Freshman Showcase – Top Performances of the Day
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What a great day of Basketball. I wish we could have held each of the teams to just two games yesterday and had them all back again today for the other two, just to have had time to digest everything.…
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Continue ReadingWhat a great day of Basketball. I wish we could have held each of the teams to just two games yesterday and had them all back again today for the other two, just to have had time to digest everything. Or maybe we could have held a tournament after todays games to crown a champion. But that is not what Showcases are for.
Speaking for myself and other Scouts I spoke to we were so impressed with how good everyone was before you enter your fist day as an High School student. You left me wanting more and I am going to try and see each of you play at some point this High School season, although some of you that play for the programs that are LOADED with talent might not play very much for the Varsity teams. And that is OK, because if they can keep you on the bench that means there are other players on your team that I need to see too. You will get your turn.
As the Headline suggests, this is an article about the best performances I witnessed today. And you might know I was on Court 2 all day, so if your Top Game was on Court 1 you might not be in this article. But don’t worry, I think I have something to say about more than 75% of you, so your article is coming (probably) in the next few days. But lets get out of the preamble and into what you came here to see.
Kennedy Stamper Kennedy Stamper 5'5" | PG George Rogers Clark | 2027 State KY
Kennedy Stamper Kennedy Stamper 5'5" | PG George Rogers Clark | 2027 State KY
Stamper has been the starting Point Guard for her High School team for two seasons already and if you saw her today you wouldn’t be surprised to know that she already has a few D1 offers. The way she moves with the ball, crouched over in an athletic stance and on the balls of her feet, she looks like a predatory animal that is about to eat her opponents alive. This girl is some kind on human-jungle cat hybrid creature, I swear. If you want to know what an Elite Point Guard looks like physically when she moves, watch her play.
She has excellent handles, great speed, unmatched balance, high basketball IQ to navigate away from trouble with the ball, and the court vision to find you if you are open. I am leading this article with her because I believe she is the best player in the State of Kentucky in the Class of 2027 right now. And that is not an easy thing to be, because this class is LOADED with talent. some of which is just slightly behind her at the moment.
I have never looked at her hands up close, but it looks as if she is able to grab the whole ball from the Top every time she dribbles it. Somehow I doubt her hands are big enough to do that. Next time I see her play I think I am gong to try to shake her hand just to see. The only player I have ever seen that was able to do that up close was Rajon Rondo, and his hands were huge. I got to play against him one-on-one once at Eastern High School while pulling duty as a Substitute PE Teacher.
I am sure the schools that have offered her early don’t want to see any of us covering her and letting the secret out. But I wouldn’t be doing my job and would be doing a disservice to every other Coach if I didn’t tell you what I think and know about her. Small schools don’t waste your time, but if you just want to see some good Point Guard play, get your popcorn ready.
Makiyia Wheeler Makiyia Wheeler 5'5" | PG Franklin County | 2027 State KY
Makiyia Wheeler Makiyia Wheeler 5'5" | PG Franklin County | 2027 State KY
Wheeler was unstoppable on Offense all day and a nightmare to go up against on Defense. If she was guarding you today she definitely limited your production, but he also pushed you to show a little more of what you could do because nothing came easy. She was so fast with the ball and has with the ability to change directions at will. If a defender was able to slide her feet quick enough to stay with her in one direction, she just shifted slightly in another direction and was gone. And talk about effort, she came off the court drenched in so much sweat you would have thought she had been in a pool.
Defensively, she in almost in her opponents jersey with her. But she stays back enough to avoid picking up the foul while still applying maximum pressure. You have to be very quick to do that and smart to help anticipate the dribblers next move. That IQ and speed make her an excellent ballhawk, the best kind of bird a basketball player can be. That kind of defender can create instant offense. I lost count of how many times she picked a ballhandler clean, or shot like a rocket into a passing lane for a steal to turn it into a layup at the other end. That she did it with as many good Guards on the court yesterday makes it even more impressive. If this were football, she would be one of those cornerbacks the Offense don’t even bother trying to throw to her side of the field in fear of a Pick Six.
Before I make it seem like she was not passing the ball, I want to make note of how well she ran the Offense (these were pick up games so there were no plays). She sliced up the defense in every possible way and forced double teams or forced a defender to sag to open up her teammates for layups and open jumpers time after time. This is a lock Point Guard on the next Kenadi Level Kenadi Level 5’1″ | PG McLean County | 2026 KY . She can shoot the three, play the D and penetrate at will.
The only thing I can say as a negative, isn’t really a negative. She showed no midrange game. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have one. She was so effective and cooking defenders on her way to the basket she never needed to pull up short of the rim to shoot. If she has a midrange game the sky is the limit on this player. If she doesn’t, I am not sure she needs one. With her kind of speed players tried to sag off of her and she just nailed the Three when they did. She didn’t need to get any closer than that. When she drove she either got to the rim or found an open teammate. There was never a time she could have pulled up from 8 to 15 feet for a shot.
Absolute, stunning performance.
Brynli Pernell Brynli Pernell 5'5" | CG Simon Kenton | 2027 State KY
Brynli Pernell Brynli Pernell 5'5" | CG Simon Kenton | 2027 State KY
I was only able to see Pernell play once yesterday, so I don’t have as much to say about her to recap the action, or my thoughts on what she did. But I have seen her play a few times since early last year and have a good feel for what she does on her High School and Club teams. She is a tough, excellent Point Guard with great balance and a real feel for the game. Like most great Point Guards she knows how to get the ball out of trouble and keep it out of trouble by finding the open space on the court. She has excellent speed with the ball and great court vision and a real understanding of the basics of Offensive Basketball.
That is why it was interesting to see her play the game in a different way today. There were a few talented Guards on her team that were taking every chance they got (naturally) to bring the ball up the court and run the Point. Pernell just shifted to an off-the-ball game. She ended up playing more like a tiny Stretch 3. She found space along the perimeter and slid into the open windows to receive the ball. Then she knocked down shots. That is not that game I know her for, but it seemed to come as natural to her as anything else I have seen her do. She also make an impact running the floor to get ahead of the ball and in position to score on layups off the pass ahead.
That kind of versatility will server her well on the next Kenadi Level Kenadi Level 5’1″ | PG McLean County | 2026 KY . It isn’t every team where every player can be in their primary position. And after seeing how good she was as the Off Guard, I am not even certain that Point Guard is her primary position. Maybe she is just the best Point Guard on her High School team, maybe she is better as an Off Guard. Who knows? Only one thing is certain, being able to play more than one position is an asset to any team.
Elaine Purvis
Elaine Purvis
Scoring Machine. That is what Purvis is. The ball in her hands on the Offensive end of the court is exactly where you want it. She can handle the ball quite well, but I think you want someone else to bring it up the court and then give it to her. She has in the gym range. Purvis is a threat to score as soon as she steps on the court. Opposing Coaches ought to have the player that is guarding her follow her to the bench when she checks out of games just to make sure she doesn’t find some way to score from over there too.
Purvis has skills to play all over the court. But I almost can’t imagine any Coach asking her to step inside the three-point line during a halfcourt set unless they were running a play to get her open for a Three. She is just too good of a shooter to really ask her to do more than find a window to get open to shoot the long ball. Scoring inside the arc during transition sure. But unless the defense is running her off the line, forcing her to beat you inside the arc, why would you ask her to leave it? She has such confidence in her shot, well deserved confidence, that any kind of space she can find within about 10 feet of the line is a good shot for her.
Don’t take this wrong. She is NOT One-Dimensional, or just a Shooter. She can take it to the rack, she can penetrate and find the open Teammate, she can score in the mid-range if you run her off the line. To be sure, organized defenses will have that as a primary tactic of defending her in the Scouting Report. When you see her play, you will see all of the other things she can do. But in what is basically a pickup game scenario, like I witnessed today, if I didn’t know better I might have come away thinking she is just a Good overall player and a all-time great shooter.
There was no Scouting Report to tell her opponents that they needed to pick her up at halfcourt and get in her jersey. But, wow. If you saw her today, and had not seen her before, I think that might have been your takeaway. Very good player, extremely potent shooter.
Jada Ray
Jada Ray
Ray has a very strong body and great balance. You won’t be turning her over by bumping her and applying pressure. She will absorb the contact and put every Defender you throw at her in foul trouble. Cool. Calm. Collected. Steady. The best Point Guard at this event at pulling out the ball and setting up the Offense. Not the best at some other areas of the position, but the Point Guards to compare her against were also great Point Guards. So, that is not a slight. She did an excellent job in every aspect of the game. There is more than one way to be a Point Guard and I am just trying to explain what type she is right now. If you are a Coach that wants to pull the ball out and run a little clock when the Fastbreak is not there, THIS is the one you want to see.
The program had her listed at 5′-3″, but she seemed bigger than that to me, she also had a little of that Big Cat vibe to her on the court. Like a Jaguar that had climbed into a tree to wait the right moment to leap down and take her meal. I got that kind of an impression every time she pulled the ball out and let the offense settle. It can be difficult for this type of player to excel in a showcase environment, with no actual plays to run like the Coach drew them up in practice. But she was still very impressive like no other player in this very important aspect of the game.
Ray did an excellent job distributing the ball into spots where her teammates could be successful. Especially considering it is most likely none of them had ever played together before yesterday. With the playmakers she has around her on her High School team this is the kind of player that can lead a highly potent offense. Her team did score 80-something points in 40-minutes of running clock, during the last game yesterday, with no plays to run.