IE Summer Slam: '29s that Shined

Several players in the 2029 class emerged as legit college prospects after this travel ball season, culminating in Greensboro at Insider Exposure's Summer Slam. Some of these players I have seen and others were new names with big games who impressed over the course of the four day event. Whether they were playing up an age group or in some cases two, or they were with their classmates, each impressed with their overall performances and are players that college coaches will get to know well over the next three years.    Kelly, who recently picked up an offer from Division Two Anderson University, is not only a standout on the court, but is also an outstanding student. The Palmetto Pressure program director told me during their game versus Tennessee United that Kelly had the highest academic ranking in her class at one point (still may!) at Gray Collegiate. She was cerebral on the court and made very good decisions with the basketball. Kelly impressed not only with her IQ, but also with her ball handling ability under pressure without turning the ball over. Physically she looks the part now and she utilized her strength well on the ball holding off defenders and finishing through contact at the rim. Kelly was very vocal in the game directing traffic and competed very hard on both ends of the floor. She showed good elevation and form on her shots from the perimeter.     For two straight tournaments (last live period at Select Events in Ohio) I have watched Makayla do a great job not only sharing point guard duties with [player_tooltip player_id='1862581' first='Zoey' last='Cochran'], but also play off the ball on the wing with Cochran. Once again, Griffin came off of screens from different areas of the half court and got downhill where she hit pull up jumpers, floaters, and got to the basket and scored routinely. Defensively, Griffin has the ability to stop opposing point guards from initiating their team's offense by disrupting their dribble and making passes very difficult. She forced ball handlers to pick their dribble up early several times stopping whatever they were trying to do from the start. She is another player who has no problem being vocal on the court whether she is yelling "ball" or "help" on defense or getting her teammates into the right play in the half court and baseline/sideline out of bounds situations.     This was the second time I have since Lauver play, both coming in Greensboro in the month of July. I was only able to watch one game at the Greensboro Sportsplex a few weeks ago, but I walked out of the facility thinking about the potential Lauver has to develop into a legit division player. She has the size at 6' tall and the strength already to go with it as she clearly knows where the weight room is. Those aren't her only physical gifts however. It was Angelina's leaping ability and ability to move at her size that had me intrigued after the first viewing. She gets off the floor quickly and can really elevate which was clear again this past weekend. She finishes well at the rim and does a great job rebounding the basketball, especially on the offensive end. The biggest takeaway I had was how hard she plays the game. Several times she made a play on the defensive end, sprinted down the court, and either finished herself or made a nice pass for an assist to her teammates around the rim. With three years to continue to develop, I think Lauver is a kid that has a chance to become a big time player.     Miya has the size, length, and skills to do a lot of things well on the court. I have seen her play four positions this Summer and her versatility is her biggest strength. She is a sneaky good athlete as well and plays with a very high motor. I have seen her play about 8-10 times this Spring and Summer and she brings something new to the game each time. Miya does a great job playing on offense with her head up and she was able to rack up the assists finding her open teammates. She made very good post entry passes to Ella Johnson and [player_tooltip player_id='1105842' first='Paisley' last='Collins'] from the wing while also driving the ball to the basket and kicking it out for open threes on the perimeter when the help defenders came. Defensively, Miya put pressure on the ball for 84 feet while also doing a good job coming over to trap and jumping into the passing lanes on Tennessee United's full court pressure defense. She is a three level scorer who also can punish defenses herself putting the ball in the basket. She did a nice job playing unselfish and facilitating while also scoring opportunistic baskets.     Drabik was one of the bright spots for the [program_tooltip program_id='713528' first='Winston-Salem' last='Stealers']. Cecilia found ways to put the ball in the basket even when her team was outmatched by a large margin talent wise. Drabik actually looked like she would fit in quite well with the players from Tennessee United as she was able to create scoring opportunities by herself in trying to keep her team in the game. Cecilia scored from all three levels in impressive fashion against good defenders from the state of Georgia. Facing more and more defensive pressure as the game went on and she was effective scoring, Cecilia still found ways to put points on the scoreboard. She got a steal on their own press on one play and beat the defenders to the rim finishing with her left hand. On another play on the right wing, Drabik took a couple dribbles to the middle before stepping back and knocking down a three from the top of the key. Drabik also got a rebound in the first half of the game on defense, beat the defenders tot he basket again, and finished with her left hand plus the foul. She is a player with a lot of offensive skill. I look forward to watching her play again.     Kilborn has very good size and showed a lot of skill not only in Greensboro, but also at the live period event prior for Team KMA in Hamilton, Ohio with Select Events. Rachel has a lot to like about her game, especially on the offensive end where she has shown the ability to consistently knockdown shots from three point range, breakdown and beat her defender off the dribble, and finish in the painted area through contact and over opposing defenders. Not only is Kilborn around 5'10, but she is long and can really leap. With her size and athleticism she has also proven to be a very good offensive rebounder and scored the ball on put backs multiple times when I saw her play in July. She is definitely a college prospect. her development over the next three years will determine the level she plays on. Her sister signed with Mount Olive and played there out of high school.     Frankie had a very busy month of July playing for both Team KMA Pone (15U) as well as Team KMA Carter (17U) at the last two live period events. No matter the team or age group, Gwyn did an outstanding job as a pass first point guard running her team on the offensive end. She has the ability to breakdown defenders of the bounce and either create space for herself or drive the ball to the basket and draw help defenders, which seems to be her preferred method. Some kids like to score, Gwyn likes assists more and she routinely passes up open shots for herself to get the ball in a better position to score. She is also a lot of fun to watch as she has a lot of swagger with the basketball and makes one or two highlight reel passes per game. She is a vocal leader who shouted positive encouragement to her teams consistently, in every game I have seen her play during that time.

Several players in the 2029 class emerged as legit college prospects after this travel ball season, culminating in Greensboro at Insider Exposure's Summer Slam. Some of these players I have seen and others were new names with big games who impressed over the course of the four day event. Whether they were playing up an age group or in some cases two, or they were with their classmates, each impressed with their overall performances and are players that college coaches will get to know well over the next three years.