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MEMORIAL WEEKEND LOOKBACK: TOC PLAYER NOTES

By PAT STEVENS — With Bob Gibbons’ Tournament of Champions in North Carolina and the Nike Memorial Day Classic in Georgia, this past weekend served as the third weekend of tournaments with truly national fields of competition during this two month old spring season.

Here’s a look back at the TOC on who’s establishing themselves as the nation’s top prospects and how the Big East is involved…

Dion Waiters (Syracuse commit/6-4 CG/Team Final/Burlington, N.J., Life Center) – He came away with the MVP award leading the way to a championship, scoring 22 points in the final and 12-12 FTs in the second half. Really played at a necessary level against formidable competition in a strong CP3 All Stars team whose guards and bigger wings both had problems with him. The one-two of he and Gilchrist has been tough to take down as this was their third tournament final and second in a national field (lost to All Ohio-Red in finals of Boo Williams). There’s something to be said for that. It’s going to be tough to find somebody out there this summer that can check him, much like last season. Tough cover.
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Mike Gilchrist (6-7 WF 2011/Team Final/Elizabeth, N.J., St. Patrick) – The resume is building for him and the team isn’t going this far if he isn’t wearing their jersey. He did his damage around the hoop in a Friday night win and again in the championship Sunday with Markus Kennedy (Villanova commit/6-9 PF/Philadelphia, Pa., Living Faith) having gone down in the semi-final with an ankle injury. Some highlights included going right at similarly-sized North Carolina commit Reggie Bullock, where he got to the rim going left once and right another time. Inside he blocked a pair of shots from behind and started the fast break. One of the best regardless of class with a high ceiling to improve.
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C.J. Leslie (6-9 PF/Carolina Cobras/Raleigh, N.C., Word of God) – Has to be a Top 10 pro prospect in the class. Ball skills have catching up to do to his physical but you can see flashes with his face game and he showed the fire on both ends that can set prospects apart. Had a handful of weak-side blocks and constantly forced drives to the hoop to give it up. Team won opener against MBA Elite of Mississippi but didn’t reach playoffs in a tough bracket with Team Detroit featuring Ray McCallum and M33M Mike Miller All-Stars of Memphis advancing. Former North Carolina State commit opened back up and says he’ll see who turns up to see him during the evaluation period in July.
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Kyrie Irving (6-2 CG/NJ Roadrunners/Elizabeth, N.J., St. Patrick) – The star of his team got them into the quarterfinals of the national bracket and that’s a nice tip in the cap. Word was he hit the 40 mark one game and it was no fluke because he did the same a few weeks back in Providence against Boo Williams. Top national backcourt target gave long list of Indiana, Duke, Kentucky, Duke, Notre Dame, Texas A&M, Seton Hall, Maryland, Marquette, Georgia Tech and Florida at the moment.
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Dezmine Wells (6-5 CG 2011/CP3 All Stars/Raleigh, N.C., Word of God) – Wide-bodied lefty wing who gets out in transition, boards it and plays above the rim also has a great demeanor on the floor. Outside of the ACC, mentioned interest from Villanova, Baylor and South Carolina.
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Isaiah Epps (Committed to Pittsburgh/6-2 PG/Playaz Basketball Club/Plainfield, N.J.) – Watched some of a mercy rule win over the Westchester Hawks and saw him make a nice read on a pick and roll where he drew the help and kicked to the corner shooter. Playaz won their pool but lost to semi-finalist Jackson Tigers of Mississippi in opening round.
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LaQuinton Ross (6-9 WF 2011/MBA Elite/Jackson, Miss., Murrah) – Scored 23 points in comeback attempt but fell to Carolina Cobras and missed the playoffs. First tournament since a Level-3 ankle sprain that’s had him out for a month. He’s smooth as they come, almost too smooth at times, but did show some noticeable reluctance to explode and defend with more energy that’s been seen from him in the past. Coach said Duke, North Carolina State, Memphis, Kentucky, Georgetown, Southern Mississippi and most of the entire SEC all made trips to school in April. Stated before he was a big Carmelo Anthony fan of his time at Syracuse. A top national target and one of best overall in the rising junior class.
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Andre Stringer (5-10 PG/Jackson Tigers/Jackson, Miss., Forest Hill) – Scored 20 points in team’s comeback win over Memphis Magic. A pair of 3-pointers during the comeback scramble in the final minutes sealed the day for the tough, stone-faced floor leader. Alabama, LSU, Mississippi State, USC and Marquette have made headway but he’s open and says he’ll wait out the process through the summer for sure.
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Joe Jackson (6-0 CG/Memphis Magic/Memphis, Tenn., White Station) – Tournament’s fifth leading scorer at 24.8 points per game and one of the top scoring point guards in class. Marquette the lone Big East school mentioned on a long list of Memphis, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio State, Duke, Arkansas, Mississippi, Mississippi State, Georgia Tech and Missouri, with UCLA the newest in contact recently.
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Jayvaughn Pinkston (6-6 CF/New Heights/Brooklyn, N.Y., Bishop Loughlin) – Had a up-and-down game against the Dallas Heroes on Saturday, turning it over three straight possessions at one point when he tried to make plays and then leading the break other times for scorers or assists. Broke out in Sunday’s quarterfinal with a big 32-point game to keep his team in it against eventual runner-up CP3 All Stars. St. John’s, Marquette, Villanova and Tennessee visited him at school in April.
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J.J. Moore (6-5 SF/New York Panthers/Brentwood, N.Y.) – Big-time leaper and streak shooter from deep is improving his floor game and helped lead Panthers to quarterfinals where they fell to Atlanta Celtics. Said Hofstra, Stony Brook and Albany visited him in April while picking up feelers recently from Pittsburgh, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arkansas, USC and Central Florida. Obvious to be evaluated by Big Easts in July since he’s a backyard target and is early in the process.

MORE FROM THE TOC

Stacey Poole (6-5 SG/Jacksonville, Fla., Andrew Jackson) led the Jacksonville Lee Bulls to a 38-17 consolation bracket championship win over Worldwide Renegades of Georgia. Poole has a range of SEC, ACC and Big East interest with specific mention of Florida, Florida State, Miami, Marquette, West Virginia, Virginia, Indiana, Xavier, Oklahoma and Missouri.
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Casey Prather (6-6 G-F/Nashville Celtics/Jackson, Tenn., North Side) said an assistant from Notre Dame visited him at school in April along with North Carolina, Clemson, Florida, Memphis, Michigan, and Vanderbilt, with Wake Forest and Minnesota also having been in contact during the school year.
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Having visited Connecticut and Louisville during the season and Syracuse just recently, Fabricio de Melo (7-0 C/Florida Rams/Weston, Fla., Sagemont) is clearly a Big East target but word was he picked up some early fouls in a quick-whistle game Saturday morning and rested most of the late playoff game Saturday night with his team up big early and counting down the clock for a mercy rule win.
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Notre Dame commit Eric Atkins (6-2 CG/DC Assault/Baltimore, Md., St. Joseph’s) and company won their pool but fell to the Atlanta Celtics in the quarterfinals.
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West Virginia commit Noah Cottrill (6-0 PG/Wisconsin Playground Warriors)/Beckley, W.V. Mountain State Academy) and company were victim to a mercy rule loss against Kyrie Irving and the NJ Roadrunners on opening night and missed making either playoff bracket.
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Georgetown commit Nate Lubick (6-9 PF/New England Playaz/Southborough, Mass., St. Mark’s) went out in the first round of the winners bracket playoffs on Saturday night in what many thought of as an upset to the New York Panthers. Naadir Tharpe (6-1 PG 2011/Wolfeboro, N.H., Brewster Academy), Austin Carroll (6-3 SG 2010/Worcester, MA Academy), Denzel Brito (6-2 SG 2010/Groton, MA Lawrence Academy) and Dajuan Coleman (6-9 PF 2012/Syracuse, N.Y., Jamesville-Dewitt) helped the team win their pool over the weekend. Tharpe has been mentioned with Providence, Carroll with Georgetown, Brito with Connecticut and Providence and Coleman a national target in the rising sophomore class.
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Pat Stevens has been around the basketball recruiting and reporting scene for several years. Since 2004, Pat has covered the Prep School ranks, New York City AAU events, and the top All-American camps primarily for Hoopmasters.com. He launched CSTV.com’s recruiting coverage in 2006 as its Recruiting Editor and has additionally contributed to Scout, Rivals and MaxPreps. You can also see more of his recent reporting at Pat Stevens Basketball in anticipation of his launching a new national site in the coming weeks.

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