City of Palms Preview

Each year the City of Palms classic brings some of the top prep players and teams from across the country for a weekend full of sun and basketball at Bishop Verot High in Fort Myers, FL. Over a six day period, the 41^st classic will feature their standard 16 team classic, a four team Signature Series, and four Sunshine Series games. The City of Palms is commonplace for future number one draft picks which have included John Wall and Kyrie Irving over the past few years. It will be hard to top last year’s tournament which featured the number one player in the 2013 (Andrew Wiggins), 2014 (Jahlil Okafor), and 2015 (Malik Newman) classes along with a title game that pitted the most talented team in the country (Montverde Academy) versus the most entertaining team in the country (Lone Peak). 

16 Team Classic

Top Teams:

Montverde Academy (FL)

Russell and Montverde are looking for a repeat

The number one team in the country is looking for a repeat. Last year head coach Kevin Boyle led Montverde Academy to their first City of Palms title behind the play of Kasey Hill (Florida), Dakari Johnson (Kentucky) and Devin Williams (West Virginia). All of the aforementioned players are now in college but they do return five-star shooting guard D’Angelo Russell, an Ohio State commit. Along with Russell, Montverde re-loaded and now features five-star junior Ben Simmons, senior point guard Ahmaad Rorie, shooting guard Justin Bibbs, and power forward Makinde London. Montverde is favored to advance out of their side of the bracket; however they certainly won’t have a cake walk with potential match-ups against Isaiah Whitehead of Lincoln (NY) and possibly Daniel Hamilton and St. John Bosco who recently pulled a buzzer-beater upset in the Chicago Elite Classic.

St. John Bosco (CA)

The Bellflower, CA team will have its hands full making it to the semi-finals on Saturday evening to face Montverde; however they certainly have the talent to do so with Connecticut bound Daniel Hamilton and five-star junior Tyler Dorsey on the wings. Bosco opens with Providence Christian (FL), the No. 20 team in the country which features Duke recruit Grayson Allen in addition to a possible match-up between the winner of No. 22 Denver East and the Jaquan Newton led Neumann-Goretti (PA) squad. If they make it through the first two days of the tournament expect a high scoring and entertaining game with Montverde.

Whitney Young (IL)

Led by the top player in the country, 6’10” Jahlil Okafor and Whitney Young are looking for a little revenge. Last year the Dolphins barely escaped bad weather conditions in Chicago and just made their 10pm tip time with Montverde. Despite the travel woes the Dolphins pushed the game to overtime before falling 68-63 in a breakout game by shooting guard Miles Reynolds. This year marks the third trip in four years for Whitney Young with the 2010 trip serving as the tournament where Okafor and forward Paul White were first recognized on a national stage as freshmen. After suffering a heart breaking loss to St. John Bosco two weeks ago, Whitney Young is looking to make their first national statement of the year. 

Paul VI (VA)

The top team in TheWashington Post is back in sunny Florida trying to make-up for their first round exit last year in the City of Palms tournament to Lake Wales (FL). Despite losing early last year, the sophomore laden Panthers bounced back to win their remaining three games. With one more year under their belts the junior duo of Marcus Derrickson and Kevin Dorsey lead the way while the middle is manned by big man Quadree Smith who is headed to UNC-Greensboro next year. Sophomore combo guard Curtis Jones has stepped up this year and gives Paul VI another outside scoring threat as a lot of the local ACC and Big East schools have shown strong interest.

Top 15 Players to Watch:

1. Jahlil Okafor, 6’10”, Senior, C, Whitney Young (IL) – Committed to Duke (#1 – 2014)

2. Isaiah Whitehead, 6’4”, Senior, SG, Lincoln (NY) – Committed to Seton Hall (#12 – 2014)

3. Tyler Dorsey, 6’4”, Junior, SG, St. John Bosco (CA) – (#7 – 2015)

4. Ben Simmons, 6’9”, Junior, PF, Montverde (FL) – Committed to LSU (#8 – 2015)

5. V.J. King, 6’7”, Sophomore, SF, St. Vincent-St. Mary, (#9 – 2016)

6. D’Angelo Russell, 6’4”, Senior, SG, Montverde (FL) – Committed to Ohio State (#16 – 2014)

7. Daniel Hamilton, 6’7”, Senior, SF, St. John Bosco (CA) – Committed to UConn (#18 – 2014)

8. Ja’Quan Newton, 6’2”, Senior, G, Neumann Goretti (PA), Committed to Miami (#56 – 2014)

9. Grayson Allen, 6’4”, Senior, SG, Providence Christian (FL) – Committed to Duke (#36 – 2014)

10. Jaylen Brown, 6’5”, Junior, SF, Marietta Wheeler (GA), (#10 – 2015)

11. Antonio Blakeney, 6’3”, Junior, SG, Oak Ridge (FL), (#68 – 2015)

12. Dominique Collier, 6’2”, Senior, G, Denver East (CO) – Committed to Colorado (#98 – 2014)

13. Marcus Derrickson, 6’7”, Junior, PF, Paul VI (VA) – Committed to Georgetown (#54 – 2015)

14. Paul White, 6’8”, Senior, F, Whitney Young (IL) – Committed to Georgetown (#49 – 2014)

15. Daniel Giddens, 6’9”, Junior, PF, Marietta Wheeler (GA), (#34 – 2015)

 Signature Series:

Top Teams:

Wichita Sunrise Christian (KS)

Sunrise Christian is ranked No. 7 in the country with one loss on their resume which came at the hands of a junior college in Texas. Led by future Michigan State point guard Lourawls “Tum Tum” Nairn the Kansas based school will face off against London Barking Abbey which was the Great Britain Division 4 champ last year. While not much is known about the Brits, they do play several players from the various British national teams including 7’1” junior center Nathan Smith. 

Brewster Academy (NH)

The nationally acclaimed New England prep school features a star studded line-up with players headed to Georgetown, Oklahoma State, and San Diego State next year. Along with the seniors, Brewster also starts shooting guard Donovan Mitchell who has offers from most of the schools in the Northeast and is rapidly gaining steam as a junior.

Top 5 Players:

1. Lourawls Nairn, 5’10”, PG, Wichita Sunrise Christian (KS) – Committed to MSU

2. Jared Terrell, 6’3”, SG, Brewster Academy (NH) – Committed to Ok State (#77 – 2014)

3. Isaac Copeland, 6’8”, F, Brewster Academy (NH) – Committed to Georgetown (#48 – 2014)

4. Jeff Garrett, 6’7”, SF, Oldsmar Christian (FL)

5. Isaiah Manderson, 6’10”, PF, Oldsmar Christian (FL) – Committed to Oregon State

Sunshine Series:

Top Team:

Lake Highland Prep

Led by North Carolina commitment Joel Berry, the Highlanders are currently 7-2 and ranked No. 4 by the Orlando Sentinel. The 6’0” Berry helped Lake Highland Prep win the Florida 4A State Championship last year; however he was not able to play in the 2012 16 Team Classic due to a leg injury and the Highlanders went 1-2 in the tournament. On Monday night, Berry will face off against future Georgia Tech guard Tadric Jackson and Tift County (GA).

Top 5 Players:

1. Joel Berry, 6’0”, Senior, PG, Lake Highland Prep – Committed to UNC (#21 – 2014)

2. Dwayne Bacon, 6’5”, Junior, SF, IMG Academy, (#20 – 2015)

3. Tadric Jackson, 6’2”, Senior, PG, Tift County – Committed to Georgia Tech (#87 – 2014)

4. Prince Ali, 6’3”, Junior, SG, Weston Sagemont – Committed to UConn (#78 – 2015)

5. Gyorgy Goloman, 6’10”, Senior, C, Weston Sagemont – Committed to UCLA

Review: Chicago Elite Classic

The inaugural Chicago Elite Classic showcased numerous highly regarded players while featuring top Chicago area teams against nationally recognized programs from across the United States. Fans at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion were treated to some stellar performances, unfortunately only one of the five match-ups turned into a competitive game. 

Dominant Performances

Whitney Young and their top ranked center, Jahlil Okafor (2014) dominated their match-up with Dematha in a 72-58 victory. Okafor easily won his showdown with senior big-man Beejay Anya to the tune of 34 points and 8 rebounds. Okafor didn’t waste any time and started the game off with a quick basket and foul while leading Whitney Young to a 31-22 halftime lead. Okafor’s go-to move is his left to right spin move in the low post which was on display against Anya in the first quarter. He also showed off a great set of hands (similar to Sean May) and a soft touch on his mid-range jump shots. Overall, Okafor could not have asked for a better way to start his junior season. With the maturity of Young along with his other well-known junior teammate Paul Young and transfer L.J. Peak, this Whitney Young team will challenge Simeon for the Chicago Public School and state crowns. 

Jahlil Okafor - Top big man in the country

Lone Peak (Utah) faced off against the Illinois 2012 state runner-ups in Proviso East. Despite the fact that Proviso East was missing their top player, Sterling Brown, the casual observer still expected a competitive game. This was the case for the first quarter as Lone Peak led 16-14, but it got ugly quickly for the hometown squad starting in the second quarter. Lone Peak showed why they might be the best high school team to ever come out of Utah with a dazzlingly display of outside shooting mixed with bruising interior play. Senior big man Eric Mika (2013) dominated down low, while guards T.J. Haws (2014) and Nick Emery (2013) led the way from the perimeter with 24 and 19 points, respectively. All three will be playing at BYU in the near future. Lone Peak won 84-46 against a Proviso East team that lost to Simeon in last year’s state championship game 50-48. Needless to say, everybody in the arena was clamoring for a Lone Peak vs. Simeon match-up.

Random Tidbits

Simeon dominated an over-matched Milton squad 56-35 in the tournaments last game of the night. Star wing Jabari Parker made a surprising return to the court and finished with six points. Parker hurt his foot in June and it will take him several weeks at least to work his way into basketball shape. While Parker was obviously a bit rusty, the other Simeon stars came to play. Point guard Jaylon Tate had several pin-point passes to big man Russell Woods along with his future Illinois teammate, Kendrick Nunn. Nunn was passive in the early going and content to shoot threes, but regained his normal aggressiveness in the 2^nd half and finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds. Simeon will rely all year on a strong senior class, but sophomore D.J. Williams showed that he is skilled enough to contribute this year while taking over the torch from the Simeon senior class. Williams had 12 points and 8 rebounds while showing off his impressive mid-range game. 

Elijah Brown

Mater Dei cruised to a 65-55 victory over St. Joe’s giving famed coach Gary McKnight another victory to put on his resume. Mater Dei was led by guard Elijah Brown, the son of former Laker coach Mike Brown. Brown finished with 26 points which were scored in a variety of ways. Brown was best at attacking the basket, but also showed off an improved outside shot from his junior year.

Stanley Johnson, a powerful forward from Mater Dei looked out of place on a high-school court with his physicality. Johnson will dominate opponents over the next two years with his strength and quickness and will be a nightmare match-up on both the offensive and defensive end. 

In the one competitive game, St. Vincent / St. Mary’s defeated University High 68-65. The Ohio led squad was led junior guard Jalen Hudson and freshman wing V.J. King. Both players recently left the east coast and found a home at Lebron James’ former high school. Hudson led the way from the outside while V.J. King showed off his athleticism attacking the basket. The future Ohio State Buckeye, Keita Bates-Diop led the way in a losing effort with 23 points which featured countless feathery jump shots in the 3^rd quarter. Bates-Diop had a three point attempt to tie the game fall just short as the buzzer sounded. 

Future VCU Ram, Jairus Lyles had a strong performance for Dematha in a losing effort. Lyles had 18 points and got to the free throw line a lot. Lyles immediately became a fan favorite with his free throw routine which featured a full body shimmy shake. 

The first ever Chicago Elite Classic provided a glimpse at all of the outstanding talent in the Chicago area along with an early glimpse of top teams throughout the country. The top Chicago teams in Whitney Young and Simeon dominated their competition in the primetime games, but it was the squad from Lone Peak that came away with the most respect.