Live from New Haven, CT: The National Prep Showcase

The National Prep Showcase in New Haven, CT has become the unofficial start of the prep season.  The invitational has featured countless superstar prospects (Andre Drummond, Will Barton, Nerlens Noel, Khem Birch) and served as a coming out party for a number of others.

With so much turnover from year to year on the prep circuit, for Friarbasketball.com this weekend has typically served as an introduction to so many of the recruits Providence has later pursued in recent seasons.

[Related Articles: On the Road Again: From Providence to New Haven and Back -November 2011, Nerlens Noel’s Prep Debut – November 2010]

The 2012 Showcase has a bit of a different feel for someone covering Providence basketball.  While the staff typically takes the ride down route 95 for the three day event, that obviously won’t be the case this season with the Friars playing in the Puerto Rico Tip-off this weekend.  With the Friars’ 2013-14 roster looking nearly complete at this point, there aren’t a ton of 2013 prospects to monitor from a PC-perspective, but there are younger players to keep an eye on, former targets on display, and high-level talent that should make noise on the Big East and national scene from the jump next year.

And as we’ve learned following the last-man-standing Friars this season, there’s no telling how the roster will shape up a year from now.  As a site we want to ensure we’ve seen as many prospect as we can, so we’re ready with a review of the next Kiwi Gardner, Todd Mayo, Georges Niang or Damien Lee who pops onto PC’s radar after going under nearly everyone’s for much of their high school careers.

Saturday’s action featured three terrific games early, with a split crowd enjoying St. Thomas More (of Connecticut) going into overtime against local star Kuran Iverson and Fishburne Military Academy, the outstanding Noah Vonleh and New Hampton storm back to hand Hargrave Military Academy their first ever loss in the event, and a third Virginia school, Massanutten Military Academy overtaking Notre Dame Prep late in the second half.

My night closed with a fairly shocking upset, as Brewster Academy lost to the unheralded Kiski School (PA).

Brewster entered the headliner – a team featuring a pair of young Providence targets in guards Jared Terrell and Kevin Zabo, as well as Syracuse commits Ron Patterson and Chris McCullough, and high major interior players Kyle Washington (NC State) and Elijah Macon (West Virginia).  Zabo, one of the better point guard prospects in the class of 2014, came into the Showcase fresh off of an MVP performance at the New Hampshire Prep Invitational last weekend – an event Jakarr Sampson won MVP honors at for Brewster in 2011.

Jason Smith is overseeing a potential prep dynasty at Brewster, and told me prior to this season that he particularly loves the work ethic and togetherness of his latest bunch.  They’ll be vying for their third Prep National Championship in four seasons this spring, but they were unable to stop an under-recruited scorer or generate consistent offense in the halfcourt set on Saturday night.

 

News and Notes from the Prep Showcase:

Kiski Shocks Brewster, 79-77

You come to see the headliners, but occasionally an underrated recruit takes center stage.  That was certainly the case on Saturday night at the Showcase, as Indiana guard Rashad Richardson torched Brewster, and fellow Indiana prospect Ron Patterson, to the tune of 33 points on seven 3 point field goals.  The lefty came into the weekend the only recruit from Kiski committed to a Division I program, Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW).  He had broken both of his wrists in separate injuries during his junior season of high school, bounced back to average 23 points and 8 rebounds as a senior, and when it looked like he was heading to junior college this year he decided to go to Kiski in the summer.  Thanks in large part to that decision the fans in New Haven were treated to  a terrific game on Saturday night.

Kiski led by five points with under a minute to play, and Brewster had a chance to tie the game on their last possession, but Washington had to rush a shot in the final seconds that didn’t stand much of a chance.  Kiski players rushed onto the court to celebrate the victory.

McCullough was Brewster’s best player, looking like an NBA prospect for large portions of the game.  The recent Syracuse commit has almost unfair length, is a terror in the transition game and altered or blocked countless shots at the rim.  He’s made tremendous strides since I saw him last in the NEPSAC Class A finals and is going to be a defensive terror on the wing at Syracuse.  Terrific prospect.

It was a difficult night for Patterson, who had only two points and a number of bad turnovers until he got it going late – scoring six points in the final two minutes of the game.  He looks like Brewster’s best one on one player and was the one with the ball in his hands when they needed a score late.  He finished a late baseline drive through traffic, converted a layup while getting fouled going left and hit a big pull-up with under 30 seconds left.

PC targets Terrell and Zabo had their ups and downs.  Smith has enjoyed tremendous point guard play over the past four years with Naadir Tharpe and Semaj Christon and Zabo is a little more green than those two were the past two seasons.  Still, Zabo hit some really big shots in the final ten minutes when Brewster was teetering on fall behind by 6-8 points.

Terrell continues to be a terrific straight-line slasher with powerful hops, but his jump shot lacks consistency.  He missed badly on two jumpers and rimmed out a third, but he got aggressive in the second half and finished three or four times on drives.

 

New Hampton Surprises Hargrave

Noah Vonleh is nearly impossible to root against and plays with a rare composure for a prospect at this level.  On paper, New Hampton looked out-manned matching up with Hargrave, a team featuring a trio of Louisville commits (Jake Handshoe, top 40 prospect Anton Gill, and Terry Rozier) in addition to Virginia Tech signee Donta Clark and future Wake Forest Demon Deacon Greg McClinton.

For three quarters of the game it appeared as though Hargrave might pull away in this one, but New Hampton did just enough to hang around before Vonleh took over in the final 10 minutes.  His stat line accurately projects his impact – 27 points, 18 rebounds – as Vonleh plays a Lebron-on-Cleveland role for this club.  He creates for an unheralded bunch and broke defenders off the dribble with guile over explosiveness, but on this afternoon it was his will and his hands that allowed New Hampton to pull off the upset.

If there was a rebound to be had, the 6’7 Vonleh grabbed it.  He terrorized Hargrave on the offensive glass and appeared as though he was flipping shots at the basket knowing he would grab it closer to the rim and put it back up and in.  It was at this event a year ago that Vonleh made his prep debut, grabbing 19 rebounds, and he was even better this year.  His two strongest traits seem to be his most innate – his magnet-like hands on the glass and his passing instincts.  Vonleh may not be an elite scorer as a freshman at Indiana, but he just does so many things to help a team win.

Rozier was aggressive for Hargrave, earning praise from nearly every national recruiting analyst covering the event (I wasn’t quite as enamored, but was impressed), but he faded a bit down the stretch on his way to a 25 point, 23 shot day.  Give Rivals’ Jerry Meyer credit for going out on a limb – he said Rozier is a five star prospect and wrote he’d be “shocked” if he doesn’t play in the NBA.

2015 Providence recruit Jeremy Miller did not have much of an impact in this one, struggling a bit to keep pace on the defensive end and on the glass.  At this stage Miller is more of a perimeter big at 6’9, 180 pounds.  Ed Cooley and staff saw him at Brewster last season and offered a scholarship.  Miller was also at PC’s Elite Camp this summer.  Miller still has two years to develop and has a skill now (range beyond the three point line) that high level coaches covet in big men.  He’s  seeing interested from Boston College and Maryland as well.

New Hampton has faced, and fallen to, Hargrave twice on this floor the past two years (at the Showcase in 2010 and in the Prep Nationals last season) and finally got over thanks to the tremendous effort of Vonleh.

 

ND Prep Falls Late to Massanutten

The Virginia military academy made the trip north with plenty of talent.  One-time Towson signee, turned PC recruit, turned 2013 Kansas commit Frank Mason plays the point, 6’10, 240 pound Damonte Dodd (Maryland commit) mans the paint, and 6’5 sub Garland Owens is headed to Boston College next year, but it was Miami commit Deandre Burnett who absolutely set the gym on fire, scoring 40 points on an incredible 16-19 from the field.  He did a lot of that damage from the perimeter as well.

Notre Dame Prep came with a roster full of 2013 prospects, but none of them have signed with a school yet.  Former PC commit Jamel Artis has transferred in from Vermont Academy, BABC point guard Jaylen Brantley is their leader at the point, and 6’9, 230 pound Canadian Matt Atewe has enjoyed a breakout weekend, dominating the paint on the defensive end and playing with a lot of energy.

ND Prep was in control of this one for 30 minutes, thanks in large part to Brantley who shot well from beyond three point range, found his way into the paint for scores and set the offense, but Massanutten head coach Chad Myers switched to a zone over the final five minutes, slowing the fast-paced Prep and completely befuddling their players in the halfcourt set.

With a lot of talent on the roster, it’s hard not to wonder if the eligibility issues of Ricky Ledo, Myles Davis and Sam Cassell Jr have anything to do with none of these prospects signing on with a school yet.

 

Iverson Returns to Connecticut, Fishburne Falls to St. Thomas More

Seemingly every year, Jere Quinn’s St. Thomas More group gives headaches to opponents with more highly rated players.  Yes, they won the Prep Nationals two years ago behind Andre Drummond, but his supporting cast was a team of mid-major players.  A look at this year’s roster shows only one college signee to date, 6’7 forward Denzell Gregg who is off to Fordham, yet Quinn’s bunch topped a group with eight DI commits, most notably Iverson, the supremely talented Connecticut product who’s headed to Memphis next year.

Listed at 6’10, Iverson handles the ball like a guard and shot better than advertised, making 5-7 from three point range on his way to 24 points on the day.  Fishburne trailed by six points with under a minute to play, but drilled back to back three pointers, the latter a step back by Iverson with 25 seconds to go to send the game to overtime.

In the extra session the execution of St. Thomas More was the determining factor, as they pulled it out late.

 

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

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