On day number two in Fort Myers, FL, spectators were treated
to a full day of action. The City of Palms kicked off with West Linn (OR)
redeeming their 39 point day one performance with a 21 point win and concluded
with Westerville South (OH), the number 15 ranked team in the country turning
in a 14 point win over Michael Porter’s Father Tolton squad. In between, Mike
Rice, the former Rutgers coach made his high school debut and Jayson Tatum and Tony Bradley matched-up in a preview of next year’s Tobacco Road
rivalry.
3 Stars:
Jayson Tatum, 6’7”, G/F, Chaminade (MO)
It didn’t take long for Jayson Tatum, a consensus top three
player in the country to get going. In the first half, Tatum hit five
three-pointers turning in one of his finer outside shooting performances. He
scored 19 points in the first half and finished with 36 on the night going
10-20 from the floor. The smooth wing attacked the basket and had his
Kobe-esque step backs and fade-aways going as well. The Red Devils have been
taking on opponents from all over the U.S. so far this season and next-up they
will have a match-up with Wheeler (GA) before a pending game with defensive
minded Patrick School.
Bradley’s team was over-matched by Chaminade throughout as
Bradley squared off against two twin towers in 6’9” Tyler Cook and 6’10” Will
Gladson. Despite the size, Bradley was a beast in the paint and went 14-20
from the floor while recording his sixth double-double of the season with 33
points and 13 rebounds. There wasn’t a player all day that played with the
intensity that Bradley did. As the game progressed, Bradley’s energy increased
and in the fourth quarter he was a man possessed on the boards and running the
floor. Bradley scored on four of his last five shots and used his right-hand
hook several times against Cook and Gladson.
Bam Adebayo, 6’8”,
PF, High Point Christian Academy (NC)
In a 23 point, nine rebound performance, Adebayo looked like
a mini Dwight Howard. With a chiseled physique that is too much for most high
schoolers to handle, Adebayo was dominating in the paint and throwing down
ferocious dunks all throughout the second half. With an ever evolving offensive
game, John Calipari certainly won’t need to teach effort-level next year in
Lexington.
Other Notes:
-Mike Rice made his debut for The Patrick School. In a game
against Norland (FL), it was only a 6-6 game after one quarter, but then TPS
started to make a run behind its guard play of Jordan Walker and Bryce
Aiken. TPS uses its length and intensity on defense to shut down Miami
bound Dewan Huell, who Rice referred
to as a “young LaMarcus Aldridge.
-Tyler Cook missed the first quarter of action for
Chaminade, but finished with 12 points. He was impressive early on at the
basket and with an elbow jumper. He should make an immediate impact for Iowa.
-Bam Adebayo was definitely not a one-man team for High
Point. Ty Graves scored 18 points
while going 4-5 from three. He was tough to contain off the dribble although he
did finish with six turnovers.
-Westerville South was led by a balanced team effort against
Michael and Jontay Porter. Overall, the team shot 8-12 from the three-point
line and had six players score in double figures.
-Montverde Academy took it to Spain Park (AL) early, but
junior forward Austin Wiley finished
with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman R.J.
Barrett led the way for Montverde with 16 points.
Day number one at the 2015 City of Palms tournament in Fort
Myers, FL started off with a plethora of five-star talent putting on a show. In
a “light” day of action, five games were on the docket beginning with the
defending City of Palms champ in Wheeler (GA) taking on the Harry Giles-less
Wesleyan Christian (NC) squad and ending with an old fashioned east coast vs.
west coast shoot-out.
Game of the Day:
Chino Hills (CA) 91 Thomas Jefferson (NY) 90
Chino Hills won the opening tip and all of a sudden junior
guard LiAngelo Ball was knocking in
a three from just below the left wing. 3-0 just a few seconds in and it was off
to the races. At times this east coast vs. west coast match-up didn’t even feel
like an actual basketball game, but instead it was more like an old school NBA
Live video game. Chino Hills came into the game known for their ability to put
up over 100 points, and of course, the Ball brothers, who have all committed to
UCLA. The California boys ran a pressing and trapping style of defense that was
conducive to steals and leak outs. As the younger Ball brother’s (LiAngelo and
LiMelo) set-up shop around the perimeter, it was the older brother Lonzo Ball who controlled the action.
With Jason Kidd like vision, Lonzo Ball finished with 10 assists. Many of the
baseball pass variety from ¾ court including one, where he hit his brother in
stride after throwing a pass almost the length of the court with his left-hand.
With these highlight reel plays, Chino Hills took a 54-52 lead into the half.
As for Thomas Jefferson, they took it right at Chino Hills and found numerous
openings for their forays to the basket. 6’2” guard Shamorie Ponds ended up finishing with 40 points on 14-25 shooting.
As one would expect, the game came down to the final minute. First, it was
Ponds hitting two free throws to go up one point and then with time winding
down it was the muscular LiAngelo Ball who hit two free throws to go up 1. With
3.1 seconds left, Thomas Jefferson had the ball under their own basket and
instead of running a set play, the player inbounding the ball threw a pass off
the back of a Chino Hills defender. With an undefeated season hanging in the
ball, Lonzo Ball came in to save the day with two straight blocked shots. A
crazy ending to a crazy game, one in which the two teams combined for 53 three’s.
Chino Hills stays undefeated and advances to the next round to play the winner
of Montverde Academy and Spain Park (AL).
Top Performances:
Shamorie Ponds, 6’2”, G, Thomas Jefferson (NY)
Despite coming out of the final game with a loss, Shamorie
Ponds was the only player to top the 40-point mark on day one. The “slick”
guard scored in a variety of manners including one three in the first-half that
was well beyond NBA range. He also maneuvered to find the openings in the
defense for short jumpers while also showing off his ability to finish in
traffic. Despite the crazy nature of the game, Ponds was always under control
and only finished with two turnovers despite having the ball in his hands for a
majority of the game. Overall, Ponds was a very efficient 14-25 from the field and
almost led his team to a first round upset.
Lonzo Ball, 6’5”, PG, Chino Hills (CA)
Defensive rebound in the paint, no dribble, spin,
left-handed ¾ court pass right on the money for an easy lay-up. Lonzo Ball is
easily the best passer in high school hoops and his skills were on display as
the future Bruin went for 22 points, 10 assists, 5 rebounds, 5 steals, and 5
blocks in a 91-90 win. He can fire a bullet pass with either hand and knows
exactly how far to drive on a defender before kicking it to a wide open
teammate. He can attack off the dribble and knows how to use his height once in
the paint. Ball knocked down two three’s, but will need to fix his form in
order to excel at the higher levels of basketball. Right now the shot is
released almost from the top of his left shoulder and it won’t be as easy to
get off in the Pac-12. Besides for the shot mechanics, Ball is a maestro with
the ball in his hands and the unquestioned leader of the Chino Hills juggernaut.
Michael Porter Jr., 6’8”, SF, Father Tolton (MO)
If there is such a thing as an easy 34 points, then it
happened in the Father Tolton / Lehigh Acres game. Porter, the five-star junior
went for 34 points on 9-17 shooting and added 17 rebounds. He took advantage of
a scrappy Lehigh team who did not have anyone over 6’5” and did his damage with
highlight reel dunks and 15 out of 16 free throws. Porter Jr. corralled the
ball on the boards and began the break as well. He knocked in his only three of
the game in the first half and then he started the second half with an
alley-oop off of a set play. It was a very smooth game for Porter Jr. who was
surrounded after the game for picture and autograph requests.
The five-star junior has been on a tear starting with his
performance at the USA U16 tryouts last spring. Now, the explosive forward is
expanding his game now that he is fully focused on basketball after previously playing
football in the fall. Knox scored 27 points on 11-22 shooting and added 12
rebounds. He put together numerous highlight reel plays including dunks on
the break, coast to coast lay-ups, and a powerful drive from the left wing. In
the first half he hit a three from the left wing showing that he was
comfortable shooting from deep, but finished just 1-5 from three. Despite the
misses from three and a few from just inside the arc, Knox’s form still looked
compact and similar to his 15 foot jump shot which he makes with ease. The skill
level required to play the small forward position in college is expanding as is
his offer list. Knox recently received UNC and Duke offers and is expecting a
Kentucky one soon.
Dewan Huell, 6’9”, PF, Norland (FL)
The future Miami Hurricane put together a solid 24 point,
seven rebound performance in a fairly easy win over Peyton Pritchard’s West
Linn (OR) team. Huell got started early hitting a few soft jumpers from inside
the paint and he also showed some body control driving baseline for a short
bank shot with a smaller defender trying to take a charge. Huell had a definite
height advantage in this game and controlled the paint. Today he will have a
tougher test going up against the Patrick School.
Other Notes:
-Assistant coaches from UCLA, UNC, Boston College, Alabama
were all seen at Day 1. With many big time games going off today expect to see
some head coaches rolling in later.
-Peyton Pritchard
finished with 22 points, but the Oregon commit struggled to find his shot going
7-22 from the field. His team was at an athletic disadvantage and it was hard
for his teammates to get open shots. Pritchard was able to penetrate, but just
didn’t have things falling in his first game.
-6’10” sophomore Jontay
Porter finished with 20 points and 10 rebounds against Lehigh Acres. On
Saturday, Porter will face off with Caleb
Wesson, both of whom are more in the Big Baby mold which should make for an
interesting match-up.
UCLA took down #1 Kentucky 87-77 in Westwood in Steve Alford’s
biggest win during his tenure in Westwood.
1. Statement
game
It’s already been a rough non-conference
schedule for UCLA. They lost their first game of the season at home to Monmouth
and then they lost two out of three games in Maui including their last game to
lowly Wake Forest. Back at home, playing in front of a packed crowd, UCLA
dominated Kentucky for pretty much the entire game despite playing just seven
players. All five starters scored in double figures and as a team the Bruins
shot 52.8% from the floor and 45.5% from 3. Normally, one would think this game
would serve as a spring board into conference play, but UCLA still has a
hellacious December in store. At home against Long Beach State, which has
LETDOWN written all over it, then at Gonzaga, and then against UNC in the
Barclay’s Center. The win feels good right now, but how will it feel come
January 1 when UCLA heads to Seattle.
2. Thomas
Welsh’s Double-Double
The former McDonald’s All-American turned
in his finest performance of his young college career. In an opening season
loss to Monmouth, Welsh recorded the first double-double of his career, but he
certainly exceeded that 12 point, 10 rebound performance with 21 points and 11
rebounds on 8-11 shooting. In the first half Welsh was showing off his pick and
pop game and then in the second half, Welsh was money in short catch and shoot
situations. Despite being a 7 footer, Welsh has a solid set of hands, a quick
release, and a soft touch. Right now, Welsh is looking like a poor man’s Tyler
Zeller (meant as a compliment) without the short right-handed jump hook.
3. The
Prince Has Arrived
The freshman guard was fresh off his first
double-digit scoring performance on Sunday and while he didn’t top the 10 point
mark, Prince Ali scored 8 points in just 12 minutes including the top dunk of
the night. This pretty much sums up the night:
4. Where
Is Skal?
Freshmen Skal Labisserie is the
projected No. 1 pick in the draft per DraftExpress; however Labisserie was
basically a non-factor scoring just 6 points and grabbing 1 rebound in 16
minutes. Skal was pushed around on both ends of the floor and seemed to lack
the fire that one would expect from such a highly ranked player. Before we
start piling on the skinny freshman, one has to have the proper expectations.
Skal was never going to come in and dominate from day one like Ben Simmons.
Strength was always going to be a problem for Skal and so far that’s proving to
be true. The Haitian big man has a soft high arcing shot, but he doesn’t have
the creativity to get buckets on his own. Improving his overall performance is
going to be a two step process. One, Skal needs to get more aggressive and two,
John Calipari needs to start running more plays to get him easy looks. Two of
the three Kentucky guards hunt their shot before looking for others and Skal
will need some early looks in order to show his potential.
5. Kentucky
Kentucky looked like a much different team
when a defense was not pressuring them at the half-court line (a la Duke). UCLA
began their defense at the three-point line and clogged the driving lane of
Ulis, Murray, and Briscoe. While the guards are still potent, Kentucky will
need to figure out its big man rotation. Sure Marcus Lee went out with an
injury, but the Wildcats get nothing from their bigs. Poythress fouled out in
17 unproductive minutes and I’m not sure Calipari wants to rely on Isaac
Humphries and Derrick Willis. It was Kentucky’s first true road game and only
one loss, but the lack of offensive fire power has to be a bit concerning.
