The games start at 8 a.m. Saturday and run all day long between 15s, 16s and 17s, but on Friday, there was three sets of contests at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League in Hampton, Va.
Some of the other players I got to see was Nick Ward of All-Ohio Red, who is a powerful inside performer out of Gahanna (Ohio) Lincoln. Ohio State and Michigan State have offered him and he is a true dump the ball inside and let him get stuff done type. He fits the mold of an NC State post player.
All-Ohio Red played the Playaz Basketball Club, whose top rated player is junior combo guard Temple Gibbs, who has had two older brothers play high major college basketball. Gibbs, who goes by
T.J., didn't shoot well in the first half and had two points at
halftime. He responded well in the second half and made a handful of
impressive plays. He's playing off the ball on the Playaz
Basketball Club. He has a
powerful build and is probably in that 6-2, 6-3 range. The Playaz are
historically one of the best programs, but Gibbs will need to do a lot
when they play better teams. They just don't have the star power this
season.
Marques Bolden, a junior center from DeSoto, Texas, is a stud (Duke wing Matt Jones' old high school). Long at 6-9 and nice touch out to about 17 feet. He checks in at No. 30 in the Rivals.com rankings, but I see a bump in his future. Texas coach Shaka Smart and WFU coach Danny Manning were there. Right behind him in the rankings is No. 35-ranked Schnider Herard of Plano (Texas) Prestonwood Christian and he's huge at 6-10 and 255, but was more raw than I realized. He struggled. They played with Texas Pro Skills.
The Oakland Soldiers played a bunch of sophomores from Las Vegas Prospects. Junior point guard Jordan Ford went off for 34 points and six three-pointers. He's ranked No. 135 by Rivals.com and could get a good hard look by high major colleges.
Las Vegas Centennial sophomore guard Troy Brown is ranked No. 3 in the class of 2017, and he's very skilled, but maybe ranked a tad too high. He'll need to improve his jumper and maybe he ends up being a point guard at 6-5, but just as easily could play small forward. Sophomore Charles O'Bannon Jr. is a good wing and the son of the former UCLA Bruins star, and nephew of Ed O'Bannon, whose son is also on the team, Ed O'Bannon Jr., but didn't play much. NC State coach Mark Gottfried was at UCLA when Charles O'Bannon was there. Former Arizona State sophomore point guard commit Markus Howard led them in scoring with 25.
Junior small forward V.J. King was a no show for Team Takeover. D.J. Harvey, a sophomore from Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic, who has an NC State offer, led them in scoring with 19.
Some of the other players I got to see was Nick Ward of All-Ohio Red, who is a powerful inside performer out of Gahanna (Ohio) Lincoln. Ohio State and Michigan State have offered him and he is a true dump the ball inside and let him get stuff done type. He fits the mold of an NC State post player.
All-Ohio Red played the Playaz Basketball Club, whose top rated player is junior combo guard Temple Gibbs, who has had two older brothers play high major college basketball. Gibbs, who goes by
T.J., didn't shoot well in the first half and had two points at
halftime. He responded well in the second half and made a handful of
impressive plays. He's playing off the ball on the Playaz
Basketball Club. He has a
powerful build and is probably in that 6-2, 6-3 range. The Playaz are
historically one of the best programs, but Gibbs will need to do a lot
when they play better teams. They just don't have the star power this
season.
Marques Bolden, a junior center from DeSoto, Texas, is a stud (Duke wing Matt Jones' old high school). Long at 6-9 and nice touch out to about 17 feet. He checks in at No. 30 in the Rivals.com rankings, but I see a bump in his future. Texas coach Shaka Smart and WFU coach Danny Manning were there. Right behind him in the rankings is No. 35-ranked Schnider Herard of Plano (Texas) Prestonwood Christian and he's huge at 6-10 and 255, but was more raw than I realized. He struggled. They played with Texas Pro Skills.
The Oakland Soldiers played a bunch of sophomores from Las Vegas Prospects. Junior point guard Jordan Ford went off for 34 points and six three-pointers. He's ranked No. 135 by Rivals.com and could get a good hard look by high major colleges.
Las Vegas Centennial sophomore guard Troy Brown is ranked No. 3 in the class of 2017, and he's very skilled, but maybe ranked a tad too high. He'll need to improve his jumper and maybe he ends up being a point guard at 6-5, but just as easily could play small forward. Sophomore Charles O'Bannon Jr. is a good wing and the son of the former UCLA Bruins star, and nephew of Ed O'Bannon, whose son is also on the team, Ed O'Bannon Jr., but didn't play much. NC State coach Mark Gottfried was at UCLA when Charles O'Bannon was there. Former Arizona State sophomore point guard commit Markus Howard led them in scoring with 25.
Junior small forward V.J. King was a no show for Team Takeover. D.J. Harvey, a sophomore from Hyattsville (Md.) DeMatha Catholic, who has an NC State offer, led them in scoring with 19.
