Michigan Vice 16U Practice

On Thursday night, I headed over to Lakeland High School for [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] 16U practice. This scrappy group of 2028 and 2029 prospects plays hard, moves the ball, and has great chemistry on the court. They won the Silver bracket championship at Wayne State and will be looking to make another run this weekend at the PGH Michigan State Tournament. Here are a few observations I made during practice while evaluating the players.    Kyla's physicality, aggressiveness, all-out effort, and impact on both ends of the court stood out at [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] practice. She has the physical strength and toughness needed to score, defend, and rebound in the paint, but can also slash, shoot, and handle the ball as a guard. I noted that Kyla is a great rebounder. She works for position, anticipates where the ball is going off the rim, and chases it down. She snatched an offensive rebound and muscled through a defender's chest with a strong shoulder to score a powerful layup off two feet. Kyla beat defender's with a quick crossover, switched hands effectively in the lane to elude the help, and finished efficiently with either hand. She made a strong skip pass to the opposite corner, cut backdoor, made a tough, contested catch, then finished in traffic. Kyla scored put backs, cut backdoor to score layups, deflected a pass on the perimeter to score a breakaway off a steal, and took a defensive rebound coast-to-coast for a layup. When a player looks like she wants it the most, that leaves an impression. Kyla competes at the maximum level.     Annika made a hard basket cut, caught the pass in stride with good hands, took one dribble to avoid traveling, then finished with a soft layup off the glass. She moved into position to secure rebounds, wasn't afraid to shoot from three-point distance, and worked hard to close driving lanes on the defensive end. Annika knocked down triples from the corner during UCONN shooting and looks to set up teammates as a facilitator.     Jenna showed her outside range, draining multiple corner threes during the UCONN shooting drill and added another smooth straightaway swish off the catch during 5v5 games. She finished layups well with her right and left during the full court layup warm-up. Jenna zipped an overhead entry pass to a cutter in stride from the perimeter and scored with a nice catch and finish after making a hard backdoor cut to the basket. Jenna handled the ball comfortably in the open court with both hands, worked hard to secure rebounds, showed smart instincts on the defensive end, and used good denial technique with her outside hand to close passing windows. She has the versatility to matchup against forwards and guards.     Taylor stood out with her sound fundamental skill set, hustle, and comprehensive impact at [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] practice. She changes hands with ease and finishes layups confidently with her right or left. Taylor was efficient as a shooter in the mid-range and beyond the arc. She buried multiple threes in drills and during the games. Taylor poked the ball away while pressuring guards up top, secured the steals, and raced the other way with pace to score breakaway buckets with her left hand off two feet. She penetrated gaps using quick, low crossover dribbles, dropped in a floater, and drained pull-up jumpers from the foul line. Taylor sees the floor well and distributes accurate passes to open shooters for assists. She finished at the front of the group in sprints and turned in a great practice.     Natalie pestered perimeter ball-handlers with her quick lateral footwork and jumped up twice for bat-down steals that resulted in fast-break layups. She boxed out effectively and sprinted in to secure rebounds. Natalie found open gaps in the zone to catch passes in the paint with soft hands and drained a wing three. Natalie was active in the passing lanes, an effective facilitator, used a good high rip move to penetrate off the dribble, drained a corner jumper, and finished at the front of the group during sprints. Her two-way instincts, effort, and multidimensional skills set stand out.     Damiyah will be a future playmaker at the varsity level. She joined the high schoolers for [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] practice and showed no timidity in the games. Damiyah sealed her defender in the paint, caught the entry pass with good hands, and scored the contested bucket from a difficult angle off the glass. Her size, strength, and effort led to two straight offensive rebounds on the same possession and an emphatic block on the defensive end. Damiyah showed her range by stepping outside to sink a corner three. She swiped the ball away at half court, dribbled the ball with both hands, and scored a nice catch and finish layup off two feet.     Jaylyn shot the ball with good balance from three and knocked down multiple triples during the UCONN shooting drill. She anticipated passes, applied pressure, and used her quick hands to create steals on the perimeter. Jaylyn moved her feet at maximum effort to stop dribble penetration and was a standout defender. She made an unselfish kickout pass to the perimeter on a baseline drive for an assist and buried a wing three. Jaylyn pushed the tempo in transition after securing defensive rebounds and dished out assists. She finished a layup comfortably with her left hand and swished two more triples from the wing and up top. Jaylyn made a great entry pass to a cutter over the top for an assist, and she turned in an impressive all-around performance at [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] Practice.     A.J. made a great impression at [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] practice as a quick guard who can contribute in a variety of ways to the team's success. Her quick feet and on-ball pressure limited dribble penetration on the defensive end. A.J. drove by a defender with a burst to score a layup and went by using a strong rip move to cause a foul. She crashed the glass to score an offensive rebound reverse layup, finished with her left after a straight line drive, knocked down a mid-range pull-up, and added a straightaway three. A.J. moves well without the ball and made a great flex cut across the lane to catch and score a contested bucket in the low post.     Haley adds a valuable perimeter presence to the [program_tooltip program_id='715695' first='Michigan' last='Vice'] lineup. She's ready to pull the trigger immediately off the catch, pivots to get her feet balanced, and follows through with a confident wrist-snap. Haley kicked off 5v5 with a smooth catch and shoot corner three, then made a nice adjustment to catch a contested entry pass on a backdoor cut to score a layup. She drained another three from the wing and is an accurate free throw shooter. Haley showed good awareness of ball and man from the help side position on defense.     Lily crashed the boards to grab offensive rebounds, showed the ability to process new information on offense, and applied it right away. She made smart basket cuts off the ball, caught passes with good hands, and scored multiple layups. Lily drained an open corner three in 5v5 and knocked down a few more during the UCONN shooting drill. She plays hard, makes the effort plays, and can contribute in multiple ways on the court.

On Thursday night, I headed over to Lakeland High School for Michigan Vice 16U practice. This scrappy group of 2028 and 2029 prospects plays hard, moves the ball, and has great chemistry on the court. They won the Silver bracket championship at Wayne State and will be looking to make another run this weekend at the PGH Michigan State Tournament. Here are a few observations I made during practice while evaluating the players.