5 Players Who Popped: MT Elite Ducks

I watched the MT Elite Ducks practice last week at the Thayer Sports Center, and from the 7th-grade to the 11th-grade team, there was ample talent. MT Elite is arguably the biggest team size-wise that you will see this spring. With height and strength at every position, the Ducks will be a difficult team regarding matchups. To balance the size upfront, the Ducks have excellent guard play on the perimeter, making for a fun and competitive practice. Here is who stood out from the night:   https://x.com/BashHoopsNE/status/1372705663667863552   [player_tooltip player_id="263961" first="Nora" last="Barmashi"] - Bourne - 5’9’’ - SG/PG - 2022 (pictured above) If you watched Barmashi at Bourne this past season, she was a scoring machine. Always a threat to score north of 20 points, Barmashi is a confident shooter who can also beat her defender off the dribble and get to the basket. The most underrated part of her game, though, is her on-ball defense. Individual defensive efforts can easily go unnoticed when you are a bonafide scorer like Barmashi. Still, her lateral quickness and ability to stay in front of the ball-handler jump out at you. She is excellent at cutting off angles and using her athleticism to make her assignment work to get to specific spots on the floor. Her effort in transition defense stood out as well. Always sprinting back on defense to cut off the ball, Barmashi played straight up and did not commit fouls. Barmashi being a two-way threat adds another dimension to a loaded MT Elite 11th grade Platinum team. [player_tooltip player_id="184035" first="Taylor" last="Brilliant"]- Marshfield - 5’8’’ - SG/PG - 2023 Brilliant as a sophomore already has 405 points through her first 2 high school seasons, and as efficient as she is scoring the basketball, the 1000 point plateau is an achievable goal when it is all said and done. Like Barmashi, Brilliant can score at all three levels and is a 20-point threat nightly, but her aggressiveness on offense is what stood out for me. The Marshfield combo guard is fearless attacking the paint, and despite being a terrific outside shooter, Brilliant always looks to take her defender to the basket. What impressed me the most was how she challenged 6’3’’ center [player_tooltip player_id="183953" first="Julia" last="Elie"] and 6’1’’ power forward [player_tooltip player_id="263797" first="Caroline" last="Connelly"] at the rim and finished over them. Brilliant is so comfortable finishing amongst the trees that it does not matter who is protecting the rim; she trusts her offensive skill set and repeatedly scores in the paint. [player_tooltip player_id="264264" first="Maggie" last="Elie"] - Rockland - 5’10’’ - PG - 2024 Elie is a "must watch" player from the class of 2024 whose craftiness on offense and ability to impact the game in numerous ways makes her one of the best all-around players on the team. At 5’10, Elie sees the floor well and has a high IQ, making her a terrific option at the point guard position. She does not need to score to significantly impact the game, showing the ability to rebound at a high level and making intelligent decisions to put her team in the best position to score on each possession. MT Elite’s 9th-grade Plasma team will generate some serious buzz not just because of Elie, but she can play off of another 2024 stand-out, [player_tooltip player_id="264333" first="Molly" last="Donovan"]. When facilitating, Elie’s poise and ball-control combined with Donovan’s explosive scoring creates an offensive juggernaut in the backcourt and will haunt opposing teams this spring. Deanna Linscott - Pembroke - 6’0’’ - PF - 2023 Linscott is not your typical big where she will get on the block and punish you in the paint. The Pembroke High stand-out can score easily inside and has a polished outside game as she showed glimpses of her stretch 4 capability during the Ducks practice. Her ability to open the floor with her knock-down catch and shoot ability, along with the confidence in handling the ball, makes Linscott one of the most valuable players on the MT Elite’s 10the grade Plasma team. Being the team’s biggest player, Linscott was responsible for battling with the other bigs in the MT Elite program when they scrimmaged towards the end of practice. She showed toughness and proved that she is not a big who wants to stand at the three-point line and be a designated shooter; Linscott intends to be a threat at multiple spots on the court. Linscott’s stretch forward skill set will make her and [player_tooltip player_id="184035" first="Taylor" last="Brilliant"] a fun pick and pop tandem. Grace Love - Scituate High - 5’10’’ - SG/SF - 2023 Another stand-out from the Plasma team, Love’s shooting acumen and scoring prowess, gives the team extra firepower on the wing. She is unconscious from the three-point line and has the ultimate green light from downtown whether there is a hand in her face or not. At 5’10, Love can play the 3 or 4, and because of her versatility, she can exploit mismatches on the court. She is strong enough to overpower opposing wings, and she has the athleticism to get past taller forwards. Love’s unique mix of size and scoring ability gives her a massive advantage on the offensive end. She also plays tough-nosed defense, particularly on the interior. She can muscle up her opponent and has the athleticism and leaping ability to alter shots and make life difficult for opposing teams who try to score in the paint. With Love’s size and shooting ability, her ceiling is sky high, and she should be a player who can make some serious noise this spring.   <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/muSE4XmVRBCMQjUnNRPR9Q-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1616516699.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-265337 aligncenter" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pgh/uploads/2021/03/muSE4XmVRBCMQjUnNRPR9Q-scaled-crop-2048x1345-1616516699-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /></a>