LAS VEGAS – With three travel-ball tournaments going on, more or less, at the same time in Las Vegas as the AAU National Tournament and Super Showcase were being held in Orlando, FL, the competition and overall level of talent would seem to get a tad diluted.
And what seems likely was reality – at least over the past days in the city of searing heat mixed in with the occasional deluge and head-spinning gusts of wind.
Championships in the Fab 48 (at Bishop Gorman High), Super 64 (Rancho High) and Las Vegas/Big Foot (Spring Valley) were won by DC Assault, New Heights (NY) and Seattle Rotary Select, respectively.
None of those squads, by the stretch of even the most vivid imagination, can come close to being legitimately deemed “exceptional”, at least relative to the caliber of many of the teams that won those events even recently.
But, hey! This is America! Anyone, it seems, can start his or her own spring or summer hoops tournament – especially in Las Vegas, home to dozens of nice-sized high school gymnasiums and, it seems, 100s of hotels willing to negotiate rates with tournament directors for the legions of families that will tag along to the city with the players.
Leave it to me to bad-mouth good ol’ American enterprise!
So it takes a little bit of planning, on-the-fly adjustments, a dependable rental car and a functioning GPS to see all of the teams – and, for the most part, more specifically, the players – that a coach, “scout”, “media-type” or just plain “basketball fan” would want to see.
And I’ll continue to believe that I gave it my best shot, even when I sort through the rosters of the three tournaments and the names of teams and players I had promised myself beforehand to go out of my way to don’t have a single check mark or note next to them . . . bummer.
Anyway, enough of the pontification and on to some observations about what I saw over these five days:
JUMP SHOOTERS GALORE:
Without taxing my memory a great deal, I can’t remember the last time I saw so many prolific jump shooters in these tournaments.
Sunday capped the five-day period perfectly in that regard, with Riley LaChance (Brookfield Central) and Brady Ellingson (Sussex Hamilton) of the Brookfield, WI-based Ray Allen Select squad (which lost to DC Assault in the 17-U semifinals early Sunday afternoon after beating BTI of Southern California in the morning) sizzling early.
And then, late in the afternoon, 6-foot-7 Zac Seljaas, who will be a junior at Bountiful High in a few weeks, hit eight of nine shots from behind the arc to help the Utah Prospects 16s squad rally to knock off a very good Southern Elite (from Lafayette, LA) team, 65-57.
Earlier last week I watched Rex Pflueger (6-5 and a junior-to-be at Mater Dei in Santa Ana, CA) drilled seven 3s for the Compton Magic 16s in a loss to Indiana Elite/Team Elite Friday morning at Del Sol High in a pool-play game for the Super 64.
Pflueger & Co. went on to win the tournament, however, with Pflueger and another junior-to-be, 6-7 Cameron Walker (Santa Maria, CA, Righetti) of Compton Magic, sharing Most Outstanding Player honors.
Then, of course, there was the jump-shooting display put on Wednesday night at Bishop Gorman by another couple of 2015 standouts, 6-4 Tyler Dorsey (Bellflower, CA, St. John Bosco) and 6-3 Malik Newman (Jackson, MS, Callaway) when Dorsey helped Belmont Shore outlast Newman’s Mo Williams Academy Elite (Dallas) in the Fab 48 Tip-Off Challenge.
THE “NEW” GUYS:
Here are the five players that I’d never seen before the Wednesday-Sunday stretch that most impressed me (in no particular order): Josh Jackson (6-6/Class of 2016/Detroit Consortium High/Dorian’s Pride/Super 64); Riley LaChance (6-2/Class of 2014/Brookfield, WI, Central/Ray Allen Select/Fab 48); Javier Roper (6-6/Class of 2015/Ruston, LA, New Living Word/Southern Elite/Fab 48); Maverick Rowan (6-5/Class of 2016/Midland, PA, Lincoln Park/Ohio Basketball Club/Super 64); and Markell Lodge (6-6/Class of 2014/Creedmoor, NC/ Christian Faith Center/Team Loaded (VA)/Super 64).
LOTS OF SOCAL PROMISE:
Each of the tournament’s 16-under divisions was captured by a Southern California-based travel program.
Compton Magic won the 64 (its 15s also won that division), Cal Supreme captured the Las Vegas Classic/Big Foot and Earl Watsons Pangos took the Fab 48.
Those three squads – if they remain intact – should be among the best in the country next spring and summer, as should two other SoCal programs (Superior Athletes of Anaheim and Game Point of San Diego).
AND THE BEST PLAYER I SAW:
That would be (drum roll, please) . . . Emmanuel Mudiay, the 6-3 point guard from the Mo Williams team (and Prime Time Prep in Dallas), whose play leading into his team’s semifinal loss to Deron Williams-Pope (of Dallas) at the Fab 48 offered a strong bit of support to those who would suggest he’s the best prospect in the Class of 2014.
That suggestion would be tough for me to argue against.
The rest of my “All-Third Evaluation Period” team from Las Vegas includes (alphabetically):
*Tyler Dorsey (6-4/2015/Bellflower, CA, St. John Bosco/Belmont Shore/Fab 48);
*Eron Gordon (6-2/2016/Indianapolis North Central/Eric Gordon All-Stars/ Super 64);
*Stanley Johnson (6-6/2014/Santa Ana, CA, Mater Dei/Oakland Soldiers/Las Vegas Classic);
*Riley LaChance (6-2/2014/Brookfield, WI, Central/Ray Allen Select/Fab 48);
*Malik Newman (6-2/2015/Jackson, MS, Calloway/MWA/Fab 48);
*Jahlil Okafor (6-10/2014/Chicago Whitney Young/Mac Irvin/Las Vegas Classic);
*Stephen Zimmerman (6-10/2015/Las Vegas, NV, Bishop Gorman/Dream Vision/Super 64);
*Myles Turner (6-10/2014/Euless, TX, Trinity/Texas Select/Fab 48);
*Thomas Welsh (6-10/2014/Los Angeles Loyola/L.A. Rockfish/Fab 48); and
*Isaiah Whitehead (6-4/2014/Brooklyn Lincoln/Juice All-Stars/Fab 48).
