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I traveled to the famed Rucker park, where basketball greats such as Kareem Abul Jabbar and Julius Erving had played in the past, to see the 2007 Elite 24 Classic this August 24th on a wonderfully warm evening with just a slight breeze. I got there 6.30 for an 8 P.M. start and with a long line to get in, it was close and I did make it to one of the seats behind the basket slightly to the side near the street. I was glad even to get this seat to witness such a collection of talent in an outdoor setting late in the summer, but with true summer weather right there on hand for the game. I enjoyed watching the warm-ups where most of the players were shooting from outside. I was closely paying attention to John Reik, a 7’2 center from the Sudan who is playing his high school basketball in New York and has been a hot topic in hoop lore recently. In watching him shoot, he was showing that he had a good touch even at times to deep and he hit a good percentage of his shots while shooting around indicating he does have the midrange touch. I was also observing Luke Babbitt from the state of Nevada who at 6’9 is a reputed to be a great outside shooter. He didn’t disappoint in warm-ups as he easily lofted one three pointer after another. He gives a Chris Mullin look in terms of form as a lefty shooter. It was a good chance for fans of the game such as myself to see out of town players that you would rarely get a chance to see live in the New York area. Anyway, finally the game did start and right from the beginning the players seemed warmed up and maybe the weather being just right helped. The game featured the Orange verses the White squad. Right off the bat, I’ll relay for me what was the most incredible play of the game. In the second half, B.J. Mullens, who is a 7’1 center from Ohio who will be heading to Ohio State after his senior year in high school was running the break and passed to a parallel player who passed back to him and then Mullens passed back yet again only to get a return alley opp pass that was too high and out past the basket. This pass was about 2 feet plus above the rim and about at the top of the backboard and there was no way Mullens could get it. Well, he caught the pass from about 5 feet from the basket with one hand and sweeped through and towards the basket for the dunk where he came down from that high point where his hand caught the ball at about 12 feet. This was one of the most incredible plays I’ve seen in a sport also in that Mullens did this off a run and from a position as much as 6 feet to the side of the basket. Other than this play, B.J. showed he could really find the spots for dips in the lane and he just about hit every shot he attempted. He has a nice soft touch and easily angles in to the basket. Generally, the play went into the realm of the spectacular. Brandon Jennings seemed to want to bring the game into this realm early. He was on the foul line for two shots while the game was 8-6 and missed the first one. On his second attempt he threw the ball off the backboard and attempted the alley opp slam dunk of the carom. He came close to doing this but it was called off. I don’t think this would endear him to most coaches but his coach this game was legendary Jerry Tarkanian who coached those great teams from UNLV and probably appreciated the play. Brandon settled down to give out 20 plus assists, drain a few threes and get his highlight dunk or two in. Jennings at 6’2 can take off way from basket and find his way in for towering slams but his focus in on quarterbacking the offense. He is very speedy with the ball and passes often off the full run in any direction on the court with pinpoint accuracy and timing. He teamed up on the white squad with backcourt mate Tyreke Evans who had 26 points for the game. Tyreke, uses the superlative handle to break down the defender and charge all the way to the hoop. He has a good outside shot to deep but wasn’t hitting it this game. But his ability to drive at will was evident again and despite tough D, he eventually breaks through any defense and finds that slot in the lane. He is an outstanding passer, especially when he gets into a passing mode although in this game he was more in the shooting mode. The high score after the first quarter was 49 points leading to speculation of a possible 200 point game for one of the squads with the game running at 12 minute quarters. What slowed things off that was some of the dribbling displays particularly in the last quarter and the final score was a paltry 169 for the white squad to 164 for the orange. For the sheer spectacular, the overall play of Jtrue Holiday a 6’4 guard from California was outrageous. Among his shots was a triple pump and triple turn midair explosion that he converted on in heavy traffic. He set his own personal tone early with an alley-oop pass where he put the ball between his legs in the air and then lofted a successful alley- oop pass off the full run. In between all this, he displayed a flat out radar jump shot that repeatedly found nothing but cord. 6’ 10 center Semardo Samuels dunked at will throughout the game. He is obviously strong but this isn’t the only factor in him doing this. He can control the ball with one hand easily in the air and he can if you will fly across the lane and still maintain the control to find the basket. He has an uncanny ability to dunk on the move from sometimes very difficult angles where it seemed he was almost pass the basket going across the lane yet gets his hand in there for the slam at the last second. He usually has a good shooting touch, although he was off this game on his foul shooting. Luke Babbit, seemed to operate down low this game rather than looking to step out and shoot the three. He was very effective in converting in the blocks or getting fouled and he drained his foul shots. Despite positioning himself in heavy traffic, it didn’t seem like he was forcing things and would find an opening for good shots in the lane. Devin Eubanks was also simply unstoppable in this game, he has a jumper that he didn’t go to at all, he either dunked or hit leaners in the lane at will. Even if he is defensed well in the air, he is up there so long that eventually he finds the opening and still converts. Offensively he is a pro level performer right now. At 6’9 he is headed to Indiana University. Junior guard Dexter Strickland from New Jersey plays the combo guard style with a classic nice looking jumper but he loves to take it to the basket high, in fact so high that it is pretty unbelievable and he wowed the crowd with a running one handed jam where he took off from at from at least 10 feet out in a crowd of defenders. LaQuiton Ross, a 6’7 player from the state of Mississippi who hasn’t even started high school yet drained the jumper from deep and had his own high flying jam where he took off from the side from about 12 feet from the basket. I think he will be playing varsity as a freshman. In this game he played for the Orange Squad. Sylven Landesburg, a 6’6 guard or forward, a hometown representative who plays for Holy Cross high school in Queens, New York was a local favorite who is this game drove from up top all the way to the basket for repeated conversions. He protects the ball well on his drives and displayed excellent strength as well with some alert passing. Devlon Roe a 6’8 power forward raced to the basket with either hand with both power and skill. He is from St. Edward High in Lakewook, Ohio and is headed to Michigan Stae. John Reik contended well on defense and it was all the more impressive that B.J. Mullens was able to score with Reik on the defending end. He also ran the court well. Ken Boyton Jr, a guard from Florida who is a junior was both speedy and strong equally was effective with dazzling drives to the hoop or drilling the jumper. Kemba Walker is a slick New York combo guard who isn’t going to miss often and is a leader on the court. In the 4th quarter the scoring slowed a bit as Lance Stephenson and Tyreke Evans got into their own personal duel which involved crowd pleasing dribbling exhibitions. Stephenson, is as spectacular as player as you will see for breaking down the defender on the outside and yet staying outside and arching a deep jumper which he did stick from downtown repeatedly in this game with classic display. He can obviously shoot the ball but the difference here is that he does it in the face of defenders keying on him and even the crowd watching the game keying on him, yet he still shakes them off the dribble and delivers the knock out punch of a drained deep jumper. Between him and Evans it was a full scale exhibition of the handle. Trey Thompkins a 6’8 forward from Georgia showed his leadership on the court with an effective inside outside style. Xavier Henry, a 6’6 power guard from Oklahoma was not to be denied as he showed the classic pull up jumper and was also a high flying acrobat across the lane for power power jams where he was virtually unstoppable. He is considered one of the top 5 players in the class of 2009. Everybody looked good in this game, and it would have been closing in on 200 points per squad if the dribbling exhibitions didn’t slow down the pace a bit as the winning white squad tallied only 169 points.
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