plays guard and can shoot the three, and also bang inside at the 4 and 5. She does not have salient speed, athleticism or dribble control (6 TOs), but is a solid, hustling banger and probably a streaky shooter. Her team beat the #1 team in the country, Ontario Christian, in the last few seconds with great help from her 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Jezelle Banks and Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka - These were highly hyped players and I was not commensurately impressed by either. I could not watch the clips of them others posted during the game, but like all cherry-picked clips, 30 seconds and 60 seconds, they are not reflective of what these two players were doing the other 30 minutes in the game. What they both were doing was hero-balling out-of-control drives and missing shots, including point blank chippies.
My impression of both players was similar: High volume shooters who use their athleticism to drive and score against weak high school opponents, but who who couldn't penetrate against the stiffer defenses in this tourney and hence were out of control on their many drives into traffic. Hence, shot missers.
Banks scored 10 points from the floor on 5-12, 0-3 with only 2 rebounds, and committed 5 TOs. However, she did have 5 assists, 6 steals, and drew 9 FTAs (making all 9). I think with lots of mature discipline and coaching she could develop into a high quality offensive and defensive PG in college, but the tourney showed me nothing about her 3pt shot.
IW-M was even worse on her out-of-control drives and 2pt shots (2-9), but did show a smooth 3pter, hitting 3-7. However, she rarely passed unless she decided she couldn't make a hero play, and ended up with 0 assists. No steals, and only 3 rebounds for a 6-2 player. Palmer is more college ready than IW-M based on this one game. Like Banks, however, I think IW-M has the intrinsic athleticism to be a rotation player at UConn if she becomes more disciplined and mature and less a wild filly.
Griffin: She's the only 2028 who impressed me. She had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 6 TOs, but I've seen her play much better before in person before. At 6-0, I'd say she has more discipline and BB IQ maturity right now than IW-M for, say, the 3 position. She is usually disciplined and deadly with her quick penetration pull-up jumpers from 8-12 feet. She doesn't usually try to continue in for a (failed) aerobatic rim crash like I-WM. Either or both players could develop into quality wing scorers at UConn.
The ending of the Ontario Christian (#1) vs Bishop McNamara was exciting and confusing. OC was comfortably leading by about 6 points all fourth quarter into the last 90 seconds. Then, BM started pressing and pressuring, and OC was French pastry dribbling instead of crisply passing. I was pre-writing a short penultimate post in the last 10 seconds when, surprisingly, BM made uncanny shots and got fouled. The scoreboard lagged while the ref talked to the timer, and I wasn't sure who won until I got the score sheet.
I rarely use my too-smart-for-me phone for anything, so shooting photos and posting during a game was a new experience for me. I hope my posts made some sense.
So, my player evaluations from this tournament are not predictions about college or pro success. But, naturally, one can and I do extrapolate some things and, besides, I've seen some of these players before in person, as well as many in video clips (more on clips below).
If the players who didn't impress me with their shooting had made a lot more of their shots, I would have been a lot more impressed. And vice versa.
That said:
Best player? Easy: Kaleena Smith. She's was best three point shooter, best driver, best passer, and no one demonstrated a higher BB IQ. While she only had two assists, I have seen her be a prolific assister, and her high school stats support that.
Best team? Long Island Lutheran (LUHI). Eyeball, they had the best teamwork and five really good offensive players. They were the only team to shoot over 40%, and they shot the most and best, by far, from the arc: 11-17 for 65%.
My all tourney team? Tough to narrow it to 5. But just based on this tourney: Kaleena Smith (best player), Jerzy Robinson (33 pts, plays all positions), Savannah Swords (a 6-2 Ash Shade, all-over-the-court hustler/banger), Jordyn Palmer (crafty, cagey, adroit), and Olivia Vukosa (the only obvious-quality big). Honorable mention: LUHI's 5'6-8" (?) point guard, Taylor Brown.
How about my best candidates for UConn—i.e., not already committed elsewhere or to UConn. Well:
- Kaleena Smith (2027, ESPN #1)
- Jordyn Palmer (2027, #6)
- Taylor Brown (2027, #33)
- Jezelle Banks (2027, #4)
- Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka (2027, #2)
- Qandace Samuels (2027, #14)
- Tatianna Griffin (2028, #1)
Some comments of some of these available players.
Smith - Clearly the best.
Palmer - Did not impress me in the first half. She seemed to be a fumbly dribbler under pressure (4 TOs). She completely turned me around in the second half. 6-1. Not track & field athletic, but basketball skilled. Nose for the basket. Knows when to shoot, hesitate, pass, deke left or right, hold em, fold em — just maturely in-control with craftiness, caginess and adroit body control.
Brown - Had never heard of her. Very impressed with her point guard skills, IQ, shooting, and assisting. 20 points on 8-17, 2-3, 2-4, 8 assists, 4 steals and 2 rebounds. Best PG after Smith in this tourney.
Samuels - I'd say she is two inches taller than her sister and bulkier. She plays guard and can shoot the three, and also bang inside at the 4 and 5. She does not have salient speed, athleticism or dribble control (6 TOs), but is a solid, hustling banger and probably a streaky shooter. Her team beat the #1 team in the country, Ontario Christian, in the last few seconds with great help from her 21 points and 12 rebounds.
Jezelle Banks and Ivanna Wilson-Manyacka - These were highly hyped players and I was not commensurately impressed by either. I could not watch the clips of them others posted during the game, but like all cherry-picked clips, 30 seconds and 60 seconds, they are not reflective of what these two players were doing the other 30 minutes in the game. What they both were doing was hero-balling out-of-control drives and missing shots, including point blank chippies.
My impression of both players was similar: High volume shooters who use their athleticism to drive and score against weak high school opponents, but who who couldn't penetrate against the stiffer defenses in this tourney and hence were out of control on their many drives into traffic. Hence, shot missers.
Banks scored 10 points from the floor on 5-12, 0-3 with only 2 rebounds, and committed 5 TOs. However, she did have 5 assists, 6 steals, and drew 9 FTAs (making all 9). I think with lots of mature discipline and coaching she could develop into a high quality offensive and defensive PG in college, but the tourney showed me nothing about her 3pt shot.
IW-M was even worse on her out-of-control drives and 2pt shots (2-9), but did show a smooth 3pter, hitting 3-7. However, she rarely passed unless she decided she couldn't make a hero play, and ended up with 0 assists. No steals, and only 3 rebounds for a 6-2 player. Palmer is more college ready than IW-M based on this one game. Like Banks, however, I think IW-M has the intrinsic athleticism to be a rotation player at UConn if she becomes more disciplined and mature and less a wild filly.
Griffin: She's the only 2028 who impressed me. She had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 6 TOs, but I've seen her play much better before in person before. At 6-0, I'd say she has more discipline and BB IQ maturity right now than IW-M for, say, the 3 position. She is usually disciplined and deadly with her quick penetration pull-up jumpers from 8-12 feet. She doesn't usually try to continue in for a (failed) aerobatic rim crash like I-WM. Either or both players could develop into quality wing scorers at UConn.
The ending of the Ontario Christian (#1) vs Bishop McNamara was exciting and confusing. OC was comfortably leading by about 6 points all fourth quarter into the last 90 seconds. Then, BM started pressing and pressuring, and OC was French pastry dribbling instead of crisply passing. I was pre-writing a short penultimate post in the last 10 seconds when, surprisingly, BM made uncanny shots and got fouled. The scoreboard lagged while the ref talked to the timer, and I wasn't sure who won until I got the score sheet.
I rarely use my too-smart-for-me phone for anything, so shooting photos and posting during a game was a new experience for me. I hope my posts made some sense.
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Thanks for this. I’m quite moved by your read of Kaleena. I’ve seen a few of her games — only on video, never in person — and didn’t see her as a fit for UConn. Too ball-dominant. But your sense of her bbiq says something. I’ll have to revise my judgement.
Do you mean that Qandace is 6’2”? Geno can usually find a way to use players like your description of her.
I’m intrigued by your description of Griffin.
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K does play ball dominant, too much so in this game, but frankly so do all the big high school stars. Then they find out lots of their moves don't work against good defenses. Another thing: none of these starrier players are defensive wizards. However, Kaleena's BB IQ is so high, her reflexes so quick, and her touch so accurate in all sorts of kinetic body postures, that she could easily be molded into a college teamwork superstar on both offense and defense. If she is willing.
Vukosa is the exception to the ball dominance and black holing of the star guards and wings. I don't recall even one successful entry pass into her when she was on the low block. Rarely even a try by the mediocre guards. Olivia could only try to self-create shots when she got the ball on a rebound or when out on the perimeter. Having seen her in person four times, she definitely has lefty and righty back-to-the basket low post moves, midrange jump shots, and three-point range—when and if she is ever passed the ball. She would be well served by losing 20 pounds of non-muscle and then putting back five pounds of muscle.
Yes, and she's a mesomorph not an ectomorph.
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In Sierra Canyon's loss to LUHI in this tournament, Jerzy Robinson smashed JuJu Watkin's career scoring record at Sierra Canyon. Juju had held the title with 2,322 career points, which Jerzy passed in this game to reach 2,355 points.
www.espn.com
In addition, I just received the media's All-Showcase Team, a selection that was made regardless of position.
GG Banks - St. James Academy (Class of 2027 | #4)
Jordyn Palmer - Westtown School (‘27 | #6)
Jerzy Robinson - Sierra Canyon School (’26 | #5)
Qandace Samuels - Bishop McNamara High School (‘27 | #14)
Kaleena Smith - Ontario Christian High School (‘27 | #1)
Jerzy Robinson passes JuJu Watkins as Sierra Canyon's all-time leading scorer
The South Carolina commit scored 33 points to break JuJu Watkins' career mark at Sierra Canyon.
In addition, I just received the media's All-Showcase Team, a selection that was made regardless of position.
GG Banks - St. James Academy (Class of 2027 | #4)
Jordyn Palmer - Westtown School (‘27 | #6)
Jerzy Robinson - Sierra Canyon School (’26 | #5)
Qandace Samuels - Bishop McNamara High School (‘27 | #14)
Kaleena Smith - Ontario Christian High School (‘27 | #1)
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I REALLY enjoyed your comments and balanced opinions. NICE! THANK YOU!
Your efforts are truly appreciated. It changed my opinion on many POIs!!!