Roschon Prince: An Impact Recruit

On August 7, USC added a commitment from Roschon Prince, a 6’5”, small forward from Long Beach Poly High. Prince, along with point guard Kendall Harris and guard Kahlil Dukes are part of the initial 2013 recruiting class that Kevin O’Neil hopes will bring respectability back to the Trojan basketball program. After a 1-17 Pac-12 schedule, this commitment by Roschon Prince is significant not only to O’Neill’s Trojan squad, but also to the Pac-12 in general as both the school and conference try to take steps back into the national limelight. 

Prince is not considered a five-star recruit, let alone a four-star recruit by recruiting services such as ESPN and Scout. After recently updating their rankings based on summer AAU and camp play, these services did not consider this multi-sport star as a top-100 player. Despite this lack of national recognition, Prince is very well-known on the West Coast and will become an impact recruit during the 2013-14 basketball season. Prince more than held his own against tough national competition during the Nike EYBL, NBPA Top 100 camp, and Lebron James Skills Academy this summer which made him a priority for many west coast colleges.

Getting to the line as usual

As a highly regarded 8^th grader, Prince began his high school career on the Long Beach Poly varsity squad averaging 9.1 ppg. He increased his scoring average to 12.3 ppg as a sophomore and 21.7 ppg as a junior while helping Poly capture three league titles. Along with the league titles, Prince helped lead his team to within a 2 point defeat in the most recent California State CIF Championship. Not just a star on the basketball court, Prince also used his 6’5” frame and muscular build to catch touchdowns on the football gridiron for the famed Poly High football team. Long Beach Poly is one of the most famed high school football programs in the country featuring alumni such as DeSean Jackson and Mercedes Lewis. Despite not planning to play football this fall, Prince showcased his physical style of play at events all over the country. 

While dominating California high school play this past winter, Prince also held his own on the competitive Nike AAU circuit playing for ICP elite. Despite not making the Peach Jam tournament, Prince did what he is well known for in California which is attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. Prince shot an average of 9 free throws a game during 20 EYBL games which was second only to the 6’9 man-child, Julius Randle (185 to 180 attempts). Prince led ICP with 16 ppg and 5.4 rbg. The EYBL kicked off in Minneapolis and on opening night Prince dropped 28 points, while averaging 21 points during the first session. He also played extremely well in the Dallas EYBL averaging 18 points. During this session, Prince got to face off with top ranked recruit Jabari Parker. While Parker finished with 20 points, 10 rebounds and a victory, Prince more than held his own and helped his team throw a scare into the talented Mac Irvin Fire team up until three minutes to go in the game.  

Overall, Prince had an impressive spring / summer and competed with many of the top players in the country. Currently, the main area of weakness in Prince’s game revolves around his outside shooting. He struggled behind the three point line in EYBL shooting 5-34, but does possess good form giving him room to grow during the off-season and senior year. An improved shooting stroke would also benefit Prince at the free-throw line. He shot a respectable 65%; however considering how often he gets to the line even a slight bump up would significantly increase his points per game.  

Going into his senior season, Prince will look to finish his high school career with a 4^th straight league title and a California state championship. Prince will also get one more shot at impressing the recruiting services that did not consider him a top 100 player as Long Beach Poly will face off against many of the nation’s top teams in the City of Palms Classic over the Christmas holidays. 

Prince is an under the radar player that can get to the rim almost any time he wants and will bring a toughness to the Trojan squad that was sorely lacking in the 2011-12 season. With this commitment, O’Neil got one of the best players on the west coast who also knows that he can hold his own and compete against any player in the country. Not only is Roshcon Prince an important piece of the puzzle in bringing respectability back to the USC program, but he also helps bring respectability back to the Pac-12, a conference sorely in need of a talent in flux after a trying 2011-12 season.  

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.