Assumption Christmas Tournament -Standouts
My editors don’t like it so much when I don’t cover more players than this in an article but in this case, there was so much to say about these two young prospects I had to place them in an…
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Continue ReadingMy editors don’t like it so much when I don’t cover more players than this in an article but in this case, there was so much to say about these two young prospects I had to place them in an article of their own. It just wouldn’t look right saying so much about these two and not being as glowing or as in-depth about the others in the article.
Without further patter on my end here is an article about two of the top underclassmen in the Commonwealth.
Trinity Rowe Trinity Rowe 5'7" | PG Pikeville | 2024 State KY – ’24 5’5″/PG – Pikeville
I was so impressed with the expert ballhandling and movement skills I had to purposefully stop watching Rowe so that I could cover the other 9 players on the court too. She makes every dribbling fake and feint in the book using her head, shoulders, off-hand, and footwork. She uses multiple techniques: change of speed, change of direction, cross-overs, rocker-steps, behind-the-back dribbles whatever it takes to gain the advantage needed at the moment at hand. It is indescribable while watching live-action to put into words how amazing some of her moves are.
I suppose the only criticism I could make is that she is right-hand dominant and I don’t believe she could do the same things with her left hand that she can with her right. But that is not to say she is one-handed at all. She is clearly capable with her left hand, just not an amazing expert ballhandler with it like she is with the right. But who is?
Is it even fair to say this? No. Of course not.
But that is how tightly she must be scrutinized to not just glow about how great she is with the ball. And I would hope you would see this not as a slight, but as a sign of respect in that there is no one else I have ever seen that I would even consider saying this about. She is so good with the ball I can only compare her against some mythical level of perfection. THAT is how good she is and why you should see her play.
In transition, she is deadly at collecting assists on the pass ahead over the top of the defense to lead her teammates into uncontested layups. It looks like wide receivers running free for post-pattern touchdowns and her teammates clearly know that if they will run the floor in the lane she will find them if the opportunity is there.
When working off of drag screens and picks she executed to perfection and was equally good at moving without the ball. She is the triggerman on her teams’ inbounds plays and made a few assists from out-of-bounds in this way. She also has an outstanding step-back three-point shot (shooting 42% during the tournament) that is set up so well by her ball handling.
Marissa Green
Marissa
Green
6'3" | C
Highlands | 2025
State
KY
– ’25 6’3″/C – Highlands
Green is very long and athletic and her general coordination skills are advanced beyond where they usually are for a player of her height and age. If she has finished growing, and I have no idea if she has or hasn’t, she is going to possess very fluid motion skills that not all bigs can achieve before she gets out of High School. Already she has quick feet to defend on the perimeter and great speed when running the floor.
Her biggest physical drawback, being a bit too skinny, is the kind of thing that tends to fix itself with time and she is still a Freshman. And if it doesn’t a College Weights Program and Nutrition Program will take care of that. I wish I had taken the chance to ask about who is recruiting her now to see how that list grows before graduation.
I did not see her in the best possible game for evaluating her because her opponent did not have any size to match-up against her. But I was able to see enough to know that she is deserving of our ranking and certainly a Division 1 prospect.
She scored 26 points and 13 rebounds largely due to a good motor, staying after the ball on the boards, running the floor, setting up with both feet deep in the lane. asking for the ball to be thrown to her high and keeping the ball high when she has it. She has a solid set of Bigs fundamentals to post-up, seal-and-score, to post-and-pivot.
If she stays on track with what she has done until this point she will be in every discussion about girls high school basketball recruiting in the Commonwealth during her junior and senior seasons.