BOSTON – We have some last notes from the Hoopville Elite 8. It was a weekend with a lot of good basketball in all of the high school age groups, ending with some good championship games on the last day.
- The Expressions Elite 16-under team got some solid play from Jared Terrell (6’1″ Fr. SG, Weymouth (MA) High). The well-built guard played good defense and had a 15-point outing early Saturday.
- One of the more promising prospects we saw on Sunday was Ike Ngwudo (6’5″ Fr. SF-PF, Milton (MA) Academy). Ngwudo caught the eyes of many as he’s long, was a big factor inside and has nice ball skills for the stage he’s at. On a couple of occasions, he caught the ball at the foul line and skillfully drove to get a layup, and it didn’t hurt that he showed he can knock down jumpers from that area as well.
- Ramon Gibbons (6’0″ Fr. SG, Charlestown (MA) High) had his moments, but all in all has played better than he did this weekend. The one thing that stood out was his tendency to slow down when he’s approaching the basket, even on a fast break and has the opposing players beat. Rather than continue to go and finish right by the basket, it’s as if he was trying to go up and come back down in the same spot, and it cost him several layups.
- BABC’s 16-under team wins games for a lot of reasons, especially the chemistry the team has. But point guards go a long way toward winning, and Jaylen Brantley (5’9″ So. PG, Springfield (MA) Central HS) once again showed this weekend that he’s a very good one. He started out with 23 points on Friday night and added four three-pointers en route to 22 on Saturday.
- One player whose improvement might not leap out at the average observer is Georges Niang (6’7″ So. PF, Methuen (MA) Tilton School). The biggest reason is that he has figured out what he is and plays to it very well, and as a result, he impacts the game when he’s out there. He simply finds the ball at both ends and gets his share of stickbacks and other close field goals to go with the occasional mid-range jumper. He had games of 13 and 11 points in pool play.
- Watching that BABC team, you can’t help but appreciate how fundamentally sound Andrew Chrabascz (6’6″ So. SF-PF, Portsmouth (RI) High) is. He doesn’t try to do too much, plays well within the team concept and helps teams win.
- The 15-under MYCW team had a promising guard playing up. Matt Costello, who will attend St. John’s Prep in the fall, just finished the eighth grade and averaged 14 points in three games. He showed a nice stroke from long range, and his play was highlighted by a 17-point outing against Expressions Elite on Saturday.
- Another promising young guard was Malik Houghton (Fr. PG, Boston (MA) City on a Hill School), who closed out his weekend with a 16-point outing against Mass. Evolution on Saturday night.
- Jeylani Dublin (6’5″ Sr. SF-PF, Millbrook (NY) School) is still looking for a college next year. A very good student who has shown marked improvement this spring, he had a 17-point outing in his team’s tough loss at the buzzer on Saturday. Prep school is a possibility if the right college opportunity doesn’t present itself soon.
