2028 Standouts River City Run
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Welcome to the River City, I know some of you live here and the rest of you have already gone back to where you are from, but my civic pride and culture have impressed upon me the importance of being…
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Continue ReadingWelcome to the River City, I know some of you live here and the rest of you have already gone back to where you are from, but my civic pride and culture have impressed upon me the importance of being a hospitable host. I really should have said something like this BEFORE the Event, but I don’t have anything to write about that you would read until AFTER I see you play some basketball. If I did have something to write before it would probably be some sort of Fiction. Here I stick to reporting on what I saw and trying to say it in the best way I know how.
This is by no means will be the only article I will write about players from the class of 2028 this week but it is the only article dedicated solely to them. A few other will appear in some additional articles. So if I missed you in this one don’t forget to check back. And if you weren’t covered at all it doesn’t mean you didn’t play well, as much as I do pick up in these games, some things will slip through unnoticed. There are still tons of chances for you to make an impression on our Scouts here at Prep Girls Hoops.
Alicia Mangrum
Alicia Mangrum
When I first saw Mangrum playing this past Saturday I thought she was playing for a team from out-of-state with no local players. I remarked to the people at the Scorers Table, where I was posted up, that it was “uncanny” how much she looks just like a player from here (Louisville). “She looks just like her, but she is taller,” I said. I was then informed that it was the same player I already knew, she had just grown a few more inches. No wonder she looked so much like her. It WAS her.
“Lili”, as she is called by people that know her, plays up for Male High School during the KHSAA season but is still attending school at JCTMS. a common feeder school into Louisville Male. She has such an advanced game for a player her age. She is an excellent defender, a solid ballhandler, a great shooter, and she plays hard with a good attitude. I know her High School and Middle School Coaches well and they have nothing but praise for how hard she works and who she is as a person. I also met her Mother this past season and told her that I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t wrote about her at least once per year. So this covers me for that one and I didn’t really even try to see her play, it just worked out that way.
There are still aspects of her game that are not as polished as you would like them to be. But let’s not forget that she is not in High School yet. There is time for her to tighten up the slightly loose parts of her skills. I suspect Mangrum is one of those players that loves the game based on the way she plays it. So there is no doubt she is going to continue working on it. Watch out for her in a few years if you are a D1 College Coach. Watch out for her now if you have to play against her. She has game.
Olive Booth
Olive Booth
Booth is a lightning-quick Point Guard that is excellent at driving over, around and through full court pressure. if she hadn’t been this would have been a long day for her team because their opponent was running excellent pressure defense. She didn’t seem rattled or phased by the intensity of a relentless onslaught of quick and agile defenders as she picked her way through traffic to matriculate the ball up the court to awaiting teammates. She just kept pushing and sliding and slipping away into another open area of court to deftly deliver the rock to safety. Without her ballhandling this game could have been a blowout rather than a close lose at the end after leading most of the way.
I have heard people describe the type of player Booth is described as a Water Bug before. And if you have familiarity with those insects it is easy to see why. They balance on the surface of the water and can dart about so quickly into any direction. So hard to catch, so fascinating to watch as they glide from spot to spot. Booth also displayed a nice shot when she got the chance to shoot. But she seemed to be focused mainly on filling the role of ball control and distributer when I saw her play. I hope to see her play again in a game with a less aggressive defense to get a better feel for the rest of her game.
April Nasha Hagans April Nasha Hagans 5'9" | SF Frankfort | 2028 KY
April Nasha Hagans April Nasha Hagans 5'9" | SF Frankfort | 2028 KY
Wade already has an excellent fundamental Post game. Her footwork is excellent and something her Mother told me she gets from working with her Father. Growing up with a Dad that played D1 basketball as a Center myself, footwork is always one of the 1st things I look for in a post player right after I realize a player is trying to use Post Moves. Upper Body aspects of Post Play will always be the first thing seen during live action, after all those are the parts of the body that are around the ball, but it is the Lower Body that makes everything work beyond the most rudimentary moves.
Wade knows how to correctly establish herself and how to use her base to hold position against opponents trying to shove her out of the lane. She also correctly uses her pivot foot to maximize her ability to reposition herself once she receives the ball. For me it was a pleasure to see her operate in the paint during an era where most players only know how to play on the perimeter, especially at this age. She has mastered the basics that will allow her to expand her skills into any direction she needs to take to be a threat to score with her back to the basket. If her body will also grow enough I wouldn’t be surprised to see her playing anywhere on the next level, and if she doesn’t grow much I think the smaller Colleges will still welcome her.
In addition to her Post Skills, Wade has a good grasp of other Post Player techniques. Specifically how to be an asset in transition as a Rim Runner. She scored the ball on a few layups by getting out and running the floor and made putback off of a missed fast break layup of a teammates by filling the Trail. She also had a good knack for tracking the ball and getting into the right space to collect rebounds. I would like to see her develop a little better technique on blocking out, but she may be getting a little different training that focuses more on just going to get the ball and I can respect that. But I do feel like she it the type that would be an excellent banger more than the go get it type. But she is obviously well-coached and they see her way more than I do.
Ziya Velez-Smith
Ziya Velez-Smith
Velez-Smith is long and can be disruptive defensively. She has good speed and excellent agility. Her game is a bit of a mixed bag. She has several different skills that can be put into use in multiple ways. She appears to be more of a generalist than a specialist at the moment and as such I have assigned her the position of Small Forward in her first write-up in Prep Girls Hoops. Who knows if that is what position she will be identified as roughly five years from now during the final article written about her? How she develops physically will likely play a role in that, along with what skills she will excel in at that time, but I get the filling that Small Forward might be something that still fits her. We’ll see and we’ll change it if something else fits better.
When I say she was a mixed bag let me tell you about some of the tings I saw her do well at the River City Run. I saw her nail a three, I score off of a dive cut, make a layup on a run out, make a put back, drive the ball to the basket and deftly finish over an excellent shot blocker. One of the Threes she made was from about 4 foot deep beyond the Arc. Maybe she will end up a Stretch Three. At the moment I think she could best be described as a Slasher and Cutter that plays mainly off the ball on Offense, but tends to find her way onto the ball on Defense.
She reminds a little of former Ballard player and current Spalding player Anya Winburn.
Trenity Armstrong
Trenity Armstrong
I saw Armstrong finish, and finish, and finish, and finish and finish and finish. If there is anything Coaches need to know about her it is that she can finish. On the break, on the drive, off the pass, through defenders, against a shot blocker, off balance, after contact, at the hoop, a few feet away with a floater, etc. It seemed like no matter what situation she found herself in that if she had the ball anywhere near the hoop she was going to put the ball in the basket. At the most basic aspect of the game, she is excellent.
It was so consistent, the way that she would score the ball, I think I forgot to take any other notes about what she did on the court. I don’t remember is she played good, bad or average Defense. I don’t remember if she collected any rebounds or blocked any shots. I have no other notes to remind me of anything else she did. I really think she dazzled me so much with her ability to finish in so many ways that I forgot to take any other notes after she drove the ball full court to tie the score a the end of regulation and force overtime.
I wish I could tell you what else Armstrong can do, but I can’t. But what I know is if she finishes like this regularly and not just when I was watching there is always going to be a place for her somewhere on some team even if she does struggle at other aspects of her game. I don’t know if she does struggle elsewhere. You should see this kid play.