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National Prep Showcase

Ives

For nearly a decade, the National Prep Showcase has been the unofficial start of the prep season.

In nearly 40 hours of basketball over the course of three days, the top programs from up and down the Eastern Seaboard take to the court at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT for an event that has served as an annual coming out party for so many prospects.

This is my fifth year attending the showcase since starting Friarbasketball.com and there have been countless breakout performances and dominant showings (freshman Wayne Selden and sophomore Nerlens Noel making their stunning prep debut comes to mind).

Ricky Ledo nearly set Providence on fire when he went off for 37 points in his season debut here following his commitment to PC in 2011.

With Providence playing a pair of games this weekend, Friday was my only opportunity to attend, but there were a number of PC prospects, future opponents and terrific games on the opening day.

Putnam Science Looks for Real

There’s a lot of talent here, and they are run by 5’9 Providence native Kealen Ives, the recent Rider commit who is prepping this season. Ives hit three enormous jump shots down the stretch and controlled the tempo for a Putnam Science team that likes to run and bury shots from deep.

Providence assistant Bob Simon stayed late to watch this one (and Cushing Academy in the night cap) as the Friar staff has visited their campus on more than one occasion over the past six months. It’s hard not to love the ferociousness of 6’8 junior power forward Mamadou Diarra, who PC is recruiting. The Friars are also in pursuit of the slick Hamidou Diallo — a 6’3 shooting guard in the class of 2017. There’s an ease to Diallo’s game that balances perfectly with the frenetic energy of Diarra.

Putnam Science couldn’t shake IMG Academy out of Florida — a team with an interesting mix of talent. One-time PC recruit JaQuan Lyle has ended up there, as has a big, big man once labeled the Indian Yao Ming by ESPN, and 6’7, 270 pound Quadree Smith, a mid major big man whose game is reminiscent of Dametri Hill, the early 90s Florida forward whose hook shot was nicknamed “the meat hook.”

Putnam Science pulled away late, thanks in large part to Ives who is a vocal leader and aggressive tempo setter.

MacDuffie Duo Bested by Auburn Commit

Perhaps the most impressive performance of the day came from Auburn commit Danjel Purifoy, who led Hargrave to an 82-74 victory against PC recruit Jordy Tshimanga and the MacDuffie School.

This one was billed as Purifoy (a top 75 recruit in 2015) versus Omari Spellman, MacDuffie’s top 20 2016 power forward. The game got nasty in the second half, with an elbow resulting in a technical foul, and constant woofing between Purifoy and Spellman. Most of the talking came from Purifoy in the second half as he torched MacDuffie for 29 points. He proved to be a near impossible cover, scoring from all three levels. He was simply too athletic for anyone on MacDuffie to handle.

Tshimanga was the top performer for MacDuffie, finishing with 21 points and 12 rebounds. He’s a big bodied power forward — a left hander who scores inside without bringing the ball below his waist. This is a big man who is happy to do his damage inside, while Spellman looked more inclined to display his outside touch.

Th noon start was the first game PC’s staff attended (ND Prep and Fork Union kicked things off at 10:30). Tshimanga was on campus this summer for PC’s Elite Camp and again for Late Night Madness two months later.

Ashton-Langford Impresses, Others to Watch

It’s hard not to like the speedy Makai Ashton-Langford. The sophomore point guard for Cushing Academy is another Providence target and he dazzled with his quickness in the open floor. There’s very high potential there — even superstar potential.

Cushing will be a team to watch this year, as they have a trio of sophomores who could interest the Friars down the road. Providence native Kimani Lawrence is a smooth wing who gave Cushing solid minutes as a freshman playing with Jalen Adams and Kaleb Joseph last season, and 6’8 Jarrod Simmons rounds out the group of talented sophs.

The now much traveled Jared Wilson-Frame has popped up at Notre Dame Prep. Prep won in overtime against Fork Union Military Academy, despite 33 points from Baltimore native Kamau Stokes. Stokes took the ball the length of the court and nailed an off balance 3 pointer at the buzzer to send this one to overtime.

Power forward Chris Baldwin, a Massachusetts native who reclassified to the class of 2016 upon transferring to ND Prep, was solid in the paint (22 points, 8 rebounds). Providence had reportedly shown interest in the past.

St. Thomas More featured UConn commit Steve Enoch, who flashed a pretty jump shot, and a pair of prospects linked to PC in the past in Arkel Lamar-Agel (6’4, 2016 wing) and Christian Vital (6’1 PG, 2016). Lamar-Agel was relatively quiet in an 81-71 win over Elev8 Academy (yes, I spelled that correctly), while Vital, who was on campus for both PC and URI’s Madness, was solid with 20.

Speaking of URI, 6’8 lefty commit Leroy Butts (Elev8) flashed his jump shot in the opening minutes for a deep group with commits from Baylor, Ole Miss and Auburn.

Whirling 2017 point guard Tremont Waters had a big statistical night for South Kent (20/10/6), as did seven foot 2016 center Jovan Grujic (16 points).

Cheick Diallo, the top 10 2015 power forward, did not play against Cushing in the night cap.

Email Kevin at kevin.farrahar@friarbasketball.com

Twitter: Kevin_Farrahar

 

 

 

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