UAA LA Recap

Under Armour wrapped up their third and final edition of league play this past Memorial Day weekend in Southern California after previously making pit stops in New York and Indiana. With each team playing four games over a two-day period there were multiple players that showcased their skills.

Top 17U Team To Watch: Team Charlotte

Team Charlotte, led by head coach Jeff McInnis went 4-0 over the weekend winning their games by an average of 15 points. With their four wins, Charlotte finished with the top overall record in the UAA regular season at 11-1. They play a frenetic pace that makes opponents uncomfortable in a hurry. Junior point guard Devon Dotson helps set this pace as one of the quickest guards in the country. Standing at just 6’0”, Dotson has a quick burst and can finish aggressively around the rim. For the weekend he averaged 16 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists. Meanwhile, the team’s leading scorer, Tyshon Alexander put together another quietly stellar performance averaging just over 16 points a game while going 53% from the three-point line. Creighton certainly got a steal in Alexander.

Top 16U Team to Watch: Team Rio

This distinction probably should go to Team Thad who actually beat Team Rio in their last game of the tournament and finished 11-1 overall, but I was able to watch more of Team Rio over the course of two days. Team Rio is coached by former Rutgers coach Mike Rice, and they are led by two of the top rising sophomores in the country in Bryan Antoine and Scottie Lewis. Both Antoine and Lewis are 6’5” athletic guards that come from the same high school (Ranney) in Jersey. While Antoine was responsible for bringing the ball up the court, both guards are true scorers. Antoine went for 30 points in his first game and then went 3-7 from three in his third game scoring 19 points. Lewis had a weekend high of 16 points against Team Charlotte. Both guards can attack the rim and are threats from the perimeter with a high ceiling going forward.

Notes:

Senior guard Jalek Felton averaged 21.3 points and 5.8 assists putting together three out of four extremely strong performances. He also shot 64% from the floor and 40% from three, despite a 1-10 performance to start the second day. Felton’s passing skills were on display early and often as he was threading the needle with one hand passes and throwing others that most guards wouldn’t dare attempt. Tyler Ulis, Ben Simmons, and Lonzo Ball have been the top passers in the last three high school classes and now Felton will join them from the 2017 class. While his vision has never been questioned, it was nice to see Felton scoring the ball at a high clip. With a quick first step, Felton can beat most defenders off the dribble, but he is sometimes content to hang beyond the 3-point line.

Five-star guard Trevon Duval had an up and down two days in California. In his Saturday night and Sunday morning performances he averaged 19.5 points per game, but fell off at the end with just five points in a blowout win. Despite the uneven scoring performances and three-point shooting, the main takeaway from the weekend was the upper body strength gain made by Duval. It had been since August when I last saw Duval in person, but his svelte physique was immediately noticeable, one which he used to punish smaller guards with on several occasions.

Another powerful point guard was the 6’3” Paul Scruggs from Indiana who helped his Indy Hoosiers go 4-0 with four double-digit scoring performances. To go along with his muscular frame, Scruggs sports a long wing-span and decent quickness which allows him to attack the basket and convert inside the paint.

Five-star center Austin Wiley made his debut this weekend after being plagued with injuries throughout his high school career. Given his size and build, Wiley had a post advantage against most opponents. He averaged 10 points and just over 10 rebounds a game.

DC Premier is another team that went 4-0 to finish at 10-2 in the season. They were led by a three-headed monster of 2018 guard Prentiss Hubb, 2017 combo Naji Marshall, and 6’8” big man Nate Watson. Marshall impressed with his size and ability to attack the basket averaging 15 points per game. Hubb displayed his speed and vision getting baskets in the open court while also averaging 6.8 assists per game. Finally, improving big man Nate Watson from Bishop O’ Connell averaged 12.3 points and seven rebounds a game including an 18 and 11 performance to kick the weekend off. Watson has a powerful base to go along with a good set of hands. Most of his baskets came at the rim, but at one point he did knock down a 12-foot jumper off of the pick and roll. With his play in the spring Watson has received interest from Kansas, Maryland, Providence, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Marquette, Miami, and UNC and he plans on taking a few unofficial visits in June with Maryland being a definite visit.

Josh Anderson, a 6’5” guard from Louisiana was easily one of the top players over the weekend as he averaged 20 points a game including a 28-point performance against Duval’s We R One team. Anderson used his athletic ability to attack the rim and was able to score or get to the line on a consistent basis.

The Houston Defenders were another team that went 4-0. 6’5” Trevor Moore put on a shooting display Sunday morning knocking down five three’s in the first half. Point guard Cameron Mack is a bit on the under-rated side as he used his explosiveness to get into the lane at will and finally highly ranked Jaedon Ladee came off the bench and used his length to corral rebounds while finishing explosively around the rim.