Preview: Peach Jam

The Nike EYBL finals are about to kick off at the Peach Jam in North Augusta, South Carolina. By turning this event into the culmination of a 4 part regular season, Nike has ensured that this event receives top billing from coaches and fans alike. The top 24 EYBL teams make the Peach Jam and are separated into four pools of six teams each. Each team will play 5 games against its pool members beginning Thursday morning with the top two teams from each Pool advancing to the playoffs Saturday night. Both the semi-finals and finals will be held on Sunday morning with the winner joining the likes of Team Takeover and BABC as Peach Jam champions. While all Pool match-ups should be highly competitive and entertaining here are a few games that stick out:

1)      CIA Bounce vs. Texas Titans (Friday, 7:30pm)

The future class of 2013 #1?

Despite going 14 games without a loss, the Nike schedule makers did not do CIA Bounce a ton of favors by putting them in the talent laden Pool C. A few hours after their game with Mac Irvin ends, CIA will have a few hours to rest up before they face the Julius Randle show. Randle has been a beast all spring and summer and will try to turn a dominant Peach Jam into the coveted #1 class ranking. While Wiggins and Randle are the top players in this game, there will also be a shooting guard match-up to watch with the 6’4” Matt Jones facing off against the 6’4” Xavier Rathan-Mayes. As both teams have the talent to win the championship, this game will play a key factor in playoff seeding for the weekend.

2)      Houston Hoops vs. Bluff City Legends (Thursday, 12pm)

Despite the fact that Bluff City snuck into the Peach Jam via an auto-bid, this game could be one of the most entertaining match-ups and will certainly draw a crowd of college coaches to watch the highly regarded un-committed players. The individual battles on the wing will be scintillating as the Houston squad features Keith Frazier (2013 - #13), Justin Jackson (2014 - #15), and Justice Winslow (2014 - #10). Bluff City showcases Nick King (2013 - #19), power forward Johnathan Williams (2013 - #18), and Jujuan Johnson (2013 - #32). Expect a high scoring game as both teams rank among the top of the EYBL in terms of points per game.

3)      CIA Bounce vs. Mac Irvin Fire (Friday, 12pm)

Okafor

While still a top game, this was supposed to be the most anticipated match-up of the summer with Jabari Parker, the top ranked player in the class of 2013 and Andrew Wiggins, the top ranked player in the class of 2014 finally getting to match-up. Last year Parker was widely considered to be the best player in the country despite being a junior, however due to his strong play, Andrew Wiggins has taken the conch away from Parker. During play with the U17 national team, Parker suffered a right foot injury that could keep him sidelined for the remainder of the summer. Despite this loss, Mac Irvin still features enough talent to compete with CIA Bounce. Big man Jahlil Okafor is coming off of a MVP performance for the US team and Mac Irvin recently finished 2^nd to Mean Streets in an Illinois AAU event. Okafor will try to dominate CIA down low, while the rest of the Mac Irvin players such as Sterling Brown and Billy Garrett try to step-up. CIA went undefeated through the first 14 games of the EYBL and now they are looking to claim their first Peach Jam title.

4)      All Ohio vs. Mean Streets (Friday, 7:30pm)

All Ohio finished the EYBL with a 16-4 record, while Mean Streets went 15-5. Despite being two of the top teams on the Nike circuit these teams are often overlooked due to their lack of star power. Mean Streets is led by senior guard Kendrick Nunn, the only player averaging over double figures on the team at 12 ppg. All-Ohio is led by Ohio State commit Mark Loving who is averaging 11 ppg. Both of these teams play tough and are extremely well coached. Mean Streets was also the first team to beat CIA Bounce. This game features two undervalued teams, but the winner could make a surprising run to the Peach Jam championship.

5)      Oakland Soldiers vs. Boo Williams (Friday, 9pm)

A relatively healthy Oakland squad will try to avenge their 59-46 Memorial Day weekend loss to Boo Williams. The Soldiers will continue to be without star forward Aaron Gordon, however they will have the services of shooting guard Jabari Bird. The Soldiers went 4-2 in their last EYBL tournament and will look to string together consecutive solid tournaments to make it back to the Peach Jam playoffs. On the other side is Boo Williams who had an extremely up and down EYBL regular season. After struggling through the first three EYBL sessions, Boo Williams went 6-0 in Oakland which included wins over CIA Bounce and Mean Streets. This team is lead by super quick point guard Anthony “Cat” Barber who is considered a top-10 player in the country and has excelled during the June basketball sessions. While this team struggled throughout the spring, so did their star Troy Williams. Once a top 10 player with UNC and Kentucky at the top of his list, numerous poor shooting games dropped Williams down the ranks. Despite this drop, Williams stepped up his game at recent events and was a top performer averaging almost 20 points at the Nike Global Challenge. Both teams will look to capitalize on their solid late season play and advance out of Pool B.  

6)      E1T1 vs. Team Takeover (Thursday, 9am)

Joel Berry

A classic big man battle between US national teammates, BeeJay Anya and Dakari Johnson highlights this game. Johnson, from E1T1 dominated the stat lines during the EYBL sessions to the tune of approximately 16 points and 11 rebounds per game. Anya will provide Johnson with a tough match-up due to his size and length. Both teams also feature standout guards such as Joel Berry for E1T1 and Stan Robinson and Josh Hart. Also on Team Takeover is point guard Will Ferguson. Ferguson has been fairly quite in the EYBL games despite starting almost every game. His quickness could cause Berry problems and give Takeover the advantage. 

7)      Baltimore Elite vs. The Family (Friday, 10:30am)

Both teams enter the Peach Jam with 12-8 records; however they both feature some of the top scorers in the EYBL. From Baltimore, shooting guard Kameron Williams averaged a season high 22.2 ppg while James Young, from Detroit averaged 18.5 ppg. Young is also coming off a 29 point performance in the Global Challenge in which he helped his Midwest team defeat Team Canada. While these players might not spend a lot of time guarding each other, they will most likely be putting on a scoring display. Also featured is point guard Wesley Clark who drew rave reviews at the Lebron James Skills Academy.

Will.....

-CIA Bounce be able to bounce back after their trip to Oakland and win the championship?

-The Pool C teams (CIA, Mac Irvin, Texas Titans) be to beat up after pool play to win a championship?

-Julius Randle claim the #1 spot in the 2013 rankings?

-A team from the West Coast (Cal Supreme or Oakland) win their first EYBL championship?

Oakland EYBL Review

The final regular season installment of the Nike EYBL ended over Memorial Day in Oakland, CA with several teams making a strong final push to earn a berth to the prestigious Peach Jam tournament in July. Here is a look back at the 5 games to watch along with answers to the “Will…..?” section.

1)      CIA Bounce came into Oakland with a 14-0 record and faced off with Mean Streets on opening night. Mean Streets jumped all over CIA Bounce in the Friday nightcap behind the strong play of guard Kendrick Nunn who had 24 points and 7 rebounds. Mean Streets only has one player that averages in double digits, but they are one of the best coached teams on the circuit. The stars from CIA all struggled and their quest to go undefeated went up in smoke early on in the West Coast trip.

2)      The two top players in the class of 2013, Jabari Parker and Julius Randle faced off this past Sunday with Randle’s team holding on in the second half and getting the 63-59 victory. Randle went for 23 points and 13 rebounds, while Parker went for 14 and 5 on 6-15 shooting. One of the areas of improvement for Parker is his 3-point shooting which showed in this game as he went 0-5, and Mac Irvin as a whole went 0-16. Top junior big man Jahlil Okafor held his own with 12 and 16, while sharp shooting Matt Jones of the Texas Titans went for 19 on four 3’s. While Parker has always been the clear cut top player in the class of 2013, Randle is by far the most imposing and physically dominant player.

Jabari vs. Randle 

3)      In the big men battle of the 2014 class, Jahlil Okafor’s team, Mac Irvin cruised to a 17 point win over Dakari Johnson’s E1T1 who was missing its starting point guard Joel Berry. While Okafor’s team got the win, it was Johnson who was the aggressor in the match-up. Johnson went for 11 points and 17 rebounds while getting to the line eight times. Okafor finished with 4 points and 9 rebounds and did not get to the line once in 27 minutes. Mac Irvin does not do a great job of feeding their big men down low so unfortunately this battle did not live up to the expectations, although there will surely be many more big men match-ups in the future.

4)      Tyus Jones made his return to the EYBL circuit after missing the previous tournament in Dallas. Jones went 8-13 for 18 points in his match-up with the talented Houston Hoops squad; however Houston had too much talent and pulled away in the 2^nd half in a 63-52 victory. Houston had a balanced attack led by Justin Jackson’s 14 points. The other members of the wing trio, Justice Winslow and Keith Frazier were fairly quiet during the game, but the other team members were able to pick up the slack and defeat Jones and his teammates.

5)      In a West Coast match-up, the talented Cal Supreme team dominated its rival from Portland 62-43. The newly committed Washington Husky, Nigel Williams-Goss led the way for Cal Supreme with 17 points on 6-11 shooting. Playing in his second EYBL tournament with this team, Williams-Goss was the best player on the court. The top players on ICP, who will both play for Long Beach Poly next year struggled shooting the ball. Roshcon Prince went 7-20, while Kameron Chatman went 1-8. Prince struggled throughout the weekend, except for his Sunday night game against CP3, in which he got back to attacking the basket on his way to 25 points and 9 rebounds.

Williams-Goss, future UW guard

 WILL…….

CIA Bounce stay undefeated? No. CIA Bounce was destroyed by Mean Streets in the first game of the tournament and followed that up with a loss to Boo Williams the next day. Despite the losses in this tournament, they will still be the top seeded team in the Peach Jam.

James Young continue his dominant spring? Partly. Young’s team went 2-3 over the weekend. At times Young was dominant, but at others he struggled. Young went for 29 points in his first game and 27 points and 9 rebounds in his last game, both wins. In between, Young had 19 and 16 in a loss to Team Takeover on 5-14 shooting, 15 and 10 in a loss to Nick King and Bluff City on 4-13 shooting, and 20 against Mokan Elite on 5-20 shooting. Despite these sub-par shooting performances, Young can get his shot against any defender on the AAU circuit.

Jabari Parker show why he is the consensus #1 player in the class of 2013? Parker’s team went 3-3 over the weekend and he failed to shoot over 50% in any of the 6 games. Parker played well at times, however he shot 2-16 from the 3 point line throughout the tournament. While Parker has always been the clear cut number 1 player in his class, Julius Randle might have started to close the gap, especially with the 33 point, 20 rebound performance he put up on the final day.

Kennedy Meeks show why he is considered one of the top big men in the country? Meeks’ team played well, going 5-1 (including 1 forfeit). Meeks turned his game up on Sunday and Monday going for 13 points and 10 rebounds against BABC, 18 and 11 against Bobby Portis and the Arkansas Wings, and finally 16 and 6 in the lone loss to Texas Pro. Meeks has great court awareness, but needs to continue to work on his conditioning.

Freshman Malik Newman and 8^th grader Thon Maker spark the Jackson Tigers? Well, the Jackson Tigers went 0-6 in Oakland and Maker did not make the trip. Newman missed the last two games, but went for 16 points on 7-14 shooting in his first game against Bluff City. Newman established his dominance in Dallas and led the Tigers in shot attempts this time out. Unfortunately Newman missed his Sunday night game against another freshman sensation Isaiah Briscoe.

All Iowa Attack win their first EYBL game? No. All Iowa finished with a record of 0-20. Fairly embarrassing.