July 23, 2006
By Van Coleman
Special to CSTV.com from Hoopmasters.com
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Van Coleman
Van is one of the nation's premier recruiting experts. |
The second half of the summer evaluation period kicked off in
Although many people think that the second evaluation period began with the morning sessions at the Reebok Big Time, Nike Main Event, and the Adidas Super 64, the action actually got started at Dinos Trigonis' Midnight Madness Event at the Tarkanian Basketball Academy at 12:01 Eastern Time in Las Vegas.
Trigonis, the publisher of the Fullctpress.com, has been kicking off the second period with his Midnight Madness event for the past four or five years. It features a number of quality teams from across the country including highly regarded squads like the Dallas Mustangs, Compton Magic, H Squad, Atlanta Celtics, Team Breakdown, Worldwide Renegades, and his own Belmont Shore Club along with foreign entries French Hoops and Next Level-Australia. In past years the event started at 12:01 a.m. and was attended by college coaches from all over the country. This year the event was not NCAA certified so coaches got to get a full night sleep before hitting it hard on Saturday Morning, not so for many scouts, including yours truly, as we received a sneak peek at the action to come. It just served to our appetite for what was getting ready to emerge over the next five days in Vegas.
On Saturday we spent most of our day at the Reebok Big Time which is headquartered at
Day one of the Reebok Big-Time had its share of quality performances in the pre-seeded 64 team open field. Here's some of the highlights of who did and who didn't get the juices flowing on the opening day of the Reebok Big Time:
Saturday's Top Games:
This one looked to be a great match-up on paper, as the Southern Cal All-Stars who have been unbeatable with Kevin Love in the line-up went up against this summer's champion of the Nike Peach Jam tournament the Mean Streets squad out of
As most battles between heavyweights it started slowly as both teams exchanged highlights as top the ten rated guard duo of Eric Gordon and Derrick Rose gave Mean Streets an early 11-9 lead after the first five minutes of the contest. Then Kevin Love took over for the Southern Cal All-Stars attacking the glass, making his signature pinpoint outlet passes and triggered a 19-4 run that put So Cal up 30-13 before Mean Streets caught their breath and managed to right the ship to in at the half down by a formidable 42-27 margin. Love lead So Cal with 12 points and 6 boards while 6-5 Malik Story and 6-7 Taylor King each added 8 in the first half. Rose and Gordon finished with 10 and 12 respectively, but weren't ready to roll over quite yet.
The Second began with Kevin Love scoring the first bucket to put So Cal up 44-27, but at this point, Mean Streets dynamic duo, Gordon and Rose started to a gallant comeback effort. Gordon lit it up from beyond the arc, isolated, broke people down off the dribble and Rose made big defensive play after play to whittle away at the
Kevin Love led So Cal with 20 points and just 8 boards, but sat for six minutes in the second half with four fouls, before igniting the final rally. He was his extremely efficient self going 9-11 from the field, with most of his damage occurring in the paint. He received solid support from Taylor King and Malik Story who both finished with 17 each. 6-10 rising sophomore Renardo Sidney, who is transferring to
Mean Streets was led by Eric Gordon who finished with 34 points. He stroked the long ball and scored in variety of ways at the rim, including a couple windmill dunks that had the crowd buzzing. He got all of his support from Derrick Rose who totaled 22 points and handed out 7 assists (mostly to Gordon), but a lack of support from the rest of their squad proved fatal in this one for the Peach Jam Champs.
D-1 Greyhounds 71 -
Speaking of buzzes in the crowd, the gym filled to overflowing as the definite box office Kings of the Summer, 6-5 O.J. Mayo and 6-7 Billy Walker hit the floor at Foothills High. This one had more highlights than an ESPN Sportscenter but was played with the intensity of an NCAA Tournament game. It was close throughout with the D-1 Greyhounds holding a sight edge, but it featured tenacious defense, excellent passing on both sides, and oh yes some above-the-rim highlight antics that left them wanting more when it ended.
This game was close at the half with the Greyhounds holding a 33-29 lead, but Mayo and Walker came out and made a quick statement at the beginning of the second have scoring seven of the first nine points for their squad as they went on a 13-4 run to open up the first double digit lead 46-33. It might have been all over for a lesser team, but
But D-1 ratcheted up the defensive pressure forcing Michigan to take a couple of errant threes that Mayo and Walker turned into their own personal highlights on the other end, as Mayo drained a three on one possession and then hit Walker flying to the rim on the next to crush a slam, and seal this one 71-62 for the victory. Everyone expected the highlights, but those of us at courtside where buzzing about the quality of play in this summer time classic.
As expected O. J. Mayo and Bill Walker led the D-1 Greyhounds with 23 and 19 respectively, while 6-8 John Brown chipped in with 8 points and was a steady performer on the defensive end.
The Michigan Hurricanes were led by Darquavis Tucker with 20 points and Alex Legion who added 15 points. The usually solid shooting duo struggled from beyond the arc versus the strong defense of D-1 hitting only three of sixteen attempts. When all was said and done, that was the difference in this one for the Hurricanes.
We just got to catch the last couple minutes of this one, but it was worth it, as the Illinois Wolves came from behind in the second half to nip the Worldwide Renegades 66-64 in one of the days elite eight match-ups. It was close throughout and came down to the final shot as Worldwide's 6-3 Chris Allen missed a shot at the buzzer that could have pulled for the Renegades.
This one featured balanced scoring on both sides as seven players made it into double figures. The Wolves were lead by 6-6 Evan Turner with 17 points while 6-1 Sam Maniscalco added 14 points (4-threes) and 6-8 Carlton Fay chipped in with 13 points. 6-3 Demetri McCamey added 8 points and handed out 6 assists for the victors.
The Renegades top guns were 5-10 point and the above mentioned Allen with 15 points each. They received solid support from 6-9 James Hickson with 10 points and 6-3 Mfon Udofia who chipped in with 11 points.
Day One News and Notes
One of the top young guards we observed on Saturday was 6-2 junior Malcolm Lee from the Inland Reebok I squad. He has the ability to explode to the hoop with either hand off the crossover and sets it up with a deadly jumper from beyond the arc or off the dribble. He gave coaches from Texas A&M,
6-11
Razor thin, but wiry strong 6-10 Teeng Akol impressed us with his ability to finish around the hoop as he scored 21 points and snared 8 boards versus DFW Urban Elite.
6-6 slasher and driver Cliff Tucker tore it up in the half we watched him versus Branch West, scoring 23 points in total and grabbing 7 boards and handing out 5 assists. It wasn't enough though as his team the NM Force lost a heartbreaker 66-63 in overtime.
Grassroots
6-2 sophomore combo Kenny Boynton from Team Breakdown had 21 points versus the Nebraska Bison Red. He is extremely quick, can finish at the rim and knocked down deep three. One majors may have to start monitoring soon!
Purdue commitment 6-10 Jajuan Johnson was very efficient yesterday going 9-11 for 19 points. He used his quick feet and soft jump hook to set up a couple slams late in game. Definitely he's improving on offensive end.
A game that really drew the college coaches was the Houston Swoosh versus Magnolia Stars match-up, the main attraction in that one was 6-11 230-pound inside super DeAndre Jordan for the Swoosh. He dominated with his presence in the paint. His numbers were modest 8 points (thought he had more), 8 boards and 6 blocks, but he altered so much of what opponent does, he had coaches buzzing. He told Clark Francis of the Hoop Scoop that his final five are
That's our first update from
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