Top 100 Freshmen Look Back: Part 2

Part 1

#	Name	School	Min	Pts	Rbs	Ast	ORTG	Notes
50	Anton Gill	Louisville	5.8	1.4	0.7	0.2	92.1 (14.3)
51	Troy Williams	Indiana	21.3	7.2	4.4	0.9	99.1 (19.6)
52	Matt Thomas	Iowa State	23.4	6.3	2.4	1.2	104.6 (12.8)
53	Terry Rozier	Louisville	19.7	7.5	3.2	1.9	118.1 (18.7)	1st Team Frosh - AAC
54	Deonte Burton	Marquette	12.2	6.4	2.1	0.5	100.8 (28.6)
55	Devin Williams	West Virginia	23.3	8.8	7.3	0.7	95.0 (24.4)
56	Kennedy Meeks	North Carolina	16.2	7.4	6	0.8	110.5 (23.4)	1st Team Frosh - ACC
57	Kendrick Nunn	Illinois	18.4	6.2	1.5	1.1	106.8 (18.3)	1st Team Frosh - B10
58	Ishmail Wainright	Baylor	10.6	2.1	1.7	1.3	91.5 (17.0)
59	Duane Wilson	Marquette						Red-shirt
60	John Egbunu	South Florida	24.9	7.4	6.2	0.4	110.5 (17.9)	1st Team Frosh - AAC
61	Stanford Robinson	Indiana	16.8	6.4	2.5	1.0	94.1 (22.8)
62	Allerik Freeman	Baylor						Red-shirt
63	Kendall Stephens	Purdue	20.2	7.9	1.8	0.7	110.0 (17.9)	1st Team Frosh - B10
64	BeeJay Anya	NC State	12.1	2.3	2.1	0.1	96.5 (12.4)
65	Karviar Shepherd	TCU	30.5	8.8	6.8	0.8	95.2 (18.4)
66	Marc Loving	Ohio State	11.6	4.7	2	0.2	99.2 (23.8)
67	Jimmie Taylor	Alabama	16.5	2.8	3.2	0.2	107.5 (10.6)
68	Detrick Mostella	Pittsburgh						2014 commitment
69	Nick Emery	BYU						Went on mission
70	Malcolm Hill	Illinois	13.4	4	2.3	0.6	95.3 (20.2)
71	Luke Fischer	Indiana	10	2.8	2.1	0.3	116 (14.6)	Transferred to Marqette
72	Stevie Clark	Oklahoma State	16	5.3	1.4	2.7	105.6 (21.2)	Dismissed from team
73	Jordan Bell	Oregon						Red-shirt after NCAA issue
74	Tim Quarterman	LSU	12	2.2	1.9	1.6	72.6 (19.7)
75	Reggie Cameron	Georgetown	13.4	3.9	1.4	0.4	97.8 (16.2)
76	Kameron Williams	Ohio State						Red-shirt, mono
77	V.J. Beachem	Notre Dame	8.7	2.5	0.7	0.2	90.9 (17.9)
78	Kris Jenkins	Villanova	11.5	3.8	1.8	0.5	110.8 (17.2)
79	Bronson Koenig	Wisconsin	14.6	2.9	1.2	1	109.4 (12.9)
80	Mamadou Ndiaye	UC Irvine	20.7	8.2	6	0.2	99.4 (20.4)	Big West DPOY
81	Markel Crawford	Memphis						Red-Shirt
82	Damian Jones	Vanderbilt	25.9	11.1	5.7	0.2	97 (24.3)	1st Team Frosh - B10
83	Dominic Woodson	Memphis	7.1	2.6	2	0.4	N/A
84	Bryson Scott	Purdue	15.9	6.3	2.6	1.4	92.3 (25.8)
85	Mike Young	Pittsburgh	22.1	6	4.4	1	110.4 (16.9)
86	Aquille Carr	Europe
87	Wesley Clark	Missouri	20.1	4.2	2.2	2.2	92.4 (16.2)
88	Akoy Agau	Louisville	4.9	0.8	1.1	0.1	N/A
89	Frank Mason	Kansas	16.8	5.9	1.3	2.1	107.2 (20.1)
90	Kentan Facey	Connecticut	5.5	1.5	1.8	0.2	N/A
91	Zena Edosomwan	Harvard	5.7	2.9	1.7	0.1	N/A
92	Dakarai Allen	San Diego State	10.9	2.6	1.2	0.3	87.2 (15.7)
93	Nate Britt	North Carolina	20.8	5.2	1.5	2.3	89.9
94	Josh Hart	Villanova	20.8	7.6	4.3	1	127.4 (17.0)
95	Anthony January	Juco
96	Marcus Allen	Stanford	8.6	2	1.1	0.5	102.3 (15.0)
97	RaShawn Powell	Memphis						Red-shirt
98	Brandon Randolph	Xavier	14.5	2.9	1.4	1.4	88.5 (15.6)
99	Kyle Washington	NC State	20.9	4.9	4	0.5	86.5 (16.1)
100	Tre'Shaun Fletcher	Colorado	10.2	3.5	1.8	0.3	102.3 (19)

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.

Nike EYBL - Oakland Preivew

The final four part installment of the Nike EYBL series comes to a close over Memorial Day weekend in Oakland, CA. This tournament will take place over four days (compared to the normal three) with the top 24 teams advancing to the Nike Peach Jam in July. With many teams jumbled together, some of the final spots won’t be decided until the last day in Oakland. As each team will be playing six games this week, Memorial Day could turn interesting. Here is a look at the top five match-ups of the weekend (Note: All rankings per ESPN.com):

1)      CIA Bounce (14-0) vs. Mean Streets (12-2)

Time: Friday – 9pm

Notes: The top two teams record wise face off on the opening day in Oakland (Note: Houston and Mean Streets both have 12-2 records, but since one of the Mean Streets losses came on a buzzer beater tip-dunk, I will proclaim Mean Streets as the 2^nd best for now). CIA Bounce has been destroying the competition in the EYBL behind the top player in the country, Andrew Wiggins, along with the point guard play of Tyler Ennis (2013-#30) and the shooting of Xavier Rathan-Mayes (2013-#20). CIA had a close call in Dallas against Indy Spiece until Wiggins took over and dominated the final stretch. On the opposing side, Mean Streets is extremely tough and led by one of the biggest winners in high school hoops, Kendall Nunn (2013-#55). After helping lead Simeon to another Illinois state championship, Nunn has helped his team to a 12-2 record. We’ll see if CIA can hold off Mean Streets at the start of the tournament and keep their undefeated streak alive.

Kendrick Nunn just wins

 2)      Mac Irvin (11-3) vs. Texas Titans (11-3)

Time: Sunday – 5pm

Notes: This game features serious star power, including the number 1 ranked player in the class of 2013, Jabari Parker versus the number 2 ranked player in the class of 2013, Julius Randle. While these two won’t be guarding each other both players will be trying to top one another throughout the game. These players aren’t the only ones to watch in this game as Mac Irvin features Jahlil Okafor (2014-#2) and one of the top players in the spring, point guard Kyle Davis. The Titans also feature sharp-shooter Matt Jones (#19) who has already committed to Duke. The stars are out in this game and will draw one of the largest crowds of the weekend.

3)      Mac Irvin (11-3) vs. E1T1 (11-3)

Time: Sunday – 11am

Notes: While the afternoon Mac Irvin game features the top two players in the class of 2013, this game could pose as the most interesting match-up to watch of the weekend. In a battle of 2014 big men, Jahlil Okafor (2014-#2) goes up against E1T1’s Dakari Johnson (2014-#6). These big men have been at the top of their class throughout their first two high school careers (despite the fact that Dakari sat out his sophomore year) and finally get to go head-to-head. Both players use their power and wide bodies to get baskets. While scouts consider Okafor the better player, Johnson has been tearing up the first three EYBL sessions. He is currently averaging 17 points per game (top 10) and 9.6 rebounds per game (1^st). Hopefully the refs let these two players bang as they both make a claim for top Center in the class of 2014.

The big men last battled as freshmen in the City of Palms

4)      Houston Hoops (12-2) vs. Howard Pulley (7-7)

Time: Saturday – 12:30pm

Notes: While Houston is the superior team in this match-up, Howard Pulley has the most talented player. Point guard Tyus Jones returns to the EYBL after missing the Dallas session due to illness. Jones is currently the best point guard in the class of 2014, and possibly the country. He is averaging 20.8 ppg and a league best 6.6 apg. Houston will try to slow him down behind the wing duo of Justin Jackson (2014-#9) and Justice Winslow (2014-#11).

*Houston Hoops also features the 9^th ranked player in the class of 2013, Keith Frazier, however he hurt his ankle during the first Dallas game and is questionable.

        5)   California Supreme (11-3) vs. ICP Elite (7-7)

              Time: Sunday -11am

Notes: This game is featured in the top five due to the geographical nature of the two  teams. As the final regular season tournament takes place in Cali, it is only right to feature a battle of west coast teams in the games to watch. Cal Supreme stumbled a bit in Dallas with two close losses, however with the recent addition of Nigel Williams-Goss; this already talented team is primed for a deep run in July. The Miles Simon coached team already featured star 2014 point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright and big man Marcus Lee (2014-#26). These players will be challenged by the Portland based AAU squad led by Roshcon Prince, who is currently at school in Long Beach, CA. Prince has not really come close to making anyone’s top 100, however he has been one of the top scorers and performers during the first three EYBL sessions. Prince is averaging 18.1 ppg and getting to the line a league leading 10.4 attempts per game. Prince uses his size and strength to attack the basket and will be attacking Cal Supreme all night long. While ICP does not have much depth, Prince could lead them to an upset as he tries to earn the respect he deserves.

WILL……….

CIA Bounce stay undefeated? They open up with 12-2 Mean Streets from Chicago and finish-up with the 12-2 Houston Hoops squad on Sunday evening.

James Young continue his dominant spring? Young vaulted up to the #5 prospect in the class of 2013, but will face some tough competition over the weekend. He will face off against Team Takeover wing, Ishmail Wainright (2013-#18) on Saturday morning followed by the Nick King (2013-#15) and Jujuan Johnson (2013-#54) duo on Saturday afternoon. Wainwright could be one of the strongest wings in the AAU circuit and King and Johnson can match-up with Young athletically.

Jabari Parker show why he is the consensus #1 player in the class of 2013?

BABC get one of the last open spots for the Peach Jam in order to defend their title, sans Nerlens Noel?

Kennedy Meeks show why he is considered one of the top big men in the country? Meeks only played in 2 Dallas games and goes against Team Final on Saturday morning.

Freshman Malik Newman and 8^th grader Thon Maker be able to spark the Jackson Tigers again?

All Iowa Attack win their first EYBL game?

Dallas EYBL: Player Review

The third Nike EYBL installment took place this past weekend in Dallas and provided a look at the premier high school talent in the US and Canada. The three day event featured overtime games, buzzer-beaters, upsets, blowouts, and highly competitive individual match-ups. Here is a review on how various players performed:

Andrew Wiggins (CIA Bounce - 2014) – As noted yesterday, Wiggins performed like the top player in the country, regardless of class. He helped CIA Bounce stay undefeated in the EYBL with his 31 point and 15 rebound performance against Indy Spiece Heat. This was the best individual performance of the weekend and Wiggins provided the viewers with several jaw dropping highlights. Among the 15 total rebounds, six of those were offensive where Wiggins showed off his explosive leaping ability. He also displayed his agility and quickness with several nicely executed spin moves on drives to the basket. While extremely gifted and a capable outside shooter, this is one area for him to improve on. Wiggins was 0-4 from the three point line in this game; however he bounced back in his next game going 3-4. His misses are either usually short or long, which is a good sign and with a lot more repetition Wiggins will be pretty much un-guardable.

Julius Randle (Texas Titans - 2013) – Randle is an absolute beast on the court and a double-double machine. Randle is definitely one of the most powerful players on the circuit, but also displays a quickness that is not usually seen in players his size. Randle had some dominant games (27 and 13) over the weekend and was probably the only player that routinely commanded constant double teams. In the Titans’ first game of the tournament, Randle found an easy way to offset the double teams he was receiving in the post. Randle would grab an offensive rebound, push the ball up the floor like he was a point guard, and then either drive and dish to an open shooter, or drive down the lane for a powerful finish. Randle was also a man amongst boys in his hometown and showed why college coaches are beating down his door.

Tyler Ennis (CIA Bounce - 2013) – Ennis is considered one of the top point guards in the class of 2013 and with the size and athletic combination he possesses it is easy to see why. Ennis is great at pushing the ball on the break and getting to the basket for a strong finish. Against the Indy Heat, there were times where Ennis was intent on getting to the basket for a lay-up and did not look to kick the ball out to the open man. This resulted in a 4-15 shooting performance and only 1 assist. Ennis learned from this game quickly and toned done his shooting on Saturday night and dished out 7 assists. While Ennis is one of the tallest point guards out there, he will need to figure out how to play a balanced offensive game going forward. 

James Young (The Family - 2013) – Young was one of the most talked about players in his first three tournaments of the spring and had his first sub-par game on Friday night in Dallas. In this game Young shot 4-10 in a 34 point blow-out loss. Despite this performance it was easy to see why Young has sky rocketed up the recruiting rankings. He is one of the tallest and most athletic wings in a country and also has a smooth looking left handed jumper. Young shook this game off and scored 20+ points in both of his Saturday games including a 27 point performance against the NJ Playaz.  Young showed that he is one of the best natural athletes in his class and was one of the most impressive players in the tournament. Young’s game is somewhat reminiscent of a certain NickSwagyPYoung (Nick Young) and will be in the league in the near future.

James Young

Kennedy Meeks (Team United -2013) – Meeks recently added a UNC scholarship offer to his list before the tournament and showed off why he is highly coveted at times, but also struggled at times in his short stint in Dallas (Meeks played 2 games before returning home for Prom). Meeks put together a solid 18 point and 15 rebound performance in a one point win Saturday morning, but also struggled on Friday night with foul trouble and finished with 5 points and 5 rebounds. In his better game, Meeks struggled in the first half routinely getting blocked while trying to figure out the zone that Alabama was playing. Meeks figured the zone out in the second half and dominated the offensive glass. The majority of his points came off offensive rebounds. While he did score 18 points primarily in the second half, Meeks had a bad habit of taking one dribble after a rebound to gather himself before going back up for the lay-up. This worked against the shorter Alabama team, but will most likely lead to a lot of shots blocked on the next level. Meeks will need to work hard on learning how to go up quicker while also looking to become more explosive. 

Sindarius Thornwell (Team United - 2013) – Thornwell was one of the best wings at attacking the basket over the weekend. Standing about 6’4, Thornwell got to the basket almost anytime he wanted which was shown by the 14 free throw attempts during his 35 point explosion on Saturday night. Besides attacking the basket, Thornwell was one of the top defenders and harassed Devin Booker (2014) into his worst game of the tournament. Despite the gaudy scoring numbers, Thornwell did not make an impact with his outside shot as he went 4-15 from the three point line over the weekend.

Devin Booker (Alabama Challenge – 2014) – Booker established himself as one of the top three point shooters on the Nike circuit in Minneapolis, and for the most part continued his display in Dallas. Booker performed well in 3 out of his 5 tournament games. In the first game on Friday night he hit 5-10 three’s for 23 points.  He shot 13-13 from the line in his third game on the way to 26 points and 8-11 from the field for 25 points in his fourth game. Booker showed off a nice looking form on his shots and also used screens like Reggie Miller to get wide open looks. Booker also displayed nice ball-handling skills, but was a little slow in one on one situations. As noted above, Thornwell harassed Booked in the second half of their game and Booker missed his last 7 shots in a one point loss. Also, in the last game of the weekend Booker went 1-9 from three. Despite these two off games, it is obvious that Booker will be an elite shooter in his class. He will need to work on his quickness in order to create shots for himself, but as of now is an advanced guard for his age.

Joel Berry (E1T1 – 2014) – Berry led his E1T1 team to a 3-2 record over the weekend and had his best game against another highly touted 2014 point guard in Jackson Parker-Cartwright from Cal Supreme. In this game, Berry used his size and strength to get to the basket on Parker-Cartwright and finished the game with 23 points. Berry showed that he could push the ball on the break, while also running an efficient half court set. At times he was a little out of control as shown by his 7 turnovers Friday night, but for the most part played calm and under control.

Roshcon Prince (ICP – 2013) – Prince’s ICP team is somewhat of a west coast after thought behind Cal Supreme and the Oakland Soldiers, and in a similar fashion, Prince was somewhat of an afterthought with the plethora of wing talent on hand in Dallas. Despite the lack of attention, Prince scored double figures in all five of his games and averaged 17.6 points throughout the tournament. Prince showed off an improved jump shot during the week, but still utilized his strength to attack the basket. In his fourth game, Prince attacked Alabama’s zone defense and got to the free throw line 25 times. Prince struggled a little bit against Jabari Parker and Sterling Brown of Mac Irvin, but still managed to produce 14 points and 6 rebounds in a game that was a back and forth battle until the final minutes. Prince will be a solid commit for any of the major schools on the west coast and one of the most enjoyable players to watch over the weekend.

Roschon - An underrated player and an underrated name

 Malik Newman (Jackson – 2015) – Newman was one of the few 2015 players in attendance over the weekend and didn’t waste much time in showing why he was recently named the top freshman in the country. Newman scored 26 points against Baltimore in his second game of the weekend on 8-12 shooting, including 4-6 from the three point line. Newman showed a nice shooting touch along with the ability to quickly get the defender on his heels. Newman played with the poise of a senior and will be a consistent scorer in the EYBL circuit for the next few years.

Thon Maker (Jackson – 2016) – This 7 foot 8^th GRADER was the talk of the tournament with little kids pointing across the court towards him and even Penny Hardaway watching from afar and all of them muttering, “that kid is in 8^th grade?” The Manute Bol look alike, ran the court with ease, blocked shots, and was even hitting outside jump shots regularly. Maker competed with kids 3-4 years older than him without a problem and will definitely be a story to follow over the years. 

8th grade?

Quick Hitters:

Duane Wilson Jr. from Wisconsin was a strong performer all weekend. Wilson hit jump shots with ease and also was one of the quickest guards around. Add Wilson with Deonte Burton, and Buzz Williams has locked up a solid combination from the class of 2013.

Kendrick Nunn plays in the shadows of Jabari Parker during the high school season and plays on a well-balanced Mean Streets AAU team. Nunn can shoot the 3 and also throw down a vicious dunk when he wants. Mean Streets is quietly one of the top Nike AAU teams, and the steady play of Nunn is a big reason why.