STOCK RISERS from Texas Invitational-pt 1

Crawford has elevated her game in so many ways after showing tons of potential the last time I saw her, which was probably at last season’s TI yet nothing TINY here as she falls into that “long and athletic” group, which will always be the base, and she stands above “the magic number” yet the magic starts with her UPS as she not only went after everything off the rim, her timing allowed her to go after the ball and block, alter and (or) deflect shots. Her energy on both ends stayed high, she scored off the dribble as well as around the basket, putbacks after contact included

Milton is sitting pretty with D1 offers on the table yet calling her a #D1Lock in the 7th grade had me seeing that coming but what I’m enjoying about her on the court progression is her actually understanding how to control the tempo and run a team. She’s explosive off the dribble to either score, after contact, or assist yet in the open court she’s seeing the floor better and hitting teammates on the money from beyond 25 feet in traffic. Her mid to long-range jumper continues to be effective and her “on the ball” pressure also creates problems

Manuel helped set it off at the PGH 250 Expo which earned her a spot on the Top 100 for her class and after watching her bring that same mindset to her school team she showed me another side of her impressive game. Yes, her “on the ball” defense can be smothering baseline to baseline as well as in the set but watching her outrebound taller players as well as score on them around the basket had me smiling. The midrange looks good, she creates and drops it under pressure and she also scores off the dribble, solid body control enables her to finish after contact and her court vision is a huge plus as well

Moyer has Top 100 written all over her and that’s for a variety of reasons only a REAL EVALUATOR would comprehend. Her “poise under pressure” grabbed my attention years ago as well as her wanting the ball and delivering down the stretch. I loved seeing her create her shot and use a deceptive first step to attack and finish yet using that same creativity, she kept the defender guessing because she can drop the mid to lon-range. Another huge plus was watching her show she could “catch and shoot” it

Eaken stayed under control no matter what type of heat was thrown at her and watching her pinpoint passes to teammates stood out immediately. On the flip, her “on the ball” pressure helped to create turnovers as well as her doing what I love seeing players do, playing the passing lane but in both instances, she handled the ball afterward and made good decisions. She also created her shot under pressure and dropped it with a hand in her face

Dudley does RIGHT as many won’t catch that yet her mixing it up nicely on both ends caught my eye and kept it whenever she was on the floor. Taking games to the next level is always a great sign if you want to play at the next level and watching her in middle school showing signs of what was coming takes me back. Her defensive pressure has always been a there, so has her playing the passing lane yet she’s more under control at setting the defender up to score off the dribble or take the jumper. Throw in she hits the boards and showed solid court vision in transition

Robinson took me back a few years at the Super 60, not be confused with events I don’t attend yet catching her there as well as a few others told me that this talented 7th grader had something going on with her game. I enjoyed watching her control the tempo and get her teammates involved off the top and in the flow, she did a good job of scoring, either off the dribble or from outside. She also showed pressure was irrelevant as she dropped the long ball in the clutch a few times