NBPA Top 100: Thursday Morning

The 2015 NBPA Top 100 camp kicked off Wednesday afternoon at the University of Virginia and despite an earlier start time on Thursday morning, a variety of players came ready to play. Each morning and evening stanza features a set of five games. Three games in the first time slot and two games in the second one. John Paul Jones arena plays host to four out of these five games while UVA’s auxiliary gym is the place to be for the other.

In the morning session, the viewings began in the auxiliary gym where a handful of talented 2016 and 2017 prospects took the floor.

Quick Hitters:

1) Gary Trent Jr. has been the shooting guard from the class of 2017 that has garnered the most national attention, but DJ Harvey (DeMatha) is right up there with him when it comes to the top shooting guards in the country. Harvey’s shooting stroke is a thing of beauty and he gets exceptional lift on his shots as well. In the morning session, Harvey started from mid-range and hit a tough pull-up and a trio of three’s from the wing and corner. With his shooting performance, Harvey had the standout performance in the auxiliary gym.

2) Last year rising junior point guard Matt Coleman played at the ScoutsFocus camp that was going on across the street at UVA’s old UHall arena during the Top 100 camp. This year the speedster is at the real thing and in the morning he showed off an aggressive mindset that was sometimes missing during the EYBL season. He started the morning off with a pull-up three and then quickly added a running bank shot from the left side of the floor. Coleman used his quickness to attack the pick and roll and found teammates for open baskets. The 757 native had his phone ringing at 12:01am on June 15^th, but it’s a former local coach that is showing strong interest. While at VCU, Shaka Smart recruited Coleman, but not that aggressively as he knew Coleman was bound for a big time school. Now that Smart is at Texas he has put the full-court press on Coleman.

3) Thon Maker’s journey is well-documented and the 7’1” forward is now making his third appearance at the Top 100 camp. While Maker has struggled over the past two years he came out aggressive today attacking the basket when he got the ball in his hands while also patrolling the paint on the defensive end. He missed a fair amount of close shots but he drew fouls and got to the line where he was able to convert.

4) Senior big man Barrett Benson received a lot of attention this past winter for his play in the Chicago suburbs and the four-star played a solid game this morning. He hit face-up jump shots and converted in the paint. He didn’t try to force the issue and let the game come to him.

5) 6’8” small forward Brendan Bailey showcased his three point stroke at this camp last year and he did the same thing this morning. While still extremely thin and lanky, Bailey has added some noticeable muscle to his upper body. This time around at the Top 100 camp, Bailey was more aggressive and looked for his outside shot. With a high arcing shot, Bailey is one of the top outside marksmen at the camp.