Stock Up: Players to Watch in May

As we come to the end of April, after the first Live Period events, several teams and players on the different travel ball circuits are seeing their stock's rise as a result of their play. Several kids I saw were posting offers this week after stellar performances in Ohio and other players who performed well on other major circuits did the same. All while the transfer portal is still open and college coaching vacancies are being filled. It's very tough to be a girls high school basketball recruit if you aren't ranked in the top 300 or so nationally as all the chaos from that is going on while they are being evaluated by the college coaches who did attend those events.    One of the best parts of this job is seeing a player like Prosser for the first time. It took about ten seconds for me to realize that she was, as her coach put it to me a few days after, "a straight dawg". That she is and she was on the floor in the middle of a scrum within the first few minutes of me sitting down. She then proceeded to go on an impressive individual scoring run, under control and money when left open to shoot. She also got the basket and finished as well as getting fouled and going to the free throw line where she also shot the ball well. Prosser is tough kid with a lot of skill who clearly hates to lose. She plays with a quiet confidence and has a whole lot of game to back it up. Coral is the kind of player that every coach wants on their team and kids want to play with. I look forward to seeing Prosser and her SLAAM teammates throughout the Summer with Select Events.     Zing is another SLAAM player who I thought played very well at The Clash in Ohio, showing a lot of versatility to go along with her great size. Zing is at least six feet tall and is an explosive athlete with good strength. She battled very successfully in the paint against a much bigger opponent throughout the game that I watched using her quickness to counter their size. One play in particular, Zingg elevated and snatched a rebound out of the air, took one or two dribbles, and then fired a dart into her teammate's chest who was on the run and the pass hit her in stride for an easy lay up. Zingg is an ideal stretch four as she has the ability to consistently knock down jump shots from 10-12 feet or blow by bigger defenders who try to come out and defend her on the perimeter. Small defenders, she has the size and strength to power over and through on the block. Zingg also showed the ability to play the wing if so desired on the next level.     I had seen Asiana play previous to this event at Insider Exposure tournaments and was familiar with who she was, but this was by far the best that I have seen McCreary play. She did an excellent job keeping the ball high on the catch and keeping it away from smaller guards, before quickly putting the ball in the basket multiple times, both in the half court as well as on the fast break. McCreary showed the willingness and athleticism to run in and transition and was reward with several easy lay ups right at the rim. She looked much more confident and skilled than I had seen her previously and by a lot. Defensively, she was tasked with guarding a smaller, quicker player from SLAAM, but she did a nice job keeping the ball handler in front of her for the majority of the game. She also did a nice job using her size and length to rebound the ball on both ends of the court.     Bagley plays with a high basketball IQ and is a well rounded player skill wise in all aspects of her game. The game I saw her play for MD23 she was a calculated assassin from the perimeter shooting the ball. What impressed me started long before the ball left her hands. Bagley knows how to move off the ball with a dominant, scoring lead guard and she played off of their movement nicely throughout the game which led to Bagley finding herself open for shots, in small windows, when her defender went to help stop dribble penetration. Bagley did a great job squaring her shoulders up the basket and had her feet set, so when passes reached her all that was left was her quick release. Gianna played well on defense and competed on the boards for rebounds as well. She is a very crafty player who I look forward to seeing play again.     Sadie has the kind of rare athleticism that routinely has people asking in the crowd what other sport do she play. Less than 24 hours ago she won the region championship for the high jump in track and field. So far nobody has been able to consistently keep Sadie in front of them with the basketball this travel ball season. She has been able to find and attack holes in the defense with relative ease, either finishing strongly at the rim or finding an open teammate for layup or kick out three. She has thrived surrounded by similarly talented players and she is playing the best basketball that I have seen her play. When left open, Chambers has been knocking down shots from three consistently and when the defense closes out recklessly she blows right by them for a layup. She helped lead her team to a strong 3-2 finish at The Clash and will be counted on to continue her excellent play.     Coming into The Clash I had heard about Nawel and seen highlights posted on instagram, but it was completely different seeing her play up close. She is every bit of 6'1 (I am 6'3 on a good day) and long. That can often times prove difficult for a young player to adjust to, sudden changes in height, making them awkward. That was not the case at all with her, she moved with ease, slashing to the basket on offense and sliding over from the help side on defense. When she had the basketball in her hands, the southpaw showed the stereotypically strong fundamentals people my age associate with international basketball. True to form as she used jab steps, pass and shot fakes, to create the space needed to shoot and her shooting form was excellent when rose up and let the ball go knocking multiple shots from the perimeter. Nawel is a true inside/out threat and she showed soft hands and good touch finishing around the rim. As a result of her performance in Ohio, she was rewarded with scholarship offers from Dayton and Harvard following the event.

As we come to the end of April, after the first Live Period events, several teams and players on the different travel ball circuits are seeing their stock's rise as a result of their play. Several kids I saw were posting offers this week after stellar performances in Ohio and other players who performed well on other major circuits did the same. All while the transfer portal is still open and college coaching vacancies are being filled. It's very tough to be a girls high school basketball recruit if you aren't ranked in the top 300 or so nationally as all the chaos from that is going on while they are being evaluated by the college coaches who did attend those events.