Peach Games: 17U Batson's Ballers

Prior to tip of the first game on Friday at the Prep Girls Hoops Peach Games event, Brandon Fisher and I decided we would come together at the conclusion of the event and name an All Tournament team. With the high level of play we saw over the course of three days at NextPlay 360 in Marietta the task became impossible, so we split what we thought were the very best players in that division. This group, "Batson's Ballers" all were excellent throughout the course of the event and include some players I do not see as often as Brandon. His articles will include more of the elite players we selected, including some I see a lot that he does not. Congrats to all chosen, it was very much deserved.    It was great watching G-Money play again up close and in personal for an extended period of games. I first saw her actually coaching against with John McGraw with Southeast United when she was with [program_tooltip program_id='713452' first='FBC' last='']. At an early age she was bigger and stronger than everyone else and did not have to rely on much skill to dominate games against kids her age. Seeing where her game has grown from that point really made me happy and it was great speaking with her about it at the event. She is a wonderful young lady who is soft spoken and kind off the court, whenever she steps in between the lines Ja'Nyia is a completely different young lady as she was a force to be reckoned with for opposing teams all weekend long. The touch and skill to go along with excellent footwork at the rim was impressive as was her ability to step out to the perimeter, face up, and knock down shots from both the midrange and behind the three point line. When defenders closed out under control, she attacked the basket under control and with authority slashing to the rim and scoring. She is very skilled player who will be effective inside and out on the division one level in college. When I asked her is she had a timetable for decision, she told my before the new year.     Nimah had an excellent weekend all around for Team Elite Hubbard, especially in the paint, on both ends of the floor. I thought she played particularly well in the OT thriller and was crucial to her team winning that game over [program_tooltip program_id='1237402' first='HER' last='Elite'] 17U EYBL. Nimah is an elite athlete and strong competitor who does not take plays off, has a very high motor, and is not a passive participant in the action. Nimah attacked the boards on both ends and was rewarded with multiple put backs as the trailer when Hubbard was on the break and couldn't convert the initial lay up attempt. Nimah was excellent defensively altering and blocking shots, as well as anticipating passes and causing deflections and steals for her team. She was efficient scoring the ball without a lot of plays being designed or drawn up for her. She is exactly the kind of player I wanted on my teams when I was coaching and she will be an excellent player on the division one level in college.     I have seen Blaklee with Redline in few events since she finished the high school season with a state championship and with her confidence at an all time high, so is the level of her play. Ledford in some games was the conductor of the orchestra initiating and facilitating the offense for Redline finishing those games close to double figures in assists. When opportunities to score the ball in those games presented themselves, she was efficient scoring on a single digit shot attempts. When her team needed her to score, Ledford had no problem doing that either finishing with nearly 20 points in a couple games. She is an elite shooter from behind the three point line and has a very good and quick pull up off the dribble from the midrange. She does an excellent job using her high level ball handling to penetrate the defense with her dribble and finishes really well with both hands around the basket. She has all the talent, skill, and physical tools it takes to be a very good college player. I have no doubt over the course of the next two years that Blaklee will prove to division one college coaches that she will have no problems playing on that level.     Jasmine is another player who I thought took their game to another level this weekends from watching and doing evaluations of her before. Jasmine is a very talented player who has a unique set of skills offensively that can cause major problems for opposing teams which was on full display at Peach Games. She was excellent creating turnovers on defense and then turning them into instant offense for her team by scoring on the break. Jasmine has one of the best midrange pull up games in the state and she hit multiple shots from 8-12 feet from spots all over the court. She is a physically strong kid, who does not shy away from contact and actually was power through it and finish on the break. Defensively she was very good applying pressure on the ball as well as coming from the backside and trapping unsuspecting ball handlers. James has the size to go along with her strength to be a very good rebounding guard as well. With continued play at the level I saw over the weekend, James should return from the Adidas 3SSB circuit with a handful of offers going into her final season as a senior next school year.     Diop was extremely impressive in Team Elite Hubbard 17U's OT win versus [program_tooltip program_id='1237402' first='HER' last='Elite'] with a very high activity level and work rate. Diop was like a flash flying up and down the court in transition making herself a scoring option on the break on offense and getting back to defend against the counter- offensive break from [program_tooltip program_id='1237402' first='HER' last='Elite']. Diop finished very well in transition and worked hard to get a big offensive rebound and put back late in the game. She is a long, but strong, athletic kid who utilized her wing span well altering and blocking shots as well as creating deflections and steals on the defensive end of the court. She looked very comfortable playing on the perimeter on offense and showed very good guard skills for her size. She is a play I am very much looking forward to watching play again.     No one shot the ball better than [player_tooltip player_id='898829' first='Leah' last='Bryan'] throughout the course of the event his weekend from beyond the arc. The tall and long lefty has a very smooth shooting stroke that requires little time or space to get it off her hands and released toward the goal. Leah does an outstanding job moving without the basketball while always ready and in position to catch and shoot at a moments notice. She made more three point field goals then any player I saw playing 17U and when defenders close out hard, Leah gave a head fake and took 1-2 dribbles to get to the elbow and knocked down shots from the midrange. Bryan also did a very good job finishing inside on a couple quick-flick passes from [player_tooltip player_id='1578951' first='Emerson' last='Carnes'] around the basket. Leah has the size and shooting ability right now to be a very good division two player, however with continued skill development off the dribble she could easily see herself being recruited by multiple division one schools as well.

Prior to tip of the first game on Friday at the Prep Girls Hoops Peach Games event, Brandon Fisher and I decided we would come together at the conclusion of the event and name an All Tournament team. With the high level of play we saw over the course of three days at NextPlay 360 in Marietta the task became impossible, so we split what we thought were the very best players in that division. This group, "Batson's Ballers" all were excellent throughout the course of the event and include some players I do not see as often as Brandon. His articles will include more of the elite players we selected, including some I see a lot that he does not. Congrats to all chosen, it was very much deserved.