The weekend before Thanksgiving gives us the National Prep Showcase at Albertus Magnus College in New Haven, CT. The event is run by Adam Finkelstein and his crew at New England Recruiting Report and features some of the top Post Grad squads in the country. This event has some great matchups and a ton of college ready talent. We’ll start with the scores from Friday’s Night’s action…
Fork Union Military Academy (VA) over St. Thomas More School (CT) 70-56
IMG Academy (FL) over Notre Dame Preparatory School (MA) 78-75
Woodstock Academy (CT) over Hargrave Military Academy (VA) 91-86
Scotland Campus Sports Academy (PA) over Bridgton Academy (ME) 76-52
The Academy Spain (ESP) over South Kent School (CT) 76-67
Northfield Mount Hermon School (MA) over Sunrise Christian Academy (KS) 85-67
Putnam Science Academy (CT) over Link Year Prep (MO) 76-68
Here are some of Friday night’s top performers…
Keshaun Curry (VCU) 6’4” SG Fork Union Military Academy- VA (Jacksonville,FL)
Curry did most of his damage in the 1st half knocking down 4 treys and scoring 18pts as Fork Union took a 12 point lead into HT. This young man got open looks by moving without the ball and sliding into gaps for catch and shoot jumpers. His jumper is smooth and balanced and he has a quick release and has such a nice rotation on the ball that even his misses look good. He finished the contest with 19pts and impressed by pulling down 10reb most all of them on the defensive end. From a defensive standpoint he moves his feet well and has good anticipation but does tend to reach at times and he ended up with 4 fouls at games end. Still a very good pickup for VCU and a player who looks ready to contribute from day 1
Jaylen Sebree 6’6” SF IMG Academy- FL (Hopkinsville, KY)
With a backcourt of 6’4” Anfernee Simons (Louisville decommit) and 6’5” Eric Ayala (Maryland) it’s easy to understand if teams overlook Sebree. With Simons just coming back from an injury and not exactly looking 100% Sebree was more than happy to take up some of the offensive slack. By using his quickness to his advantage he was able to get to the basket at will which in turn set up his perimeter game. He used his angular frame and long arms to cause problems on defense getting steals or deflections and mixed it up in the paint trying to get rebounds or putbacks. Ayala may have hit the GW trey with 6.7 sec. left but Sebree’s 26pts 6reb 3stls and 4 treys certainly played a big part in earning IMG the win.
DJ Mitchell 6’4” SG Notre Dame Preparatory School- MA (Glen Burnie, MD)
While Sebree may have been a bit of a surprise to me Mitchell on the other hand was a scorer who I had seen play on several occasions and he did not disappoint in this game of wills that went right to the wire. Mitchell can score from all three levels but when he’s feeling it like today he’s an assassin. He’s got a nice jumper that is a pleasure to observe and he had it working in this contest putting up 27pts 5 treys plus adding 5reb 3asts in the close loss. Because he’s such a potent offensive player his passing game to often gets overlooked but he did freeze some defenders who closed out believing he was going to put it up only to see the ball wizzing by heading most likely to a wide open teammate. He should be a must see recruit for any school looking for a proven scorer.
Jakigh Dottin 6’2” PG Woodstock Academy- CT (Cambridge, MA)
Dottin combines his natural PG instincts with his core inner toughness on defense to go along with his superb court vision he controls the tempo and guides his team to play smart and under control. For him it comes down to when to run and when to slow it up. Of course this team runs most of the time attacking the basket and defending the whole court with a frenetic style that you barely notice when Dottin slows it down to ensure that a good shot is taken to keep the ship from sinking so to speak. He does it after several possessions of spotty play or to stem a run by an opponent and in this fast paced scheme it works. In a 5 point win Dottin put up 19pts and more importantly drilled all 10 of his 2nd half FT’s. that is called clutch by the way.
Diego Willis 6’3” PG The Academy Spain- ESP (Mexico)
Located in the Canary Islands The Academy Spain is no stranger to the Showcase as they have been here a couple times as the Canaries Basketball Academy. For the most part these kids are unknown so it’s pretty cool to watch them as they navigate between the international rules they’re used to playing with and the NCAA rules which the Prep Schools use almost exclusively. For Willis the adaptation didn’t seem to effect him as he was constantly in motion moving around probing the defense with or without the ball and striking quick and effectively to the tune of 27pts 11reb 3asts and 7 treys. His shot was a bit quirky but most of them were money. On defense the speed of the American game caught him off guard at first but he adjusted and played rather competent D the rest the contest. It will be interesting to see if he wants to pursue college or a pro deal overseas.
Nate Laszewski (Notre Dame) 6’8” F Northfield Mount Hermon School- MA (Avon, CT)
Laszewski has a skillset that fits perfectly with what Mike Brey does at ND and it works very well for him at NMH as well. He has deep range from the arc and a fluid stroke that he releases from the top of his jump which makes it hard to disrupt. He will go inside to get to the basket but his thin frame tends to take a beating so of course he’s developed a sweet pull up J that he knocks down with regularity. He has a solid passing game that leads to some pretty assists and he’s competent handling the ball in certain situations. While he engages on the defensive side of the ball he can be overpowered at times by bigger stronger opponents. For this game Laszewski had 28pts 4reb 3asts and 2blks in his teams win over Sunrise Christian, KS.
Noah Kirkwood (Harvard) 6’7” SF Northfield Mount Hermon- MA (Kanata, CAN) –
This future Ivy Leaguer was all over the place in this matchup making good things happen and undoubtedly driving the opposition crazy. Kirkwood was an excellent 2nd option to Laszewski garnering 18pts with 2 treys and used his timely court vision to dish 6asts. He has a college ready body and he put it to good use grabbing 7reb on the defensive end. Speaking of defense Kirkwood showed a knack for being a ballhawk by getting 3stls and he got his mitts on several passes for deflections that turned into turnovers. He plays smart and under control as he obviously values the ball turning it over just twice. Kirkwood plays in a system that places an emphasis on ball movement and team work and he embodies those traits when he takes the floor which should make him a very valuable player at Harvard.
This wraps up Friday’s action at the National Prep Showcase.