City of Palms Preview

Each year the City of Palms classic brings some of the top prep players and teams from across the country for a weekend full of sun and basketball at Bishop Verot High in Fort Myers, FL. Over a six day period, the 41^st classic will feature their standard 16 team classic, a four team Signature Series, and four Sunshine Series games. The City of Palms is commonplace for future number one draft picks which have included John Wall and Kyrie Irving over the past few years. It will be hard to top last year’s tournament which featured the number one player in the 2013 (Andrew Wiggins), 2014 (Jahlil Okafor), and 2015 (Malik Newman) classes along with a title game that pitted the most talented team in the country (Montverde Academy) versus the most entertaining team in the country (Lone Peak). 

16 Team Classic

Top Teams:

Montverde Academy (FL)

Russell and Montverde are looking for a repeat

The number one team in the country is looking for a repeat. Last year head coach Kevin Boyle led Montverde Academy to their first City of Palms title behind the play of Kasey Hill (Florida), Dakari Johnson (Kentucky) and Devin Williams (West Virginia). All of the aforementioned players are now in college but they do return five-star shooting guard D’Angelo Russell, an Ohio State commit. Along with Russell, Montverde re-loaded and now features five-star junior Ben Simmons, senior point guard Ahmaad Rorie, shooting guard Justin Bibbs, and power forward Makinde London. Montverde is favored to advance out of their side of the bracket; however they certainly won’t have a cake walk with potential match-ups against Isaiah Whitehead of Lincoln (NY) and possibly Daniel Hamilton and St. John Bosco who recently pulled a buzzer-beater upset in the Chicago Elite Classic.

St. John Bosco (CA)

The Bellflower, CA team will have its hands full making it to the semi-finals on Saturday evening to face Montverde; however they certainly have the talent to do so with Connecticut bound Daniel Hamilton and five-star junior Tyler Dorsey on the wings. Bosco opens with Providence Christian (FL), the No. 20 team in the country which features Duke recruit Grayson Allen in addition to a possible match-up between the winner of No. 22 Denver East and the Jaquan Newton led Neumann-Goretti (PA) squad. If they make it through the first two days of the tournament expect a high scoring and entertaining game with Montverde.

Whitney Young (IL)

Led by the top player in the country, 6’10” Jahlil Okafor and Whitney Young are looking for a little revenge. Last year the Dolphins barely escaped bad weather conditions in Chicago and just made their 10pm tip time with Montverde. Despite the travel woes the Dolphins pushed the game to overtime before falling 68-63 in a breakout game by shooting guard Miles Reynolds. This year marks the third trip in four years for Whitney Young with the 2010 trip serving as the tournament where Okafor and forward Paul White were first recognized on a national stage as freshmen. After suffering a heart breaking loss to St. John Bosco two weeks ago, Whitney Young is looking to make their first national statement of the year. 

Paul VI (VA)

The top team in TheWashington Post is back in sunny Florida trying to make-up for their first round exit last year in the City of Palms tournament to Lake Wales (FL). Despite losing early last year, the sophomore laden Panthers bounced back to win their remaining three games. With one more year under their belts the junior duo of Marcus Derrickson and Kevin Dorsey lead the way while the middle is manned by big man Quadree Smith who is headed to UNC-Greensboro next year. Sophomore combo guard Curtis Jones has stepped up this year and gives Paul VI another outside scoring threat as a lot of the local ACC and Big East schools have shown strong interest.

Top 15 Players to Watch:

1. Jahlil Okafor, 6’10”, Senior, C, Whitney Young (IL) – Committed to Duke (#1 – 2014)

2. Isaiah Whitehead, 6’4”, Senior, SG, Lincoln (NY) – Committed to Seton Hall (#12 – 2014)

3. Tyler Dorsey, 6’4”, Junior, SG, St. John Bosco (CA) – (#7 – 2015)

4. Ben Simmons, 6’9”, Junior, PF, Montverde (FL) – Committed to LSU (#8 – 2015)

5. V.J. King, 6’7”, Sophomore, SF, St. Vincent-St. Mary, (#9 – 2016)

6. D’Angelo Russell, 6’4”, Senior, SG, Montverde (FL) – Committed to Ohio State (#16 – 2014)

7. Daniel Hamilton, 6’7”, Senior, SF, St. John Bosco (CA) – Committed to UConn (#18 – 2014)

8. Ja’Quan Newton, 6’2”, Senior, G, Neumann Goretti (PA), Committed to Miami (#56 – 2014)

9. Grayson Allen, 6’4”, Senior, SG, Providence Christian (FL) – Committed to Duke (#36 – 2014)

10. Jaylen Brown, 6’5”, Junior, SF, Marietta Wheeler (GA), (#10 – 2015)

11. Antonio Blakeney, 6’3”, Junior, SG, Oak Ridge (FL), (#68 – 2015)

12. Dominique Collier, 6’2”, Senior, G, Denver East (CO) – Committed to Colorado (#98 – 2014)

13. Marcus Derrickson, 6’7”, Junior, PF, Paul VI (VA) – Committed to Georgetown (#54 – 2015)

14. Paul White, 6’8”, Senior, F, Whitney Young (IL) – Committed to Georgetown (#49 – 2014)

15. Daniel Giddens, 6’9”, Junior, PF, Marietta Wheeler (GA), (#34 – 2015)

 Signature Series:

Top Teams:

Wichita Sunrise Christian (KS)

Sunrise Christian is ranked No. 7 in the country with one loss on their resume which came at the hands of a junior college in Texas. Led by future Michigan State point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn the Kansas based school will face off against London Barking Abbey which was the Great Britain Division 4 champ last year. While not much is known about the Brits, they do play several players from the various British national teams including 7’1” junior center Nathan Smith. 

Brewster Academy (NH)

The nationally acclaimed New England prep school features a star studded line-up with players headed to Georgetown, Oklahoma State, and San Diego State next year. Along with the seniors, Brewster also starts shooting guard Donovan Mitchell who has offers from most of the schools in the Northeast and is rapidly gaining steam as a junior.

Top 5 Players:

1. Lourawls Nairn, 5’10”, PG, Wichita Sunrise Christian (KS) – Committed to MSU

2. Jared Terrell, 6’3”, SG, Brewster Academy (NH) – Committed to Ok State (#77 – 2014)

3. Isaac Copeland, 6’8”, F, Brewster Academy (NH) – Committed to Georgetown (#48 – 2014)

4. Jeff Garrett, 6’7”, SF, Oldsmar Christian (FL)

5. Isaiah Manderson, 6’10”, PF, Oldsmar Christian (FL) – Committed to Oregon State

Sunshine Series:

Top Team:

Lake Highland Prep

Led by North Carolina commitment Joel Berry, the Highlanders are currently 7-2 and ranked No. 4 by the Orlando Sentinel. The 6’0” Berry helped Lake Highland Prep win the Florida 4A State Championship last year; however he was not able to play in the 2012 16 Team Classic due to a leg injury and the Highlanders went 1-2 in the tournament. On Monday night, Berry will face off against future Georgia Tech guard Tadric Jackson and Tift County (GA).

Top 5 Players:

1. Joel Berry, 6’0”, Senior, PG, Lake Highland Prep – Committed to UNC (#21 – 2014)

2. Dwayne Bacon, 6’5”, Junior, SF, IMG Academy, (#20 – 2015)

3. Tadric Jackson, 6’2”, Senior, PG, Tift County – Committed to Georgia Tech (#87 – 2014)

4. Prince Ali, 6’3”, Junior, SG, Weston Sagemont – Committed to UConn (#78 – 2015)

5. Gyorgy Goloman, 6’10”, Senior, C, Weston Sagemont – Committed to UCLA