Select Events: Three Level Threats

Over the course of the five days I spent in Hamilton, Ohio I was able to see a number of very talented teams and players from across the country. Some I had seen play in my previous trip for S40/P24 Session One while others were new players who impressed during Sessions Two and Three, as well as the Select Super Showcase and Midwest Summer Classic which were also running simultaneously in the same venue. Players from all regions stood out with their ability to put the ball in the basket effectively and efficiently from the paint, mid range, and behind the three point line. All hold multiple high level division one offers for a reason.    I saw the buzz on social media about Mia leading up to Session One back in the Spring and made a point to see her play. Not only was she getting buckets from just about anywhere over half court, she did so in entertaining fashion. I had her and the [program_tooltip program_id='715753' first='Michigan' last='Mystics'] on my schedule early of teams to watch. With her size and strength at the guard position Mia is a matchup nightmare for opposing teams on the perimeter. Smaller guards were helpless as she smoothly rose up and knocked jumpers over their outstretched arms on the perimeter or she put them in a blender on the block using a variety of post moves to score. Bigger defenders who tried to guard her were helpless on the perimeter as she blew by them with one or two short, compact moves and got into the paint and scored. What Mia did really well this live period was knock down threes as the trailer after she made kick ahead passes to her teammates. She may have done that in the Spring, but not with the regularity she did these events. Her prep career is beyond impressive scoring over 2,000 points in her career already averaging an astonishing 42.8 points per game in three seasons, but McGregor has a real chance to become the all time leading scorer in the history of the state of Michigan. It's no wonder why she has more division one offers than I can count. She is wanted by a lot of schools and that list will grow. The question remains for me is what Power Four schools are going to come in towards the end of her recruitment with offers and why haven't they already.     She is player that I had been hearing good things about from people I really respect for about a year and is from the neighboring state of Florida, so I was looking forward to watching her play in Ohio. Within a few minutes of the first game it was clear to me that she was the best player on the court against a very good Cap City team. Her [program_tooltip program_id='931970' first='Duval' last='Elite'] team has two other kids who I think very highly of, but Donovan was in control of that game I from start to finish slowly drawing a bigger and bigger crowd of onlookers as the game went on. Whether it was in transition or the half court, Shea was able to use her quickness and ball handling ability to blow by defenders after breaking them down off the dribble. She probably scored 5-6 times at the rim in the first half. The first couple of baskets she scored had a very high level of difficulty with her having to stop at a full sprint and adjust her shot to get the ball over defenders, which she made look easy. After that Shea was on cruise control scoring when the opportunity presented itself, but also dropping multiple SportCenter Top Ten worthy dimes to her teammates when their defenders were forced to leave them unattended while trying to help stop her. She has two Power Four offers now (Florida and St. Johns), I would not be surprised at all to see that list grow after her performance at Spooky Nook.     Ousley is another player from Florida and [program_tooltip program_id='931970' first='Duval' last='Elite'] whose stock and recruitment has skyrocketed over the last few months earning offers from Florida Atlantic, St. Johns, Seton, Hal, UAB, and Mississippi State with her stellar play. The word shifty gets used a lot when describing certain players, but I'm not sure anyone else deserves to have their picture next to it in the dictionary more than Ty. Ousley moves with fluidity and quickness while having the basketball on a string as she dribbled past, through, and round defenders before using great footwork to avoid contact while finishing at the rim. She drew several fouls and got to the line, converting on multiple And One opportunities. With her ability to twist and turn, contorting her body in the air, Ty still impressively finished through contact. In the game I watched against Team Berry, they could not stop Ousley from getting past the initial defender and getting into the heart of the defense where she also showed great vision and made good looks to her open teammates when the defense collapsed. When she is allowed to get a head of steam and her momentum going downhill on the break, there wasn't much other teams could do to stop it. The baseline was packed with multiple Power Four coaches who had to have come away as impressed as I was.     McCollough's ability to shoot the ball from essentially the Parking lot with very good efficiency is well known throughout the girls basketball community. I had not seen her play in 2-3 years and since that time she has accumulated a lot of accolades and seen her recruitment take off into a different stratosphere. Watching her play two games in Ohio it was easy to see why she has amassed at least 25-30 Power Four offers from some of the very best women's programs in college basketball. McCollough looked confident and played with poise running the point for a lot of the time I watched her and her AAO Flight team play. In the game against the very talented [program_tooltip program_id='715753' first='Michigan' last='Mystics'], McCollough was doubled and trapped the second she crossed half court. Rather than get sped up and turn the ball over, she was composed and found her open teammates and got them the basketball in positions to score. She did not over dribble, but kept her dribble alive just long enough to find the opening and get the ball off before she was "dead" without the ability to dribble any longer. When the openings came, McCollough was able to get her shot off creating space with the dribble and excellent footwork. Her quick release enabled her to get shots off with good results quicker than the defense could react. In the day and age with live in with NIL, Easton should be very well taken care of as she not only performed very well against the best teams at Spooky Nook, she drew big crowds in every game she played in from other players and fans at the event.     Like the other players on this list, Nawel's reputation precedes her at big events like this and opposing defenses are not immune to the hype which should make scoring the basketball much more difficult. That was a good theory, but the practice of stopping and limiting her scoring proved harder done than said. Nawel has excellent movement at her size and she executes the fundamentals consistently and at a very high level. She is efficient both in scoring the ball and in the process where she usually only needs a couple dribbles to get where she wants to go on the offensive side of the court. She did a great job using her pivot and jab steps, along with pass and shot fakes, to create the necessary space on the perimeter. When Nawel got into the paint she used those same fundamentals to get the defender off their feet and in the air before rising up and scoring the ball herself. When head fakes were not necessary, Nawel was able to get the basketball up and finish quickly at the rim due to her always keeping the basketball at shoulder height our above. She did a nice job drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line, where she shot the ball well. She showed very good athleticism pushing the ball on the break and finishing at the rim. Her offer sheet includes multiple Ivy League schools, some of the best "mid-majors" in women's basketball, and her most recent offers coming from Power Four schools in the Big East, Big Ten, and ACC.     D'Arrah is a recent arrival to Georgia from Nevada who I saw play multiple times in June with her new high school team, Sandy Creek, and her new teammate, Morghan Reckley. Mitchell not only really impressed myself, but also "Basketball' Bob Corwin during the June GBCA Live event at Lakepoint. She was also excellent in the games I watched her play in the June Fall League against some of the very best teams in the state. DD is a stretch four that creates a lot of problems for opposing defenses. Specifically, she is an elite offense rebounder who was able to get multiple extra opportunities for herself and her team while being equally good slashing to the basket off the bounce. Mitchell is almost 6' tall and has cat like quickness which enabled her to blow by every opposing defender that I saw match up with her over two games. DD finished really well at the rim versus [program_tooltip program_id='931970' first='Duval' last='Elite'] several times including a very nice reverse after a long offense rebound and drive baseline. Her face up game is legit as she has consistently knock down mid range jumpers in the ten or so games I have seen her play this Summer, keeping the defenses off balance and defenders guessing. She brought offers from other parts of the United States with her to Georgia, including Cal, UNLV, SMU, and Texas Tech. I expect that list to grow over the next few days after her performance in Ohio.

Over the course of the five days I spent in Hamilton, Ohio I was able to see a number of very talented teams and players from across the country. Some I had seen play in my previous trip for S40/P24 Session One while others were new players who impressed during Sessions Two and Three, as well as the Select Super Showcase and Midwest Summer Classic which were also running simultaneously in the same venue. Players from all regions stood out with their ability to put the ball in the basket effectively and efficiently from the paint, mid range, and behind the three point line. All hold multiple high level division one offers for a reason.