Jalen Spicer C/O 2017 Team CP3, Point Guard– Jalen is one or the more underrated guards in the state for the class of 2017, although he is not the tallest player on the floor by any means, he clearly knows how to play the game at a very high level and how the Point Guard Position is supposed to be ran. Unlike many young players that look to score more than pass, Jalen is a pass first PG that looks to get his teammates involved before he begins to score on his own. He has very good ballhandling skills and kept his defenders off balance and guessing throughout the entire event, combine this with his solid frame and good speed and you have the type of PG that can play an uptempo pace or slow it down and be productive in a half court setting. It’s easy to see how Jalen can get sometimes overlooked because of how many things that he does for his squad that will go unnoticed to the untrained eye. He communicates well with teammates and coaches on both ends of the floor and is what we like to call a ‘‘ floor general’’, when things are not going right he doesn’t try to take over on his own but instead looks to make the correct plays at the correct times. Its pretty evident when watching Jalen play that he is a team first guy and that it’s not about personal accolades for him, hes all about playing the right way and getting the win. The question that I always have with smaller guards is if they can knock down shots consistently, throughout the event he shot the ball well and showed good form and elevation on his shot. Defensively he is constantly applying pressure, beating his man to spots, playing passing lanes and disrupting the offense in numerous ways. Recently he received his first scholarship offer from FIU and took an unofficial visit to UNC-G, don’t be surprised to see more offers come in July and in the fall for Jalen.
Michael Hueitt Jr C/O 2017, Team CP3, Shooting Guard– It is well known that Michael is one the best shooters in the State without a doubt, so to see him knock down four or five treys in a game was no surprise at all. Instead I was more impressed with how well he rebounded the ball and defended throughout the event, he has a very long wing span combined with nice athleticism which allows him to pull down rebounds on both end of the floor. It seemed as if he was definitely making an effort to impact the game by rebounding the ball just as much as he impacted the game by scoring. Defensively I was impressed with his effort that he brought, he showed that he is clearly stronger than he may appear to be, his opponents attempted to post him up numerous times but were unsuccessful in scoring after posting up. Michael’s overall game is continuing to progress and it will be very interesting to see him throughout the remainder of the summer and into next season at High Point Christian
Mikey Dixon Class of 2016, Diamond State Titans, Combo Guard- Mikey is one those players that you already know is going to drop 30 points before the game even starts, he is a natural scorer that has a very high amount of moves in his arsenal. Unlike some players that use the wrong move at the wrong time, Mikey know when to use which move so that he can put himself in a great position to score. It doesn’t matter if he’s hitting a defender with a quick crossover, splitting a trap or using a timely euro step, he uses the right move at the right time and makes the game look easy. There are certain player that almost seem like they were born to score the ball and Mikey is one of them, not only does he get to the basket with ease but he also knows how to get separation from his defender on the perimeter so that he can get his shot off easily. Mikey was clearly one of the best natural scorer’s at the event and turned a lot of heads, watch out for him in July , as we are definitely expecting to see more colleges to come aboard for this young man.
Lavar Batts, Class of 2017, Team CP3, Point Guard – Lavar is a Point Guard that likes to play the game at an uptempo pace, he has good speed and quickness as well as a long wingspan that allows him to push the ball ahead quickly. Once he gets in the paint he finishes very well above and below the rim and is what we would call a craft finisher, although his frame is slender and is still developing he embraces contact well. One of the attributes that stuck out to me about Lavar in this event is how well he reads the defense and makes the correct plays at the correct time. Even though he is a solid finisher, he doesn’t not allow that to give him what I like to call ‘‘ tunnel vision’’ where he loses sight of teammates that are open in the corners. If the defense collapses then he makes the right decision to kick it out or drop a pass off to a big in the post, on the defensive end he was very solid, using his wing span and speed to play the passing lanes and come up with steals
J.P Moorman, C/O 2017, Team CP3, Forward – J.P is a prospect that is starting to see his stock rise, he’s played against some of the top Power Forwards in the country throughout his H.S season which has been a great experience for him to test his talent level. One attribute that I love about his game is his attitude, this young man does not back down from any challenge at all and is not afraid to bang inside with players that are much taller than he is. During this event he displayed his perimeter skills by knocking down some outside shots and beating his man off the dribble to finish at and above the rim. On the defensive end he displayed a nice IQ, providing help when needed and protecting the paint, it was also impressive to see him find a man to box out every time the shot went up and even taking a charge with the opportunity presented itself.
I don’t know many parents who aren’t worried about their children’s futures. No matter how talented our children may be, no matter how much we know they have going for them, it’s impossible not to worry that they won’t get the best shot at reaching happiness and success.
Parents of student athletes are no different than parents of any other student, and rightfully so. Just because a child plays a sport well does not mean that child isn’t just as deserving as children who excel in other areas. Many students excel in multiple areas, but sports is so consuming, so personally identifiable, and so prominent in our culture that it can take center stage in our children’s lives.
Over the years one of the questions I’ve gotten lobbed my way many times is simply, “How can I help my child get recruited to play college basketball?”
This is a question that I can absolutely answer, but giving parents the answer –which is all I really want to do– is not as simple and blurting it out; each student is different, each family is different, and each set of opportunities is different. I never want to just tell them ‘hey, your son should just come to my showcase’, because while I do work extremely hard to make my showcase a valuable tool for players to improve their game while getting seen by college coaches, I don’t feel like it’s the answer for everyone, and I would rather try and determine exactly what would help their specific child instead of sounding like someone just promoting my own event to anyone.
If you are a parent, then you know there are established scholastic methods to help your child get to college, or improve their school performance. It basically comes down to time, money, and your child’s ability. ‘Ability’ is a tough subject to tackle when talking about scholastic work, but let’s sidestep the possibility that we are talking about students who cannot do the classwork. That’s a bit out of scope of what I’m delving into at this point, but the three things that compose a winning formula in the classroom also are the exact same three things that create blueprint for a college athletic scholarship, but with one significant difference…which we will get to in just a moment.
Let’s start with an example high school student who is struggling in a math class. Parents already know, or can quickly learn, what the standards are for their child to successfully be accepted to a college, and one of those is having a high enough GPA and the correct course credits; several of those are going to be in mathematics. So parents have several options available – first, to determine where their child is lacking, what their study habits are, and putting in more time with their child to help them overcome and work through these issues. For some parents, they are able to take it a step further, hiring a tutor who is an expert in the subject and thus allowing their child to get even more assistance than they might have been able to get from the parent alone. Every child’s situation is different, every family is different, but the tools available to parents and students are pretty much established. They can invest time, money, or hopefully, both, to help their child improve and succeed in any scholastic area.
Now, let’s talk about the last component of the formula: ability. One of my favorite quotes is from comedian Jackie Gleason, who quipped “find out what you don’t do well…and don’t do it.” We all know, especially as adults, that we have some things we do well and others which we don’t…do so well. I know I do; we all do. My wife is fantastic at crossword puzzles, but I am definitely not. However, show me some physics equations and I will run circles around them. Like all of us, I know I am stronger in some areas than others…and that is where ability comes into play. All of understand this is a truth for everyone; no one does everything brilliantly.
For parents, it’s pretty straightforward to figure out where our children’s scholastic strengths are. In addition, there are tests – both classroom tests assigned by teachers and standardized tests administered at local, regional and national levels. It’s pretty clear when your child scores in the top 98th percentile in a nationally standardized English exam that they are doing just fine in that subject.
However, while these same components for scholastic success –time, money and ability– are exactly the same for athletics, the key difference is that while parents understand the ‘time’ equivalent – more gym practice, more physical workouts, more games –and the ‘money’ equivalent– paying for them to play on an AAU team, paying for a trainer to work out with them– parents have almost no way to determine ability in athletics.
For parents, they are left to determine athletic abilities of their student-athlete with the following available methods:
– The opinions of others, including presumed experts, published rankings, coaches and other parents
– Their own sports knowledge
– The box score of games played
– The attention or publicity their child receives
This is not just a guessing game, it’s a guessing game loaded with bias and misinformation as a launching point. This is a system based in informal logic from the very onset and it is no wonder so many parents spend several years immersed in in the AAU scene before suddenly coming to the realization that nothing they’ve believed was true.
So now that we’ve determined that the basic similarities of successful formulas exist between scholastic and athletics, here’s my initial answer to parent’s question about getting recruited for college, and a basic plan for raising your child’s athletic profile.
As I said, everyone’s situation is different, but in order to try and provide a generic answer that can help the most people, let’s set some basic assumptions.
First, if your child is in grade school or middle school, stop worrying about recruiting. Just stop. No legitimate college or NCAA service scout is looking at elementary school kids. I really don’t want sound harsh, but it matters absolutely zero that your 5th grader is ranked number 12th or 57th or 83rd nationally by some service. I already know as I write this that some parents are reading this and walking away, convinced that I am an idiot. I can’t help those parents. But elementary school rankings are not real. Middle school rankings aren’t real, either.
Look, here’s the deal: It’s hard enough to look at a high school senior and figure out if they are a college prospect. Each year backwards on the age level becomes even more difficult. Judging a high school freshman and trying to figure out if he’s actually a college prospect is such a gamble that no major scouting services or fan ranking site even attempt to truly rank players (which is another issue I’ll get to in a moment) until after their sophomore season. Proof? Andrew Wiggins wasn’t the number one sophomore in his class when he was in the 10th grade. A few years later he was the number one pick in the NBA draft. Kids and teenagers grow and mature so drastically that judging where they will wind up is extremely hard. A player who dominates every game he plays in as a 6th grader might be the shortest, smallest and slowest kid on the court by the time he’s in the 11th grade. Not to mention that no one knows how puberty will affect a child, and I’m not just talking about physical changes. The entire concept of Catcher in the Rye, the famous book so often listed among the literary masterpieces, is based on the difference between how children view the world versus adults and teenagers.
If your child is in middle school, there are a rare few — a very rare few — who are already good enough to get some notice by colleges and scouts. Guess what? If your child is one of those players, chances are pretty good you’ve already been contacted by a few colleges and scouts with name recognition. We’re not talking about the vast majority of college prospects here; we’re talking about Lew Alcindor type of players, kids usually already with enough height to play college ball and dexterity to compete against really good high school players. Remember that even most of the players in the NBA today weren’t those kind of players in middle school and it should help frame the conversation. Almost no middle school players fall into this category.
So we’re talking about high school kids, primarily. Recruiting for most high school players will generally start picking up between their sophomore and junior years – that’s when many of them start playing varsity, and that’s when many of them start growing to the height/position they will play in college. This is also when parents start noticing that their child isn’t getting much college interest and that’s when the questions start getting asked. So, after all of this preamble, let’s talk about where to go from here.
1. You need some video of your child playing. Honestly, a lot of people have video of their child but it’s pretty much useless. I’ve seen so many videos with blurry video of a ‘featured’ player making an open pass on the perimeter to another player who scores – that’s not a highlight, guys. If you show me six plays where your student athlete made a routine play or scored an open layup, that’s not really showing much. And mixtapes –the glorified, slickly edited kind that gets tons of views– don’t work for most players and don’t really show what a player can do. What you really need is the best game footage you can get, showing things like ballhandling, shooting, finishing in traffic, deep shot, things like that. And cut down on the hype music. But you will need video.
2. Once you have video, you can reach out to colleges yourself, and here’s the part where parents balk, but I can’t state this clearly enough: if your child has zero college offers and zero colleges contacting them on a regular basis, you need to start with Division III and NAIA school and work up from there. I’ve had dozens of parents over the years who had kids who were decent players tell me that they’d sent their son’s highlight videos to schools like UNC, Duke, Kentucky, and so on. This is just naive, and it’s also a reflection of the fact that most parents don’t know that there are hundreds of schools that a player could attend that don’t play all of their games on national television. I can also tell you that Division III, Division II and NAIA schools have miniscule recruiting budgets; if you are a serious recruit and you reach out to an assistant coach of those schools, there is a very good chance that many of them will follow up with you. This does not mean they will automatically give out a scholarship, but it does mean they will take a look at your student’s game and see what they think.
Before you shake your head and say ‘no way, my kid is Division I all the way’, I’d like to point out that I’ve heard that from hundreds of parents over the years whose children ultimately never got an offer from any school. I can also tell you that I personally have known dozens of players who took my advice, starting contacting colleges and in many cases, eventually landed at Division I or Division II schools. I can also tell you that most parents and players are completely deluded about Division I basketball, thinking that it means they are one step away from the NBA, but that is absolutely not true. I know several basketball agents who cannot get players signed, even with foreign teams, who played on high major college teams but got little to no playing time.
But let’s not get into pro prospects now, that’s something to discuss later. Right now, let’s talk about getting your child the best shot at playing basketball in college. This is why I usually ask players what they want to study in college first, instead of where they want to play. Too many teenage players (and often, unfortunately, their parents) are completely focused on the basketball teams of their prospective colleges. Yeah, it does matter if the coach is a decent person or if the basketball team makes headlines for committing crimes. But most college players will begin and end their basketball careers at the college they attend, and for most of them, they will need to make sure they like the school and they can study something they want for the future. This is not an easy question to answer, but it does matter. You want to study to be a veterinarian? Chances are pretty good there are colleges in NAIA or Division III that have good programs.
I’m not saying this is where every player should end up, but this is the reality facing parents and players. I know that most people want a ’10 quick steps’ guide to getting a scholarship at a major Big 10 or ACC school, but that isn’t based in realistic thinking. But guess what? There are many players who started off with Division II or Division III offers and ultimately ended up in high major conferences.
There’s a lot more to say on this subject, including how to track down the contact information for colleges you will need, but I wanted to move back to our original list of available methods for parents to determine ability and break them out a little bit.
– The opinions of others, including presumed experts, published rankings, coaches and other parents
Okay, this is a wide range of people but I feel it’s important to at least address it a bit. Presumed experts includes regional and national scouts, coaches and trainers. The ability and knowledge of experts is as widely varied as sports fans. Regional scouts are more likely people who scour gyms constantly, working hard to find and evaluate players regardless of whether those players are nationally known prospects or not. National scouts tend to focus more on players already considered to be high major, and in some cases, there is a difference between a national ‘evaluating’ scout and a ‘media’ scout. Trainers…well, trainers are guys who really need to have a proven track record, and that means years of players and recommendations. There are some awesome trainers out there and some, like Alan Stein, have revolutionized basketball strength and conditioning. But many trainers are just people who latch onto a top physically gifted prospect and are riding their coattails, using that player to build their own business. Coaches are the hardest to gauge. For example, some AAU coaches are fantastic, have coached and played at multiple levels and really devote themselves to their teams. But AAU doesn’t really have standards for coaches, and that means anyone can organize a team. This is both good and bad, but it’s important to understand that just because an AAU team is sponsored by a shoe company or they win a lot of games necessarily means their coaching staff is composed of experts to advise you on the best path to recruitment.
And listening to other parents? As a person who has watched waves of parents come through high school and AAU, I can tell you that parents often live in an echo chamber that they perpetuate. Many parents will talk with each other about things like reclassing, which AAU teams they should be on, how to get ranked and recruited, and most of them are completely wrong. And three to four years later, all of those parents will be gone and there will be a new crop of parents on the sidelines, all claiming to be experts in how things work. There’s nothing wrong with talking with other parents, but I would be remiss if I did not point out that most of the parents you are seeing at tournaments every week only have a year or two of involvement and that’s the extent of their expertise. Meanwhile, some of the players I scouted when I first got involved in high school recruiting have since retired from the NBA. This is not a brag, it’s an attempt to point out that what you are hearing around you is not always as tried-and-true as it may seem. Echo chambers are dangerous because they feed on themselves and limit the amount of new information that is allowed in.
– Parents’ own sports knowledge
Some parents know a lot about basketball. Some know very little. But watching the Lakers on television and understanding how to scout a high school player to see if they are a college prospect are very different. Add in the fact that the player is your own child and it becomes extremely difficult to determine whether your child can play at a higher level or not, and what they might need to work on. The vast majority of sports fans have never even seen a Division III basketball game, yet will quickly dismiss it as a substandard level of play. How would they know? Frankly, they don’t know. A good scout should be watching basketball at multiple levels –high school, college, pro– and constantly be immersing themselves in various types of play to determine where a player might fit in. Many people think that college players who don’t go to the NBA are great candidates for playing overseas, but they have never seen an Italian League game and don’t know that in many countries, there are multiple talent levels of professional play – so a player could be playing in Korea, but not playing in the highest-talent-level (and best paying) league. There are players who only make a few hundred a month playing pro basketball overseas, and there are players who make as much as NBA players. This is not common knowledge and it’s not something you can glean from watching Inside the NBA a couple of times a week.
– Box scores
This is the closest thing that parents and players understand to a math test score; they think, if a player can average 25 points per game, they’ll get noticed by colleges. Sure, it’s great if you have a player who is a prolific scorer, but college coaches are not checking box scores in random newspapers around the country every morning, and I’ll be blunt: there are hundreds of players who score a lot of points in high school who can’t play in college or, even if they do, won’t be scorers in college. I’ve seen many point guards or scoring guards who averaged 30+ points per game in high school and couldn’t even break 5 points per game at the college level. This is why I get more interested when I see a player has a triple double or is averaging 8+ rebounds per game. Those stats are a little more telling than pure points. And stats are just a starting point.
– The attention or publicity their child receives
I skipped over rankings a few paragraphs back when talking about expert opinions, because I wanted to include it here. High school rankings are not real. Sure, I can whip up a list of the top 10 point guards in a region or the top 20 small forwards in the nation, but even if my rankings turn out to be perfectly accurate (they won’t) it won’t mean anything much to a player’s recruitment or how they actually play in college. College coaches aren’t looking at rankings and deciding to offer ‘Player X’ because he’s ranked at #83 and not offering ‘Player Y’ because he’s ranked at #84. They are going to watch both players play and decide who is the better fit for their program.
Make no mistake; some publicity will help a player get recruited. If multiple scouts are mentioning a player on Twitter and/or on their sites or reports, then college coaches are far more likely to take a note to watch that player in the future. Sometimes I’ve gotten calls from coaches or even newspapers about players where I have mentioned that player before. But a bigger issue is when parents stress about if their child is left off of some arbitrary ranking chart or their name isn’t hyped in an article or, even worse, they see their child ranked highly on a list of other players and think their recruiting is going very well even if their child has no offers. Publicity has its place, but it’s a piece of the puzzle, not the barometer. There are players who I fervently believed could play at the college level but had trouble getting colleges to really look at, and it really comes down to that college’s needs and evaluation.
This was a long read, I know, and honestly, I could dig into this a lot more, and I will. But if you want more information on this kind of stuff, you can sign up for my email list here:
And of course, we talk about a lot of this at our annual showcase, the Southeast Summer Showcase. Check out the event website here events.BasketballElite.com for more information and to register before slots are gone. You can also hit me up on Twitter @m_shockley.
Names, placed have been changed to protect anyone who thinks this might hit too close to home…but these examples are based on true events of different players from the past few years. These are, obviously, not the real names of these players.
It’s 5:30 am on a Wednesday in North Carolina, and the early morning Sun hasn’t yet made an appearance. However, in two small gyms located in different parts of the state, two high school basketball players are beginning their school year with workouts.
5:30 am – Alamance County, North Carolina: a Wednesday in September
A lone basketball bounces off of the backboard in a quiet gym as Jeff Davis, a 6’7″ high school junior, practices a turn-around jumper from the low blocks. Every morning, school day or not, you can find Jeff here, putting up jumper after jumper, running sprints, or doing backboard touches. Jeff does not have a personal trainer and he attends a public high school, where he plays the center position for the varsity team. He just finished off a summer where he was not able to play AAU basketball, as his mom couldn’t afford it, and Jeff worked full time hours over the summer at KFC, which gave him extra money but the grease played hell with his adolescent skin.
Without a travel team and without a travel budget, Jeff made his own workout schedule, scraped together enough money to attend a couple of individual showcases and spent the rest of the summer putting up shots in his high school gym, which has no air conditioning, and he’s technically not supposed to use. His left shoe has an embarrassing square of duct tape on the outside corner; it popped a seam last week when he touched the baseline on a self-imposed suicide sprint.
5:30 am – Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: a Wednesday in September
A gym with several high school players, well lit but quiet except for the squeak of sneakers, has been in full swing with workouts since 5:00 am. One one court, four players are putting up early morning jump shots and chatting. They are all wearing identical warm up suits, emblazoned with a Nike logo and looking very similar to those worn by several college teams this season.
On the other end, a trainer feeds the ball to James Crews, a 6’7″ high school junior. Crews is putting up two hundred three-point shots this morning. His trainer, 32 years old and 5’4″, has never played or coached any organized basketball, but is wearing a warm up suit identical to those of the players and has access to all of the facilities. All of the players are wearing custom blue Nike basketball shoes, perfectly matched to the team colors, with the exception of Crews, who has shoes which are pristine white and gleam as though they’ve never been worn in a game, because they haven’t.
Crews spent his summer flying around the country with a Nike sponsored AAU team, attended elite camps organized by NBA players, and visited multiple major colleges. He’s actually from California, but he lives during the school year with his dad in North Carolina so he can attend school in the state.
As he continues to put up his early morning shots, the door to the gym swings open and four people walk in – two national media scouts and two coaches from an SEC school. The coaches can’t talk with Crews or scout him, so they walk up to the head coach’s office, which has a large glass window overlooking the court. As Crews continues to put up his shots, the coaches all stand and watch from the window, their conversation unheard but clearly focused on Crews.
9:30 pm – Alamance County, North Carolina: a Friday in October
Jeff Davis texts his best friend, Mack, asking if Mack is headed to the school’s football game. Jeff wants to catch a ride, since he doesn’t have a car and there’s really no chance he’ll have one any time soon. Jeff’s mom is working late today and the house is empty, as Jeff’s younger brother has already gone out. Normally, this would be a work night, but Jeff was hoping to catch the team’s last home game of the season and asked for the night off. It would be the first game of the season he’d get to see.
At halftime, one of the varsity football players waves to the crowd, who start singing a disjointed version of ‘Rocky Top’ – as close to the song as a crowd of high schoolers from eastern North Carolina can manage. “He committed to Tennessee this morning,” says Mack, “It was on the news.” Jeff thinks about the upcoming basketball tryouts and gets a little hope – maybe if one of the kids on the football team can get a scholarship to play at a BCS conference school like Tennessee, is it possible a college coach would come and see him play this season?
9:30 pm – Orange County, North Carolina: a Friday in October
The arena is filled to the rafters as midnight approaches. On the floor, the collegiate volleyball team is finishing their game in front of the largest crowd they will see all season.
The minutes are ticking away as the ‘real’ event of the night approaches – “Midnight Madness”, although technically every major college which holds such an event has their own name for it. The fans in the stands are there to see this year’s college basketball roster as they kick off their first practice of the year. It’s also a night of entertainment, complete with skits, an emcee from ESPN, current NBA players and video tributes. James Crews will be in attendance, along with a handful other high profile recruits, with floor level seats and backstage access. As he enters the arena, thousands of fans immediately recognize him and his compatriots. Some fans even start cheering.
“Your mixtape was AMAZINGGG!”, yells an anonymous voice.
If Crews is impressed by any of this, he doesn’t let on. He walks to his seat, sits back and has the look of a celebrity on the front row at a Vegas prizefighter event. Just another stop on the Crews tour. Later that night, he will post a message about his favorite type of juice to 20,400 followers on Twitter. He will not mention anything about Midnight Madness.
8:00 pm – Guilford County, North Carolina: a Tuesday in November
Road game for Jeff Davis and his team, and it goes poorly. His team loses by 24 points and his coach screams until he loses his voice during the second half. Jeff is overmatched at center, as the opposing school has a 6’9″ muscle bound player inside and a 6’7″ power forward who can scorch it from the perimeter. Jeff is built much more like a power forward and keeps getting knocked around by the bigger player inside and his teammates can’t defend the size of the big forward; no one else on Jeff’s team is taller than 6’3″. Jeff fouls out with about a minute to play, and his jaw aches on the bus ride home from an elbow he took to the face in the first half.
When he gets home, he sees on Instagram that the opposing center, a senior, posted a season high against him and was offered by Wake Forest and Vanderbilt after the game. Discouraged, he tries to study for a math test but eventually gives up and ends up texting his friend Mack until 2 am. At 6 am the next morning he goes back to the gym to put up shots. When he wakes up, he sees a message on Twitter from someone he doesn’t know who says he’s a basketball scout and saw his game and wants to ask how his recruiting is going. Jeff doesn’t respond and decides to think about what to say.
8:00 pm – Fulton County (Atlanta), Georgia: a Tuesday in November
The arena is about a third full, but the lights are on as ESPN is ready to broadcast a high school basketball game between James Crews’ team and another national powerhouse. Along the baseline, college coaches from every high major conference sit and wait for the tip off; press row has a dozen or so national and regional media scouts. The sideline reporter is a 27 year old former pro football cheerleader with a gleaming smile and 6 inch stilettos. When the camera cuts away from her, she turns to tell one of the girls helping to retrieve loose basketballs to ‘get the hell out of my shot’.
Crews comes out for warm ups and never looks at the other team warming up. A few college coaches nod to him as he hits the floor and he cooly regards each one. His dad is sitting with a rep from one of the shoe companies – Adidas, maybe, but who can remember? Crews will score 18 points in the game but at one point the other team switches in transition and he finds himself being guarded by 5’10” point guard, and he dunks on him easily, sending the small crowd into a frenzy. Three mix tape crews are on hand and the clip of him dunking on the smaller player will get 25,000 views on YouTube by the end of the week. Crews fouls out with about a minute to go but his team wins by 6. After the game, a gaggle of colleges coaches make their way back to the locker room as well as scouts and media. All of them want to talk to Crews. Most of the college coaches just give him a great handshake and a couple tell him they would love to have him playing on their campus.
A newspaper reporter from Atlanta asks him how it feels to have so many college coaches watching. Newspaper reporters don’t come in armed with the recruiting resume of players, so they go with standard questions. Two national scouts are more familiar; they ask him if he has a timetable for committing and if he has a leader in the list of colleges that have offered. Finally, his dad appears with the shoe company rep, who tells him two things: it would be great if he could get a couple more highlight dunks a game, and see if he can attend the company’s nationally televised All-Star game in March. Crews checks his Twitter account and sees the clip of him dunking was posted with Vine and he was tagged in a fan’s tweet – and that tweet has already been re-tweeted 340 times.
7:30 pm – Albermarle County, North Carolina: a Saturday in January
Jeff Davis team gets a win in a rescheduled game to reach .500 for the season. The game was rescheduled due to a massive snowstorm that closed all of the schools Jeff’s district for two days. Davis did message that scout back in November – and as a result got a small article on the scout’s website which then led to a couple of letters from smaller area schools. None of the schools have offered him yet, and the high school season will end in a month. He will still be young enough to play AAU in the Spring – if he can afford it – and he also has to decide if basketball is worth pursuing into college with such limited options. He has one more year of high school basketball after this season. After the game, he texts the scout to tell him his stats – 18 points, 8 rebounds.
The scout texts back – ‘8 rebounds, that’s great! how’s your GPA looking?’ Jeff texts back ‘Ok I think’. Jeff thinks he has a B average, but he doesn’t know if that’s what the scout is asking for. When he gets home he has a letter from a small college in Virginia that he’s never heard of, but when he looks online he sees it is a Division III school. He knows that Division III schools don’t have athletic scholarships, but he texts the scout the new school information anyway. The scout posts it on Twitter the next day, and three more college coaches follow Jeff immediately, but they don’t contact him.
7:30 pm – Los Angeles County, California: a Saturday in January
Crews is on an unofficial visit to two colleges in California. His mom lives about 3 hours north, but he may not see her on this trip. His dad flew with him this time, and when they arrived on both campuses, a coach handed his dad an envelope with ‘school information’ in it. Both times the envelopes only contained cash, to ‘cover the cost’ of travel. Crews doesn’t know how much is in the envelopes, but after the visits he and his dad will drop by a mall and buy two pairs of $150 sneakers each before going to eat. Crews never sees either of the head coaches on his trips but he does hang out with some of the current players on both teams after his dad disappears into the city for the night. Two of the current college players introduce Crews to a few very pretty girls and they make a night of it. Two days later, Crews will cut one of the teams from his ‘official list’ and lose 2,400 followers in the same day. Multiple tweets directly tag him calling him homophobic and racial slurs and one of his former followers tells him he hopes Crews breaks his leg in his first college game and never plays again.
8:00 am – Wake County, North Carolina: a Saturday in March
Jeff Davis arrives at a local gym near Raleigh for an individual player showcase. There are over 100 players in attendance and promises of several attending scouts. By noon Jeff has played in two games at breakneck speed, transition pick up where players race up and down the court trying to get off shots. There are over a dozen scouts and a few college coaches in attendance. The only scout Jeff knows is the scout he’s been texting with since November. In the first game, Jeff is teamed up with a ball hog shooting guard who takes the ball and runs full speed end-to-end before launching a contested shot or getting an open layup. Jeff only touches the ball 3 times in the first game and gets no points. He mentions this to his scout friend who tells him, “yeah, these events are kind of like that. But you still have some size and even just showing you can run the floor well is a little something.” Jeff isn’t happy about this and decides to be more aggressive with the ball in the next game, but before the game, a college coach comes up and talks with him. The coach asks Jeff which position he plays in high school and what he’s hoping to study in college. Jeff hasn’t really thought about this much and mutters that he ‘wants a school with good academics’. Later Jeff sees his scout friend talking with the coach just before he plays his second game, which goes better than the first. Jeff scores 10 points and gets a couple of blocks but twists his ankle late in the game and doesn’t play in his team’s last game of the day.
8:00 am – Mecklenburg County, North Carolina: a Saturday in March
James Crews and his father sit at their kitchen table, dozens of college recruiting letters sitting around them, with a trash can pulled close. As they pick up each one, his father looks at it briefly before tossing it into the trash can. “Some of these schools ain’t had an NBA player in history, why are they bothering?” he mutters aloud. Crews is scheduled to practice with his AAU team later that day, but it hasn’t been decided if he will or not. He and his dad were offered money to switch to other teams this year, but his dad is holding out thinking his current team will pay if they just wait it out. James wants to play with the same team he played with last year, but they didn’t pay any money so now he may be playing somewhere else. School is up in the air, too. His dad and trainer have been talking about switching to a school in the northeast or maybe out west. The head coach at Crew’s current school also doesn’t want to pay as much as some of the other schools. His trainer also left the job at the school to train other players full time. After Crews became a national prospect, his trainer was able to tell other parents about how his training methods are what turned Crews into an NBA prospect, and that allowed him to land more clients.
A week before, one of the ranking publications listed Crews as the #3 player in his class – something his dad and trainer did not agree with. James was also scheduled to visit a school in the Midwest but it fell through when they landed another commitment for the same position. Since Crews would have to compete for playing time – the school would not guarantee James would start – the visit was cancelled.
James hasn’t dropped any more schools from his list since January, but two of the schools on his list have not contacted him in several months. He doesn’t want to drop them from his list because he really wanted to attend one of them and the other is where one of his best friends wants to play, and he had hoped he could play with him for one year before turning pro. Going pro is a given, because everyone – every ranking site, every mock draft site, every national scout – has him listed as a sure fire lottery pick once he plays his one season in college. James has only talked to a lone NBA scout, briefly, at one of the NBA player’s elite camps, because NBA scouts aren’t supposed to be interacting with high school players.
5:00 am – on the road, somewhere in Kentucky: a Friday in April
Jeff is asleep in the back of a van with his AAU team mates. Together with his mom they managed to pay for a slot on a decent travel team, and this weekend that takes them to a tournament two states from home. Jeff is hopeful there will be a lot of Division I coaches in attendance and he’ll be able to play well. Last night he fell asleep reading about how the NCAA should pay student athletes because they make so much money from free labor. At this point, Jeff has only one college in regular contact, the Division III school from Virginia. They have told him his current grades are good enough to get him academic assistance for $8,000 per year. He was surprised that a Division III school could offer him any money, but he was also surprised that a scholarship wouldn’t even be close to the full tuition. He would have to take out student loans for most of his college education to play there because it is a private school with a high cost. It’s also a small school far from home and he’s not sure if that’s what he wants.
When Jeff arrives at the AAU tournament, he’s shocked by how many famous college coaches are there – but most of them only come to see the first game, where the team they are playing has a nationally ranked shooting guard. He thinks he plays well, but none of the college coaches come to talk to him after the game. A scout introduces himself after the game and asks him a few questions and takes his picture. After the tournament, his AAU coach tells him he has two colleges which called about him – both are Division II, which makes Jeff a little hopeful, but in reality he was really hoping to get some Division I schools interested. However, he knows he has more tournaments coming up.
5:00 am – hotel, somewhere in Kentucky: a Friday in April
James Crews and his team are heading into another EYBL tournament this weekend. There will be a ton of college coaches, major media, national and regional scouts, mixtape crews and sizeable crowds. His team has played well so far, but they need to win enough games to get to Peach Jam in July, which is the final tournament and playoffs of the EYBL, Nike’s organized AAU league. Last year, Crews was the main scorer on his team, but this year his team added a center who is getting more points. James has struggled to get his points at times as the coaches want the ball to go into the post much more now. Last weekend, Crews had a triple double – 10 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists – but the stories about the game were focused on the center’s 34 points and monster dunks. After the game, Crews trainer mentioned they might not stay with this team if they can’t get Crews the ball more. After his triple-double game, one college coach stopped by and said he admired Crews’ approach to the game.
After the first day of the tournament, Crews watches some NBA draft analysts talking on television. One of his high school team mates from last year has declared for the NBA draft after playing one college season. The draft analysts have him projected as a mid-first-rounder. Last year, he was projected as a lottery pick in the same mock drafts that are currently projecting Crews’ draft position. During the college season, his former team mate was the leading scorer on his team, started at point guard, and led his team to the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tournament. He and Crews have texted each other many times over the course of a year. His friend has confided to James multiple times that he has not gone to class after February and was going straight to the NBA no matter what. He also said when he got to college the coach ‘flipped’ on him and acted like an entirely different person than during the recruiting process.
11:00 am, Dekalb County, Georgia: a Saturday in July
Last AAU tournament of the year for Jeff Davis and his team, and possibly the last AAU tournament ever for Davis. After playing with his team in April, May and July, he has exactly one college offer from a Division II school in addition to the offer he held originally from the Division III school. The Division II school is in Ohio, and the scholarship package they offered was less than the Division III school. Jeff has been playing very well, averaging over 20 points per game, and had a number of colleges and scouts talk with him, but nothing has really come of it yet. He has one more high school season ahead of him to see if anything changes. His scouting friend has told him that many of colleges at the Division II level will wait until Spring of his senior year to see which players are still available, but that it’s important to keep his grades up. Jeff’s AAU coach has mentioned attending a prep school or a junior college to get more exposure, but Jeff’s mom isn’t too keen on that idea. Jeff never reclassed and is graduating from high school on time, and isn’t sure he wants to wait another year to attend college.
11:00 am, Los Angeles County, California: a Saturday in July
James Crews’ AAU team is playing in the Peach Jam but he is not with them. Following the early July tournaments his dad and trainer decided he wasn’t being featured as he should be, and pulled him from the team. Now he’s back home with his mom in California waiting to hear where he’s supposed to go next. He dropped all but two schools from his list, the two schools which offered his dad the most money. James hasn’t mentioned the money to his mom, and he isn’t sure if she knows about it. She isn’t involved with his recruitment at all, and he only talks with his dad about it during the season. Instead of playing hoops, he watches a live stream of his former AAU team online and texts several of his former team mates after they win.
That night, he looks at photos and reviews of Maybach cars online and thinks about what color he would like to buy when he gets drafted in the pros. His trainer has been telling Crews how he can help him by being his manager when he gets drafted and last week two guys flew out with the trainer to take him to dinner. They told him they were businessmen who were getting into the agent business and that they had the contacts to get him in the NBA. One of the guys was wearing a Audemars Piguet watch, which he told James was worth $36,000.
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Marcus Shockley operates the Southeast Summer Showcase to bring in high level competition, drills, coaching and recruiting information for high school basketball players. He has been scouting and covering basketball for almost two decades and you can follow him on Twitter @m_shockley.
Jalen Harris, Team Wall (NC), 6’2, 2016, Point Guard- Jalen is the type of point guard that adjust his game to whatever his team needs him to be on that night and that was clearly evident throughout this tournament. Although he much rather get teammates involved first, he has no probably scoring the ball when his squad needed him to, which was shown by numerous games in the event where he scored 20+ points. His perimeter and midrange jumper have become very consistent and he’s added quite a bit of athleticism over the past year. However when his teammates got it going, he went into distributor mode racking up 19 Assist in a single game. Jalen has very good vision and puts his passes right on target so that his teammates can finish easily; he has some flair to his game that makes him fun to watch but is not a high turnover player. At this point he has numerous MM offers but he definitely is a HM Point Guard prospect, once he becomes a tad bit more vocal on the floor then I believe that will take him to an even higher level as a prospect.
Zach Reeves, Juice All-Stars (NC), 6’5, 2016, Wing- Zach was impressive throughout the tournament, he showed very good ball handling skills and nice athleticism that he uses on both ends of the floor. Zach seems to have a very good feel for the game and although he was aggressive to make plays, he was not selfish at all. Instead he looked to make the right play at the right time for his team, He has good height for a wing at the next level and shot the ball from outside well, is definitely one to keep an eye on throughout the summer.
Robert Colon, Juice All-Stars (NC), 6’0, 2016, Guard- Playing with Juice All-Stars this spring has finally given Robert the opportunity to show the college coaches the full package of his game. We all know that he is a deadly three point shooter, and he has a very quick first step that he uses to blow by defenders but he is also a gifted passer that gets teammates the ball in the right spots. On the defensive end he brought intensity, showed good lateral quickness and communicated well with teammates, he clearly showed that he can get it done on both sides of the floor. A question mark has been his midrange game, and I must as of late he has shown that he can knock down the midrange shot with consistency which makes him even more dangerous in transition. D1 schools have finally begun to take notice in his ability and I’m expecting to see him pull in some offers before the summer is done.
Matt Elmore, Team Wall (NC), 6’8, 2016, Forward- Matt made his first appearance with Team Wall in this tournament, although he clearly was still feeling his way out with the squad and attempting to build chemistry, he had a very solid performance on Saturday. Matt displayed his ability to finish plays inside the paint, rebounding the ball and even knocking down the outside trey ball. His final stats from the game that I watched him play were 13 Points and 12 Rebounds , he’s a type of player that you don’t have to run plays for and that does all the dirty work for his squad. He has a very solid frame so he battles inside with opposition very well and does a good job of creating a nice target for his guards to throw an entry pass when he’s posting up. Matt is one to keep an eye on closely this summer, once he gets more comfortable with his squad, I expect him to put together some outstanding performances.
Malik Johnson, Team Wall (NC), 2018, 6’, Guard– Malik has been on our radar for about two years now, he is a very athletic player that loves to play the game at an up-tempo pace. He has outstanding ball handling skills and court vision that is advance way beyond his years. His quickness caused issues for opponents as usual; he got to the basket on a regular basis and finished plays above the rim on numerous occasions. At a young age he already has many of the traits that you love to see in a H.S Point Guard, he communicates with teammates and coaches easily so that everybody is on the same page. Although he uses his athleticism to throw down dunks and finish plays offensively he also uses his athleticism on the defensive end to get into the passing lanes for steals deflections and blocks. Malik plays the game with a lot of intensity and he hates to lose, no matter who he’s matched up with he’s going to compete and give it all he has. He is one to watch closely as he definitely has the potential to be a HM and nationally ranked prospect at the PG spot before it all said and done.
Kyle Rawls, MD’s Finest (MD), 2015, Guard- Kyle really got after it on the defensive end, he clearly takes pride in playing defense and knows how to use his very strong frame to make things difficult for opponents. He is one of those specialty players that a coach loves to have on his team that he can send out to guard an opponent that has caught fire.
Jermaine Matthews, River City Reign (VA), 2016, 6’8, Post- This Young man brings all the intangibles that you could want from a post player, he runs the floor very well and displayed a high motor throughout the event. When his guards broke down the defense and gave him passes in the post, he made sure to finish plays without making things to complex. Jermaine can finish plays using different face up moves, or playing with his back to the basket, which makes him a very difficult player to defend. On the defensive end he challenged shots at every position and protected the paint throughout the tournament, he also is a prospect to keep a very close eye on.
Kyran Bowman, Team Wall (NC), 2016, 6’2, Guard- Kyran recently made news by letting everyone know that he had to decided to de-commit from UNC football to focus solely on basketball now. Many people asked why but after this weekend we could see that he has the potential to be a good basketball prospect. He has outstanding athleticism and a very quick first step that is a nightmare for defenders to try and slow down; I lost count of how many dunks he threw down in traffic against opponents throughout the event. He has good ball handling skills and keeps defenders guessing and uses his outstanding athleticism to get his shot of quickly and over opponents. Defensively he blocked shots, came up with steals, deflections and did a solid job of containing his man; you can see that his time to focus solely on basketball is taking his game to another level. Kyran was impressive through the tournament and will be one to watch closely throughout the summer and even into next school year.
Luke Romeo, USA United (NC), 2016, Guard- Luke can flat out shoot it!! During their game against River City Reign he started the game knocking down three treys in the first few minutes. He has a fairly quick release on his shot and is very efficient when he’s catching and shooting, also showed a nice shot fake that he uses when defenders are attempting to block his shot from the perimeter. Also has a nice midrange game and comes off screens effectively, Luke is not just a player that is going to stand in the corner so he can catch and shoot. He moves without the ball and reads the defense well to make sure he’s taking a high percentage shot.
Alexander Schachne, Hoop Heaven (NJ), 2018, 5’9, Point Guard- At each event I go to I always try and watch closely for an under the radar prospect, at this event there were quite a few but one of the young prospect was Alexander. Matched up against Team Wall 16u we really got a chance to see what he was made of, he cased headaches for Team Wall defenders with his combination off outstanding ball handling skills and knock down three point shooting. It got to the point where he would end up being face guarded full court the entire 2nd half so that his impact on the game could be minimized. Alex has a very good natural feel for the game and makes good reads and passes to teammates, one thing I really liked about him is that he can make on point passes with his off hand just as well as he does with his dominant hand. He does not get frustrated with teammates and always seems to have a very calm demeanor on the floor. Alex is a player that you shouldn’t be surprised to see making a lot of noise over the next few years up in New Jersey.
I could have titled this article “I don’t give a damn about your shoes”, because it would effectively have the same meaning, but I wanted to approach this subject more subjectively and how it relates to my philosophy for Basketball Elite, why we scout the way we do and how we go about attending events. And no, I’m not talking about Sneakerheads, I just don’t care which shoe company sponsors a kid’s AAU team.
I’m not a “Nike” guy or an “Adidas” guy or even an “Under Armour” guy. I honestly couldn’t care less. I don’t care if a guy plays for a big name private school live on ESPN or for a 1-A public high school in Arkansas. I am not enamoured by hype. I don’t care if a kid has been offered by UNC, Kentucky and Duke. I don’t care if a kid is a future NBA lock or if he’s ‘ranked’. I’m not looking for a meal ticket or payout (I make my own rain, thanks) and I sure don’t care if so-and-so knows so-and-so and that’s why this kid won’t play in this tournament or for that AAU team.
When I first started scouting players it wasn’t to help kids get into college or to help NBA teams find that underrated power forward they needed to make a playoff run. I was just fascinated with the idea of watching players and trying to figure out how good they might be, and then tracking those players throughout their careers. Long before Basketball Elite existed (or even the Internet), I travelled to watch guys like Jason Kidd in high school (he was only a year younger than I was) just because I heard he was a lock to be an NBA player and I wanted to see what guys who were that good in high school actually played like. I would scout players, make my estimates on their potential, and then being a technical guy I built a database to track them and track their ratings over time to see how accurate I could get.
I did that on my own for many years; I did work with the NBA for a time through a third party in the late 90’s and the league gave me (through the company, of course) some cushy seats right at half court, right behind the announcers for a ton of games and even gave me tickets to an All-Star game. I’ve watched thousands of games, scouted thousands of players – literally, thousands – from tiny high school gyms to huge NBA arenas, from a folding chair at courtside to blurry video online. I was sitting behind John Wooden and Morgan Wooten in Madison Square Garden for a McDonald’s All American game where J.J. Redick scorched the nets and I was sitting next to Tim Duncan in a small high school gym when he was an unknown college freshman at a secret pick up game between a bunch of ACC players (I remember Cherokee Parks being a killer deep shooter that day). When I was young I played street ball in the roughest, meanest courts in the nation – after all, that’s the best place to play if you are a hardcore hooper – and so going to hidden gyms in back alleys to scout players certainly never fazed me. Someone told me I was mentioned by name as a street hooper in a documentary about New York’s playground, and honestly, I don’t know if they were talking about me or not. It was a long time ago. But I did play on all of those courts at one time or another in my youth, before my busted knee told me to quit. I think I drove all over most of the East Coast, South and some of the Southwest with a basketball in my back seat. New York ballers are no joke, Chicago is brutal, L.A. guys get after it and Oklahoma was just too damn hot in the summer. But when kids tell me they sleep with a basketball under one arm, I know where they are coming from.
It wasn’t until some news I privately shared with a friend about a Kentucky recruit made it into a Lexington paper that I started posting my own reports, simply because I was worried that someone would attribute some rumour to me incorrectly, which in hindsight was probably not really a big concern. But the result was that once I was publishing, college coaches started seeking me out from time to time, and eventually that led to me to expand to BasketballElite.com, where I just write up a ton of the players I watch and scout.
Okay, so what’s the point of explaining all of this? Well, when I went to watch Jason Kidd in high school I was blown away with how good he was. Believe it or not, Kidd was an explosive guard in high school. The guy most people know now as a slow set shooter with gifted passing ability had a monster two handed breakaway dunk in the first game I ever saw him. I knew he could play, and soon he wrapped up his college career after two years at Cal and went on to be one of the best point guards of all time. But I never paid any attention to which brand of shoes he was wearing and I didn’t even know if he played AAU.
Today, the landscape has changed a lot; there are mixtapes of players that can get tens of thousands of views and hundreds, if not thousands, of websites dedicated to recruiting. I don’t knock that. But along with that has come money flooding into grassroots basketball, ‘agents’ who work to move players around (and get a cut of a paycheck somewhere) and NCAA that runs a pro sports league where the only people not getting paid are the players. Twitter is loaded with fans who follow high school kids and hang on their every word looking for clues as to where they will go to college. But most of those kids will never be more famous than they are in high school, because most of them will just become average to good college players and the fan base will be salivating over the next wave of ‘can’t miss’ recruits.
Social media is rife with self-aggrandizing talk, praise for players who haven’t played a single college game, rankings of middle schoolers, chest pounding of AAU coaches over who dominates a made up league. I call a lot of the noise surrounding recruiting ‘pretty bullets’ – ammunition that is designed to look good but does nothing. If you were in a war, would you care if the bullets you used looked slicker than your enemy’s but never worked? Pretty bullets are like a fashion model dressed up to look like an MMA fighter – photogenic but you wouldn’t want most fashion models to be your bodyguard in a dark alley at 2 am.
Over the years I’ve scouted players and gotten praise for some of my reports while also getting slammed. I’ve written that some players were Division II only to get nasty texts and emails about how I was an idiot because that player was getting Division I offers. Of course I, like anyone, can be wrong, but it’s rare that I don’t see that same player transferring a year later because he was never going to get court time at that Division I team. I am careful when writing about high school players, because I would never be as harsh writing about a 16 year old as I would be when scouting an adult college or pro player. But I also am not in the hype business. I don’t care about rankings, because rankings don’t get scholarships and hype never put anyone in the NBA. Nope. Anyone who tells you that is making money off of hype. Just check.
Some hard facts here:
– Even the best high school player on most teams isn’t good enough to play in college.
– Playing AAU will not automatically get you a scholarship.
– There is more scholarship money available to Division III players, on average, than Division I or Division II. More coming on this in another article, and yes, I am aware that Division III does not offer athletic scholarships. Did you not read my bio above? I’m pretty immersed in this life.
– Nobody ever got a scholarship because they were ranked. Don’t email me about this. I have seen players who have a dozen solid scouts who love their game, write about those players and tell coaches and still the player barely gets attention. Coaches aren’t looking at rankings and offering players blindly.
– Adults who advise players on their ‘player brand’ are only out for themselves.
– Some private schools are great. Many just put a bunch of Division I level athletes on one team and win a bunch of games with athleticism, then claim credit as though they took a bunch of talentless waterboys and turned them into all-stars. Again, there are some solid programs out there but that’s not always the case.
– College coaches aren’t looking at a players’ box score in the paper. And box scores rarely show things like assists or steals. And any local newspaper sports editor will tell you that some high school coaches only call in box scores when they win, not when they lose.
I get texts every single day from a few competing AAU coaches complaining about each other and calling each other ‘dirty’. Every. Single. Day. Yes, I have thought about just forwarding their texts to each other.
I don’t care about their politics. I will watch any player, anywhere. I’ve had players who wanted to come to my Summer Showcase but were then told not to come by their coach because I wrote something unflattering about one of their other players. I don’t care. I’m not in the ‘pretty bullet’ business, and you shouldn’t be either.
Don’t buy pretty bullets. We don’t sell them here, and if I write something about your game, it’s not because I am trying to promote my ‘own players’ because I don’t have my own players. I don’t have an AAU team and I am not getting grassroots money. I have NO REASON to write anything about anyone except that it is my observation.
AAU season, here I come. See you in the gym.
“Yo, Mike, I got those shoes but I still never made an All-Star game. What gives?”
Player of the Year: Trinity Christian Point Guard Dennis Smith Jr.
Rookie of the Year: Northwood Temple Point Guard Dakari Johnson
Hand Down Man Down Award (Best Shooter): Village Christian Michael Hueitt Jr. & Northwood Temple James Wilson
Hustle/High Motor Award: Westover HS Senior Forward Jozef Vanderhorst
Teams of the Year: Terry Sanford HS, congrats to the team, Coach Boyette and his staff on winning the 3A State championship.
First Team
Dennis Smith Jr. (Trinity Christian, Junior, Point Guard)-(Player of the year Award Winner, Won the award last year as well) – Dennis had another outstanding year for his squad, was called on to take on more of a scoring role this season and did not disappoint, Holds offers from NC State, Duke, UNC, Kansas and numerous other top HM programs. Top PG in the Country for the Class of 2016, Averaged 23 Pts and 7 Ast per game
Mark Gilbert (Terry Sanford HS, Junior, Shooting Guard)- is an outstanding scorer , once he gets it going he is a very difficult player to stop, plays with toughness and heart. Led Terry Sanford to the 3A state Championship and was named Cape Fear Valley Conference Player of the Year. Hold Numerous offers from BCS schools for football, Averaged 18.4 Points and 2.8 Assist Per game
Jatrious Smith (EE Smith HS, Sophomore, Wing) – Last year’s Rookie of the Year Award winner, started off the year slowly but as the year progressed he returned to his form, has a very good mixture of strength, speed and athleticism and showed a much more consistent jump shot from the perimeter this season, current holds offers from Va Tech & Old Dominion and is receiving interest from numerous HM Schools. Averaged 19.4 Pts, 5.9 Rebs, and 3.8 Assist Per game
Kwinton Hinson (Village Christian, Senior, Wing)- One of the top Unsigned Seniors left in the state, plays strong inside but can step outside and knock down the trey ball, had a very successful season for Village and currently holds offers from UNCW and App State, with interest from numerous other LM and JUCO schools. Averaged 22.2 Points and 8.1 Rebounds Per game
Isaiah Vinson (South View H.S, Senior, Guard)-Very High IQ player that can score at any time but is constantly looking to get other involved, has a calm demeanor on the court. Can shoot it from outside and midrange but also attacks the cup very well, is a Great students and will truly be an asset to whichever schools he chooses to attend next season. Currently holds offers from Garner Webb, Winthrop, High Point, Liberty, and Fayetteville State University. Averaged 17.0 Pts, 5.3 Rebs and 2.0 Ast per game
Marko Tomic (Freedom Christian, Senior, Forward) – Is a stretch Forward player that plays with intensity on a nightly basis, although he can knock down the trey ball consistently, he has no problem with going inside the paint and mixing it up with opponents. It is still a mystery as to why no LM schools have tried to snatch him up as of yet but he currently hold a D2 offer from Barry University and has received interest from various LM and D2 schools.
Josh Bryant (71st H.S, Senior, Guard) – Has a knack for scoring the ball and has what I call sneaky athleticism, Josh is a very solid ball handler and knows how to score the ball with ease. Has improved on his perimeter shooting and had quite a few games this season where he was impressive on the defensive end. Is still unsigned at this point but has been receiving interest from numerous Division 2 and Juco Colleges. Averaged 14.1 Points, 3.5 Ast and 3.1 Rebs Per game
Second Team
Xavier Robinson (South View H.S, Senior, Shooting Guard)- Knock down shooter from outside, has a very strong frame which allows him to embrace contact very well, led public schools in scoring for the second straight year. Is headed to Fayetteville State University in the fall, Averaged: 21.5 Pts, and 4.3 Rebs per Game
Dakari Johnson (Northwood Temple, freshman, Point Guard) – (winner of the Rookie of the Year Award) this young man has a game that definitely exceeds his age, he’s very calm and under control and has all the tools that are need for an outstanding PG, has received interest from University of Virginia already. Averaged 16 Pts, 6 Ast Per game
Zo Tyson (Trinity Christian, Senior, Forward)-Zo is a player that has very good length and athleticism, he does a great job finishing plays above the rim and is now knocking down the midrange shot with more consistency, he has signed with High Point University, Averaged: 11.6 Points and 5 Rebs per game
Michael Hueitt Jr. (Village Christian, Sophomore, Shooting Guard) (Co-Winner of the Hand Down Man Down Award, won the award last year as well) – One of the best shooters in the state, showed some improvement as the season went along on the defensive end and has all the tools to be an outstanding player, currently hold offers from James Madison University and Liberty University. Averaged 15.5 Points per game
Christian Lathan (Westover HS, Senior, Point Guard) – A player that you can definitely classify as a true Point Guard and a floor general, he plays with intensity while at the same time always keeping his poise and making the right plays, he is till unsigned and will be great fit for a college that is looking for a true PG. Averaged 10 Pts and 4.1 Ast Per game
Juwuan Wright (Village Christian, Senior, Forward)- Was a double-double machine this season, can handle the ball very well for a guy his size and does not back down from any challenge or opponent, is still unsigned at this point but will be a steal for a program looking for a stretch four type of player. Averaged 14.5 Pts, and 8 Rebs per game
A.J Baldwin (Cape Fear H.S, sophomore, Point Guard) – this young man is one to definitely keep an eye on; he is an outstanding passer and playmaker and has only gotten better as the year went on. Led Public Schools in Assist per game, but also can score it when needed. Averaged 13.1 Points and 6.2 Ast per game
Third Team
Chris Thomas (71st H.S, Senior, Point Guard)- Very quick PG that knows how to get to the basket as well as knock down the outside shot, is still unsigned but is receiving interest from D3 schools. Averaged: 15.5 Pts, 3.3 Ast Per game
Cam May (Pine Forest H.S, Senior, Wing)- High Motor player that can really score it once he gets going, plays with a toughness that you don’t see from a lot of players his age, receiving interest from Sandhills CC and Averett University. Averaged: 13.8 Pts, 8.1 Rebs Per game
T.J. McAllister (Jack Britt H.S, Senior, Point Guard)- Floor general, very unselfish player but can score when called upon, plays with a ton of heart and really gets after it on the defensive end, he’s receiving interest from: Sandhills CC, Davidson CCC, and multiple NCAA D3 schools. Averaged: 8.2 Pts, 2.5 Ast Per game
Thank God Avar (Freedom Christian, Junior, Forward) – very strong player that can jump out of the gym!! Does a very affective job of protecting the paint on the defensive end, as well as finishing plays inside, is still somewhat raw but has a good amount of potential and will be one to watch over the summer, currently receiving interest from: Rice, Elon & Georgia Southern.
Nassyr Daniels (Grays Creek H.S, Sophomore, Forward/Center)- is a younger player with a lot of potential, blocks shots at a very high rate and rebounds the ball well, also is getting better each day at finishing thru contact. Averaged: 13.4 Pts, 7.1 Rebs and 4.8 Blks Per game
Telligence Johnson ( Terry Sanford H.S, Sophomore, Wing)- Athletic player that is now showing a much improved midrange and perimeter game, is much better this season at creating off the dribble and defends on and off the ball very well. Averaged: 9.6 Pts, 6.3 Rebs per game
James Wilson (Northwood Temple, Senior, Wing)- (Co-Winner of the Hand Down Man Down Award) A three point specialist that put on numerous outstanding shooting displays throughout the season, plays with a ton of hear and intensity, provided much need Senior leadership to a young squad. Is receiving interest from various NCAA D3 and NAIA Schools, Averaged 15 Points Per game.
Damani Appelwhite (Westover H.S, Junior, Forward)- is a player that has an old school flavor to his game, can step out and knock down the midrange shot but also has a nice face up game when he plays in the post, very good length and height. Averaged: 7.9 Pts, 4.9 Rebs per Game
The second annual Super 60 Showdown, organized by GetMeRecruited.com, was held at Knightdale High School near Raleigh, NC on March 21 and it was a loaded event, with top talent from the state and multiple media outlets in attendance. Former NC State and NBA star Chris Washburn shared his own experiences and cautionary tales with the attending players and should be commended for not sugar coating his experiences. The event also had an informational session for parents regarding current NCAA eligibility rules.
3 point shootout winner: DeShawn Patterson (PG, 5’10, 2016) Victory Christian. Runner-up: David Caraher (SF, 6’6″, 2017) Chapel Hill HS
Dunk Contest Winner: Jashaun Smith (SG/SF, 6’5″, 2016) Garner HS
Here are my notes from the event:
Dennis Smith, Jr. (PG, 6’3″, 2016) Trinity Christian School – Coming into the event, Smith was already the likely highest rated prospect and is considered a national level recruit at this point. Thus, we no longer are determining what level (high major, mid major, etc) Smith can compete at in the collegiate game but what level of High Major recruit he is. That is to say, I don’t consider every high major player a ‘5 Star’ and even among players who can start at high major colleges there is separation between those level of players. Smith is definitely a top level 5 star player so the scouting on him is more based on what how his game will transition to college and possibly beyond.
Smith has reached the level where he should be scouted as a national prospect and that showed in this event, where he looks like he can play half-speed and still get points and assists with ease. Smith has a solid handle and size at the point guard position, deft passing, although he should probably be considered a scoring point guard with an ability to drill threes. He does make some sizzling plays with the ball and has a very strong first step. He will need to show he won’t be turnover prone when he faces the faster hands of college defenders and be able to drive and score against college zone defenses.
He is known for his explosive above-the-rim play, but at the college level that is not where guards make their mark, rather the running of the team and keeping defenses honest with his outside shooting touch. Very few college point guards are able to drive into the lane and score in the half court. Probably the best I’ve seen at the college level at that was Chris Paul, but I do like Smith’s ability to do this so far. Smith is at the ability level where playing in the NBA at some point is a possibility, but he will have to prove he can make the transition from being an elite high school player to being an elite college player and then beyond in order for that to happen. No doubt talented and athletic enough to start at some point at the PG or SG position for an elite level program. He will need to show he can get his shots off against the longer defenders in the college game and handle the heavier ball pressure as well. I see Smith as a player whose potential is an NBA player, but at this point he is where I saw Tyus Jones two years ago; he has the potential but isn’t a pro lock yet and will have to show every season going forward that he can handle higher levels of pressure/athleticism. I recall NBA scouts telling me they weren’t high on Tyus Jones in high school partly because he always looked like he was going half-speed, and I think that perception may be there for Smith as well, but he is a gamer, and has the personality to handle the scrutiny of playing at a big time program.
Edrice Adebayo (PF, 6’10”, 2016) Northside – Adebayo is also a highly sought after recruit, and watching an early match up between he and big man Iran Bennett was telling. Bennett is a pure back-to-the-basket type of center, while Adebayo has a great build but is much more of a PF who plays facing the basket. Adebayo has great size to play the PF spot and showed an ability today to hit the 15-foot jumper. He also has great footspeed driving to the basket against bigs. However, it should be noted that the matchup with Bennett definitely showed that the two players are definitely not players at the same position, as Adebayo had trouble with Bennett’s strength and size on the blocks while Bennett struggled when Adebayo pulled him away from the basket and slashed to the hoop. Adebayo can get minutes on major college programs his first year, but I think he should definitely look at a school that has the size to play him at the 4 spot.
He can play in the open court and half court equally and has great hands. He also plays above the rim and reminds me a bit of Montrezl Harrell in his attack of the rim.
Jalen Harris (PG, 6’1″, 2016) Greenfield School – Harris is a gifted slasher and ballhandler. His best asset is his first step – it’s extremely hard for defenders to stay in front of him. However, he shows a fluid release and an ability to score from outside as well. Plays as a true PG, eyes up, running the offense. Needs to add strength, but I see Harris’ potential as higher than some other scouts. He is currently rated as a LM Division I guard but I see his potential more in the MM+ range.
Sacha Killeya-Jones (PF/C, 6’10”, 2016) Virginia Episcopal School – The Virginia Cavaliers commit showed his length and agility in the post. Slender and will need to continue to add strength, but has very good passing ability in the post and a lot of upside. Length is at the elite college big man level; Killeya-Jones is one of those big men who should develop into a go-to guy at the 4 or 5 spot on offense but also add a ton of defensive length inside.
Quate McKinzie (F, 6’7″, 2016) Harrells Christian Academy – was good the last time I saw him but has improved by leaps and bounds already and colleges who watched him in the past should be keeping up. Has excellent passing skills from the SF or PF spot but has good rebounding timing and athleticism. Very good defender with length.
Aaron Cash (SF, 6’6″, 2018) Word of God – really like the potential of Cash, who has exceptional timing and athleticism on both ends of the floor. Already has the look of a college prospect at the 3 spot but plays both 3 and 4 at the high school level right now. Has heard from NC State, Syracuse and others and it’s not surprising.
Dondre Griffin (G, 6’4″, 2016) Knightdale HS – Strong guard with quick release and shooter’s mentality. Warmed up early and starting draining buckets. Whenever the defense would sag in transition, he would take advantage. Has an easy release and probably should be considered a combo guard at this point but has good size for the position. Definitely see him as a Division I guard.
Deshaun Leftwich (G, 6’3″, 2017) Trinity Christian – explosive guard who has a deadly first step and great quicks. Active in the defensive passing lanes and was able to get to the rim, but also had some excellent on ball defense.
Andrew Tuazama (F, 6’5″, 2018) Knightdale HS – Great timing on blocks and athleticism on the break. Listed as a Power Forward for Knightdale but looks more like a SF at the college level at this point.
Iran Bennett (C, 6’10”, 2016) Greater Emmanuel Prep Academy – Bennett is a space-eater big, a back to the basket post player with excellent hands and good footwork. Best in the halfcourt and a below the rim type big, he has good shot blocking timing and was hard to handle on the blocks all day. Had a nice runback block in transition. Conditioning will be a factor at the college level but a strong player who likes to mix it up in the post. Really good on the pick and roll.
Todd Smith (SG, 6’4″, 2017) Freedom Academy – good shooting form and size on the wing, one of the better shot releases I’ve seen recently.
Tavion Atkinson (SF, 6’6″, 2017) Red Springs HS- good length, active rebounder and good in transition. Was able to finish through contact and has excellent size. Was active all day and is a perimeter wing.
Cory Gensler (SG, 6’4″, 2016) Cary HS – Gensler is a pure shooting guard who uses his quick release to get up volume shots in both spot up transition opportunities and in the half court. Good rebounding timing from the SG spot and good length. Gensler averaged 24+ ppg this high school season.
Tyrique McClain (G, 6’3″, 2016) – Wayne Christian – deft handle, good size and great hesitation dribble and good crossover. Was able to put his defender on his heels with the dribble in the halfcourt.
David Caraher (SF, 6’6″, 2017) Chapel Hill HS – Butler commit, super quick hands and really at his best playing the passing lanes in the open court or on the move on the break in transition. Has a really quick release on the move and can get buckets in a hurry. Has a good handle at the SF spot and will see minutes at Butler.
DeShawn Patterson (PG, 5’10”, 2016) – Victory Christian HS – I wrote about Patterson a couple of weeks ago and he’s got one of the better handles in the state at the moment. Doesn’t turn the ball over and has a lot of flash to his game. Won the 3 point shooting contest and can play through contact. I think one somewhat overlooked aspect of Patterson’s game is his assists/TO ratio, which is through the roof. Often has double-digit assist games and averaged 5 steals per game for Victory Christian last season.
Michael Pippins (PF, 6’8″, 2016) DH Conley HS – Pippins has the look of a small forward in agility but plays in the paint and really goes hard at the rim. Above the rim post player with a lot of versatility and great hands – catches off the bounce and throws it down or takes one quick step to get inside the defender for the rim rocker.
Tahj Small (SG, 6’4″, 2017) Northern Durham HS – Active shooting guard with good length and a really nice slashing ability and showed he could finish inside. Will be even more effective as he continues to add strength.
Michael Okauru (SG, 6’4″, 2017) Ravenscroft – Okauru is known as a ‘buckets machine’ and adds instant offense to any lineup. Long, slashing shooting guard who is extremely difficult to stop on the break. I’ve rarely seen even good shot blockers be able to get to his quick shot and he uses a deft finger roll to get layups off at full speed. That said, today Okauru was usually focused on showing more passing ability, working to find teammates on cuts and was less focused on getting his own points. I note this because I think it’s important to see when players are actively working on expanding their game and it definitely seems like Okauru wasn’t as concerned with getting points, which he is known for already, but rather was using the event to get open run against high level players and work on some other areas.
Lavar Batts (PG, 6’2″, 2017) Jay M Robinson HS – Considering how much I’ve covered the region and conference where Batts plays I regret not scouting him much during this past high school season. I liked Batts since seeing him last year during the AAU/grassroots season of 2014 and his matchups with Dennis Smith, Jr. were one of the better one-one-one guard battles of the day. Batts is a full court speed demon, and makes very good decisions on the break. Handle is good and he has active defensive hands in the open court. A good pressing guard at full court and has the speed to play his man close.
Tremaine Lawrence (G/F, 6’4″, 2017) Quality Education Academy – Lawrence is a versatile perimeter player who already has an above the rim game and is good at finding gaps in the defense for the mid range. Good in both the full court and half court and moves well without the ball. Has some really nice blocks on the move in transition.
Kaleb Hunter (G, 6’4″, 2017) North Releigh Christian Academy – great defensive length and has an ability to both pass and slash to the bucket. Also has a nice touch from the mid range and I never saw him get out of control or charge the basket at the wrong time.
Devontae Shuler (G, 6’3″, 2017) Irmo HS (SC) – I’ve seen Shuler multiple times and he was one of the best looking guards today, right along with Smith and Harris. Shuler is very fast end-to-end and gets right to the rim and is very effective in open court chaos. Has an attacking mentality and when the defense is out of sorts or doesn’t sprint back after a basket, Shuler is the type of guard who will run up their backs and score. Really solid player with a lot of interest and could have a breakout AAU season.
Justice Kithcart (PG, 6’2″, 2016) Virginia Episcopal School – Kithcart is a player who I’ve liked for a while and was not surprised to see his recruitment pick up heavily this year. Was hitting threes early but was playing off the ball much of the day and wasn’t able to showcase his floor general skills quite as much, but Kithcart is a competitor who takes on any matchup and will add toughness to a college roster.
Tyler Creammer (C, 6’11”, 2016) The Miller School – Creammer is often lauded for his stellar GPA (4.7!) but he continues to develop into a solid big man with great hands and excellent decision making. Rarely have I seen Creammer make a bad choice with the ball or pass, runs the floor hard and passes well from the post. Has continued to get stronger and is a back-to-the-basket big on both ends.
Ian Boyd (PG, 6’3″, 2016) Apex HS – I feel like Boyd continues to be one of the more underrated guards in the state, and has improved his floor general skills over the past year. He already has great physical tools and control, finds players with the pass but can also drive and finish in traffic in the lane. Boyd holds offers from Division I schools for football, but isn’t sure which direction he wants to go (football or basketball) at this point, and I think that schools may be holding off thinking he’s a lock for football. That said, I still see him as a really solid college prospect as a guard and is already bigger than many college guards with another year to go before graduation.
Jashuan Smith (SF, 6’5″, 2016) Garner HS – highlight reel dunker with a high motor and definitely some upside. Great end-to-end player and has elite athleticism that will serve him well at the next level. Was tending to fade on his shots today but was able to find open spots in half court and has a very high release and good elevation that is hard to defend.
J.J. Smith (SG, 6’5″, 2017) EE Smith HS – I have to give the nod to our fellow scout Charles Clark on J.J. Smith, who Charles saw as a Division I guard long before Smith had gotten any college offers. Explosive shooting guard with big time collegiate athleticism and size. Already has a good build and is a high octane, full court beast who likes to finish above the rim.
Greyson Kelley (G, 6’2, 2016) North Raleigh Christian Academy – I will be blunt; Kelley is one of the most underrated guards in the state, but I understand why. On one hand, Kelley is not overlooked, as most regional scouts include him as one of the top 60 or 80 players in the state of NC regardless of class. However, Kelley is an undersized combo guard who doesn’t have the ‘sizzle reel’ game of high flying guards or elite passers. That said, I have seen Kelley now in multiple environments – open gym, AAU, high school and showcases – and I’ve never seen him not flat out ball. That sounds like slang, but it’s the only way to describe his game. Open court steals, stop-and-pop shots on the run, circus moves in traffic to finish, no look precision passes to the perfect open teammate, he just always makes a play even when it seems there’s nothing there. The reality is that right now he’s more of a scoring guard with a good handle and good passing, but I think he’s the kind of player where some college will get a steal who will be great on their roster for four years.
Ian Steere (PF, 6’8″, 2018) Village Christian – I’ve seen Steere in the past and have seen his monster dunks in transition before; today was looking to hit the 18 footer and although he was inconsistent early, his release is really solid and he started clicking with his shot as the games progressed. Has a great build and I really like his upside. As a power forward he’s got great game facing the basket and should develop into a difficult player to guard at the 4 spot.
Eyisi Brown (C, 6’10”, 2018) Quality Education Academy – The big name post players coming into the day were Iran Bennett and Edrice Adebayo, but I have seen Brown in the past and I think he is a high major big man who is active, agile and runs the floor like a small forward. One of the most mobile big men I’ve seen at the high school level in some time. Absolutely runs the pick and roll to perfection and has excellent rebounding timing. I will definitely be watching Brown more this year as I think he could play in any conference and be effective.
Blake Harris (G, 6’3″, 2017) Carlisle School – Quick and has a nice ability to weave through traffic with the dribble in the half court. Does tend to show the ball a little too much with the dribble and will need to improve that at the college level. Nice passing vision and is at his best when putting pressure on the D with his dribble, while simultaneously looking for the open man when the defense adjusts. Want to reiterate that point here: Harris puts the ball on the floor, drives into the gaps of the defense in the half court set, and is actively looking because he knows the defense is going to scramble to cover and leave someone open, and he hits that player with the pass.
Isaiah Whaley (F/C, 6’9″, 2017) Ashbrook HS – Good athlete and has the size but would like to see him become more assertive in the post. Should continue to improve in this area and is a very mobile big man.
Emmanuel Ugboh (C, 6’10”, 2016) Elite Prep – Ogboh is a force in the paint and once he gets a hand on the ball he never loses it. Good outlet passer and has good power in the post.
DaShawn Corprew (G, 6’3″, 2016) Quality Education Academy – A late addition to the event but always a gamer who makes things happen with the pass or dribble. Athletic guard with size and the handle to play point or shooting guard.
My first time seeing Brandon Ingram play was during his sophomore year at Kinston H.S during the Eastern Regionals of the NCHSAA tournament, led by star Point Guard Josh Dawson.
Brandon was clearly the most intriguing prospect on the squad, as he was a 6’7 wing that could shoot the ball well with sneaky athleticism and loads of potential. After watching him play I wrote down a lot of words and notes about him but one main statement that was written really sticks out to me today, ‘’ the next Kevin Durant’’.
Little did I know that his off the court actions would resemble that of the humble superstar Kevin Durant just as much as his on the court play and even his slender frame. Kinston would go on to repeat as state champions and the following year would win again to make it 3 rings in 3 years for the young fella.
Well let’s fast forward to the summer prior to his senior season for Kinston HS, in July ECI in Jacksonville, NC takes place, which is an event for high school teams to attend and scrimmage against each other over a span of three days. Although the camp is great for teams there are many players who miss the camp to attend AAU events, especially the Division 1 prospects, however Ingram attended ECI with his teammates to try and get an early start on preparation for another state championship and to spend time with his squad.
Many times the higher a player is rated, the more of an ego that player will have, but this is definitely not the case for Ingram. Time and time again he has impressed me with his selfless attitude and the way he puts his teammates before himself, whether he’s diving on the floor for a loose ball, encouraging a teammate after they make a mistake, cheering for them while he is on the bench, or even keep a straight face when the announcer at Eastern Regionals calls you ‘‘The Slim Reaper’’ during introductions.
Simply put, Brandon does all the small things that you love for any player on your team to do but especially if it’s your star player, One moment during this season stood out to me above all the rest, Kinston had just suffered a loss to Goldsboro despite 31 Points from Brandon on the night.
After the game my twitter timeline was absolutely insane with everyone discussing what had just had happen, but Brandon only had six words to say ‘‘on the way to the gym’’. That type of attitude and work ethic helps us all to understand how this young man finished with 4 state championship rings and scholarships from basically every top college basketball program in the country. It shows that you don’t have to be a selfish superstar to be successful and that hard work and determination will pay off in the end. So to all the young athletes please remember that it’s not about me, it’s about we, put your team first, work hard, and everything else will fall into place.
Some schools want to win, and will pay to get it done.
A new report from the Des Moines Register have five years of data (along with USA Today) that show a massive spending difference in recruiting budget versus other area schools:
ISU ranks No. 8 nationally out of more than 200 public universities that play at the NCAA Division I level in the five school years from 2008-09 to 2012-13. ISU’s average expense computes to $260,767 annually, according to detailed data provided to the Des Moines Register through open-records requests gathered by USA TODAY.
Winning at college athletics – at least at the big money sports like football and basketball isn’t just about school pride. It’s big business. Anyone who thinks a college would spend over a quarter of a million dollars per year (and rank 8th in the country in spending, not first) just because of school pride of because they want to support student athletes is just kidding themselves. Or, getting a cut.
Jalen Benjamin, C/O 2019– Has a very good feel for the game, good IQ player with outstanding court vision, knocks down shots and knows how to run a team. Has all the tools to be a very good PG in the future, Has impressive lateral quickness that he use to stay in front of his opponent on the defensive end of the floor.
Derrick Robertson, C/O 2019– One of the best passers at the event, has an unorthodox shooting form but was pretty consistent shooting the ball throughout the event.
Jarius Northam, C/O 2020– Is a natural scorer that seems to always know how to get to the cup, has a lethal spin move that he uses on the regular to shake off defenders. Also has good quickness and is a strong player.
Jalen Breazeale, C/O 2021– Knock down shooter that was consistent scoring off the dribble, although he looked to score throughout his time at camp, he also showed on numerous occasions that he has exceptional passing abilities.
Ricky Council IV C/O 2020– Has a very nice midrange game and finishes well through contact when attacking the basket, was one of the best passers at camp. Seems to enjoy making the right pass to a teammate just as much as he enjoys scoring points.
Ronnie Thompson Jr. C/O 2021– One of the youngest and smallest players at the event, but he definitely turned heads with his ability to play the game, can shoot it from the perimeter and has outstanding ball handling skills. Has no issue at all breaking down his defender because of the numerous amounts of moves that are in his arsenal
Jahzeer Baker C/O 2019– Outstanding feel for the game, this young man was one of my favorite players at camp, he was one of the top ball handlers and seemed to thrive in pick and roll situations. One attribute that really stood out to me about him was how patient he was when getting his squad into their offense; he really knows how to allow the game to come to him.
Jalen Williams C/O 2019- Very athletic player that can get up and down the court in a hurry, he is always looking to attack the basket, he shot a very high percentage throughout the camp and has a very solid frame.
Silaa Mason C/O 2020– Smooth lefty player that showed how versatile of a player that he can possibly be, can play inside as well and step out and shoot the ball, moves well without the ball and got after it on the defensive end of the floor.
Joseph Green C/O 2019– Was outstanding on the defensive end, has a very good motor and brought consistent energy for his squad throughout the day, has a very smooth handle and handles defensive pressure very well.
Greg Gantt Jr C/O 2019– Already very has good height and size for a wing at the H.S level, attacks the paint well and was solid rebounding the ball. Has solid ball handling skills and is a very good on ball defender. Came up with quite a few: steals, blocks, deflections throughout the day, definitely one to watch.
Joey Baker C/O 2019– Joey has been a player that I’ve watched closely all season; he was very a solid role payer for his varsity squad during the season so I knew he would dominate when playing against players his age. He can play inside as well as stepping out and shooting the trey ball, his ball handling skills are very solid especially for a player who is 6’5, definitely a prospect with HM potential.
Juwan Gray C/O 2019– Juwan showed tremendous athleticism throughout the entire day at camp, he is a strong player that finishes through contact. As camp went on he showed that he was more than just simply an athletic player, he showed that he can pass the ball as well as handling the ball through pressure. Defensively he had numerous blocked shots and even more shots that he was able to alter because of his length and athletic ability. Juwan has a chance to be a very good player and will be a prospect to definitely keep an eye on; he was awarded MVP of the camp
