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2010 NHSI RECAP: DAY ONE

BY JEFF BORZELLO

BALTIMORE, Md. – There will likely never be a true NCAA Tournament-style championship to decide the national champion in high school basketball. However, the ESPN Rise National High School Invitational is the closest thing to it. Held last year at Georgetown Prep in North Bethesda, Md., it was moved this year to Coppin State University in Baltimore. Unfortunately, because 49 of the 50 states don’t allow their teams to play in any event that crowns a national champion, only teams that are outside of their state’s jurisdiction and teams from Florida were eligible to compete. It all resulted in a fairly watered-down field, but a field that was still filled with plenty of talent. On Thursday, the quarterfinals commended, with No. 1 Montverde Academy (Fla.) facing No. 8 Montrose Christian (Md.); No. 4 Christ School (N.C.) against No. 5 Winter Park (Fla.); No. 3 Oak Hill Academy vs. No. 6 Mountain State Academy (W.Va.); and No. 2 Findlay Prep playing No. 7 Charlotte Christian (N.C.). Here is a look at some of the top players in the event.

Note: Committed players in this event included Haukur Paisson (Five rebounds, Maryland), Papa Samba Ndao (3 points and 5 rebounds, Boston College), Ugo Okam (DNP, Harvard), Josh Hairston (18 points and 8 rebounds, Duke), Eric Smith (8 points, South Carolina), Lucas Troutman (6 points, 11 rebounds, Elon), Sebastian Koch (11 points, Elon), Austin Rivers (37 points, 11 rebounds, Florida), Adam Jones (13 points, 7 rebounds, Fairfield), Brett Comer (13 points, FAU), Pe’Shon Howard (11 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, Maryland), Juwan Staten (10 points, Dayton), Martins Abele (2 points, Radford), Justin Martin (11 points, 7 rebounds, Xavier), Tristan Thompson (Texas), Anthony Gill (South Carolina), Akil Mitchell (Virginia).

James Bell, Montverde Academy, 2010, Villanova: The future Wildcat swingman showed off his versatile offensive game from the opening tip. He crashed the offensive boards constantly for second chances, and finished around the rim, including several times with contact. He has a strong, solid body, which enables him to absorb contact and still get shots off. He has three-point range, but his outside shot was inconsistent on Thursday. He also went down with an apparent injury, but came back shortly after. Bell had an impressive 17 points and nine rebounds.

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