In the first
full day of action in the live recruiting session, coaches had almost 14 hours
to travel throughout the Pittsburgh area in search of their next recruit. With
games going on all day, there were plenty of standouts and top notch
performances.
Team of the Future: Karolina
Diamonds 17U
On Day 1,
the Karolina Diamonds squad lost their opening game and didn’t play again until
early Saturday morning disappointing several high major coaches that
anticipated a second game on Friday night. The Diamonds are one of the most
entertaining teams to watch, and that’s even before you realize that their
whole team consists of freshman playing against kids two years older.The big
names on the team are the two guards in Junior
Smith and Kwe Parker that are
also high school teammates.
Smith stands
6’1” with long arms and can handle the ball like a yo-yo. Parker stands 6’2”
and showed off the best two foot jumping ability in the tournament. In the
first half of their game against the NJ Celtics, the duo connected on a pair of
alley-oops with Smith penetrating into the middle of the lane and lofting up a
soft floater for Parker to finish with an authoritative two hand slam. In the
second half, the duo missed two alley-oops; however the misses might have been
more impressive than the makes considering the degree of difficulty (Parker
almost hit his head on the side of the backboard on one). Smith finished with
nine points on 4-6 shooting with four assists while Parker finished with 13
points on 6-10 shooting. Smith showed off his dribbling moves (making a
defender fall at one point) to get into the lane for the aforementioned
alley-oop pass or a soft floater. He also utilized a nice euro step to convert
a difficult lay-up. Parker also showed off a nice ability to drive to the
basket when not throwing down emphatic dunks and rebounded well for a guard. Both
players did their damage inside the paint, but still have plenty of time to
work on their outside shot. After opening Friday night with a loss, Karolina
finished 2-1 with both wins coming in blowout fashion.
Point Guard of the Future: Seventh
Woods
Seventh
Woods gained recognition during his freshman year for averaging 19.3 points per
game and is widely considered one of the top players in his class and a youtube
sensation. Woods struggled to start the game against the New Jersey RoadRunners
missing two outside shots, but showed a flash of his athleticism on a missed
flying dunk down a crowded lane. Woods scored seven points in the second half
before leaving with a slightly turned ankle. In the second half he showed off
his top notch athleticism with a rim rattling dunk and a few insane blocks as
players went driving down the lane for what appeared to be open lay-ups. Woods
also added a few rebounds and assists for good measure. Overall, Woods has
first class athleticism and a strong handle (especially considering his age),
but will need to continue to hone his outside shot to actually become the top
point guard in the class of 2016. fast break block before exiting with an ankle
injury with 7 minutes to go. While Woods didn’t show off as a top player in his
class, its obvious that he has the athleticism.
Despite the
injury to Woods, his 16U Carolina Wolves team pulled out the victory thanks to
26 points from 6’5” wing Tevin Mack who was hitting three pointers in the first
half and dominating in the pain throughout. While Mack helped his team to
victory, it was actually his counterpart on the RoadRunners who was the more
efficient player and leading scorer in the game. Myles Stephens, a 6’3”
sophomore kept the RoadRunners competitive throughout as he scored in a variety
of ways during the game. Stephens scored on drives down the lane, post-ups, put
backs, foul shots, and also hit a three pointer in the first half. Stephens
indicated that a host of Ivy League schools such as Yale, Princeton, and Penn
are showing interest along with Bucknell and some Patriot league schools.
How did they lose? Illinois
Celtics 16U
The Illinois
Celtics look like a top team and feature some of the most impressive length on
the AAU circuit with a trio of long armed starters that range from 6’4” to 6’7.”
These three starters are Kristian Santos
(6’5”), Joseph Toye (6’7”), and Aaron Jordan (6’4”). Santos is the shooter of
the group who has a picture perfect jump shot, while Toye is the athletic
slasher and Jordan does a bit of both. Despite these three wings along with
power forward Myles Carter, the Celtics lost to the unheralded Fairfax Stars in
an early Saturday matchup. This comes two weeks after the Celtics gave up a 20
point lead in a loss to the Wisconsin Playground Warriors in the Milwaukee
Swish N Dish.
The next Muggsy Bogues? Jason
Jolly (Fairfax Stars)
While the
Karolina Diamonds might have been the most entertaining team, 5’6” Jason Jolly
might have been the most entertaining player. Despite his short stature, Jolly
was the vocal leader of the Fairfax Stars as they upset the Illinois Celtics.
Jolly hit a key three in the second half and terrorized the Celtic guards on
defense with his quick feet. Once the Stars got the lead with a few minutes
remaining, Jolly just played keep away dribbling around defenders with ease.
The 6’7” Wing Crew:
 |
| Jared Nickens |
Jared Nickens (6’7” Sports U) resembled Rashad Vaughn in
both body type and shooting form. Nickens was knocking in deep jumpers against
the Upward Stars from South Carolina on Saturday afternoon and continued his
hot shooting in the Sweet 16 with a game winning three over Team Loaded in the
quarterfinals. He also added in a one hand flush against Team Loaded that got a
nice crowd reaction.
Donte Grantham (6’7” DC Assault) Grantham propelled DC
Assault into the elite eight with clutch shooting against the Carolina Wolves.
The tall, lanky native of West Virginia calmly drained three pointers from the
wing and also was able to get into the lane for baskets. West Virginia head
coach Bob Huggins made his first appearance at North Hills High to catch
Grantham’s quarterfinal game.
Devin Robinson (6’7” Richmond Squires) The Squires faced
off against the talented Atlanta Xpress in another 17U Sweet 16 game. Despite
the apparent talent mis-match between the two teams, Robinson was undaunted. He
got the Squires off to a strong start with 10 first half points as he drained
two three’s along with a mid-range jumper and lay-up. The Squires led by 3 at
the half before running out of steam in the second half. Robinson still
finished with 18 points and was not afraid to attack the 7 foot Xpress shot
blocking machine in Trayvon Reed. Robinson entered the tournament as a fringe
top-100 prospect, but after this weekend should see his stock start to rise.
Several Big East schools and Virginia Tech were already interested, but expect
many of the other schools in attendance to take note.
The Best Halftime Speech: Miller
Jordan – ATL Xpress
As noted
above, Robinson and the Richmond Squires came out aggressive against the Xpress
and led 26-23 at the half. Not entirely pleased with his team’s effort, Jordan
took the players over to the corner at the gym and began a loud tirade that
echoed throughout. After a few minutes, Jordan finally stopped and the Xpress
quickly increased their intensity as they outscored the Squires 38-19 in the
second half.
The Busiest Coach: Mike
Winiecki – Associate Head Coach of Clemson
The Karolina
Diamonds tipped off at 10am in Ambridge High, a good 25 minutes away from North
Hills High School. Despite the abundance of 2016 talent on this team, Winiecki
was the only coach to show up as he sported a bright orange Clemson sweater.
After the game ended he made sure to stand in front of the basket as Parker and
Smith began a mini dunk off. After this game, Winiecki hopped in his car and
drove 30 minutes south of the city to South Fayette High. Sure enough, the only
coach in attendance to watch 2016 stud Seventh Woods was once again Winiecki in
his bright orange sweater. With the Carolina Wolves being from South Carolina,
plenty of people in the gym took notice. Once this game was over, Winiecki
watched a few Ohio kids before making his way back to North Hills high to catch
2015 South Carolina sensation PJ Dozier. With all of the young talent in the
Carolina’s, Clemson is trying to establish their mark early on.
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