North Texas Recruiting

NIKE EYBL SESSION #2 – BOO WILLIAMS (TOP PERFORMERS)

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

Now that a couple of days have passed since the Boo Williams Invitational and I’ve had time to process all the basketball I watched, it’s time to evaluate which prospects performed best this weekend. Below are rankings by class of all the prospects I was able to watch down in Hampton. As always, these rankings are based strictly on performances from the weekend’s tournament and do not reflect my overall views on these players. It should also be noted that given the amount of talent playing at any given time I was unable to see every prospect in Hampton and thus some players miss out on this list because I didn’t evaluate them. Julius Randle, Theo Pinson, Bobby Portis, and Duane Wilson Jr. all played to rave reviews over the weekend and likely would have cracked these rankings if I’d had the chance to see it for myself. Andrew Wiggins was also the best player at the event by all accounts but happened to have his one modest performance the only time I was courtside and therefore he doesn’t squeeze into the rankings either. Enough setup, here’s who dominated in Hampton.

Class of 2013 Rankings:

1) James Young (The Family) – One of the nation’s elite scorers, Young put up points in bunches from all three levels with Kentucky’s John Calipari tracking his every move. In addition to the interest from UK, his admitted leader, Young mentioned scholarship offers from Michigan State, Ohio State and Providence to NBE over the weekend.

2) Jarquez Smith (Georgia Stars) – Smith’s stock arguably rose more than anyone else’s with his weekend performance as the 6’9” forward mixed deep 3 point range with electric above the rim finishes. Florida State and Georgia as the leaders for his services at this point.

3) Kameron Williams (Baltimore Elite) – One of the tournaments purest scorers, Williams dropped 30 in a thrilling comeback victory over King James by unleashing a brilliant shooting display.

4) Keith Frazier (Houston Hoops) – Another pure scorer, Frazier mixed NBA 3 point range with relentless attacking of the rim netting himself 16 free throw attempts in one outing. Arizona, Texas, Texas A&M, Providence, Tennessee, Kansas, Baylor, Marquette, and Kentucky along with local North Texas, were the schools mentioned by Frazier when asked about his recruitment.

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NIKE EYBL SESSION #2 – BOO WILLIAMS (DAY III)

By Brian Bosworth, National Recruiting Analyst

The Boo Williams Invitational wrapped up on Sunday and with it concluded the second session of Nike’s EYBL circuit. Unlike the majority of AAU tournaments Sunday is not playoff day at Boo Williams but rather just continued EYBL regular season play as all 40 teams are competing for spots in July’s Peach Jam. Star performances showed up in droves just as they had on the first two days. Below are a sampling of the best showings NBE has the pleasure of viewing.

Top Performance of the Day:

Kameron Williams (Baltimore Elite 2013) – Despite being undersized for the shooting guard position at 6’2”, 170 pounds Williams is an elite scorer. His most dangerous weapon is the jump shot but labeling him as “just a shooter” is rather short sighted. Players who are strictly shooters rely on others to create open shots for them but Williams is more than capable of creating his own looks. He’s smart enough to know that at his size challenging the trees in the paint is a low percentage shot whereas his jump shot is very efficient. Williams makes deep three balls off the dribble or the catch but is most effective using 2-3 dribbles to create space and then burying midrange shots. In an afternoon comeback victory over King James Shooting Stars he put on a scoring clinic going for 30 points on 11-18 shooting including 5 triples. I honestly don’t recall him missing a shot in the entire second half as his Baltimore Elite squad made their furious comeback. Kam Williams is a scoring machine and not enough high major programs have looked past his lack of elite size to realize that yet.

Alex Schwartz caught up with Williams on Friday night as the Red Hot Williams is Picking Up Recruiting Interest and he proved once again this weekend that more high majors should be in pursuit.
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FINAL KING CITY CLASSIC PLAYER EVALS & UPDATES

BY JEFF BORZELLO

CLEVELAND – After a fairly lackluster experience at the LeBron James Skills Academy – aside from the hype of having James there, of course – the 75 or so players from that camp traveled about 40 minutes north to Cleveland State University for two days of tournament-style games. The players, broken into eight teams, competed in two games each before entering the playoffs. It was far easier to evaluate the prospects in the game-setting than it was in the drills and the controlled scrimmages.

While our attention is now squarely on the finals of the Nike Elite Yough Basketball League being played at the Peach Jam in North Augusta (SC), we take our final look back at last week’s King City Classic. Previously, in our King City Classic Update (Part A) we took a look at Big East commits such as Wayne Blackshear, Tyrone Johnson, Michael Carter-Williams and James Price and their performances when we were watching. In King Citty Classic Update (Part B) NBE updated notes on mega-prospect Anthony Davis as he discussed his three finalists, talked with LaQuinton Ross about offers and visits and spent time with Myles Davis as he discusses the new offer from ‘Nova and the impact of friend Tyrone Johnson committing to the Wildcats recently. Desmond Hubert, Myles Mack and Ben McLemore also chat about their recruiting. Earlier today in Part C of our King City Classic Recap we touched base with players such as Rodney Hood, Kedren Johnson, Bernard Silluvan, Cedric McAfee, Jahii Carson, LJ Rose, J-Mychal Reese, Trey McDonald and more.

In this last edition we take a look at Rodney Purvis, DaJuan Coleman, JaKarr Sampson, Nick Faust, Jabarie Hinds, Nick Johnson, jabari Brown, Anrio Adams, Kyle Wiltjer, Deng Leek and recruiting updates from Sam Thompson, Mike Shaw, Josiah Turner, Julian Royal, Alex Poythress, Victor Nickerson, Jelon Hornbeck and many, many more…

You can log-in or sign up for NBE Premium access by SUBSCRIBING (HERE) for as low as $2.08 a month with our annual introductory membership to read more of our coverage from Cleveland and the King City Classic. Also, any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage is available to subscribers.

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RUMBLE IN THE BRONX: SATURDAY RUNDOWN

BY JEFF BORZELLO

BRONX, N.Y. – At first glance, the 2010 Rumble in the Bronx seemed like it had a loaded field. All the top teams from the New York/New Jersey area and several of the best national teams, including the Southern Kings, Dallas Mustangs and Franchise All-Stars, were expected to show up in New York City this weekend. However, with three other major events going on this weekend, including Adidas Nations, CP3 Point Guard Camp and the NIKE Hoop Jamboree, the individual talent was watered-down. Studs who missed the event included Michael Gilchrist, LeBryan Nash, Shannon Scott, Dai-Jon Parker, Rakeem Christmas, Kyle Anderson, Alex Murphy, Wannah Bail, DaJuan Coleman, Kuran Iverson and many more. With that said, though, there were still a number of standout players and performances.

Devonta Abron, 2012, Dallas Mustangs: With LeBryan Nash out at Adidas Nations, Abron took over as the go-to-guy for the Mustangs. The athletic, 6-foot-7, lefty big forward can finish very well around the rim and also showed a nice touch from the mid-range. He runs the floor and can catch the ball in transition. Abron showed a few nice moves with his back to the basket and also threw down one of the more impressive dunks of the weekend, over 7-footer Blaise Mbargorba.
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Blaise Mbargorba, 2011, NJ Roadrunners: Mbargorba is still developing all facets of his game, but he clearly has potential. The 7-footer is extremely long and has a good build, although he does need to add strength. He can run the floor and is able to finish in transition with dunks at the rim. The athletic Mbargorba is mobile, but he needs to move far better without the ball. Too often, he stood around and did not utilize his size advantage effectively.

Mbargorba, a native of Cameroon who plays at St. Benedict’s, lists Virginia Tech as his current favorite because he likes its basketball and engineering programs. Mbargorba is also being recruited by Boston College, Georgetown, Providence and Columbia.

You can log-in or sign up for NBE Premium access by SUBSCRIBING (HERE) for as low as $2.08 a month with our annual introductory membership to read more on NBE’s Rumble in the Bronx coverage from Saturday, and any of our Premium Content Articles & Event Coverage.

Saturday’s content below includes Desmond Hubert discussing three schools out in front in his recruitment and a possible Playaz teammate he’d like to play with in college, the impressive performance of Angel Nunez and his current recruitment, Chris Martin hints at a leader after a recent visit, Keaton Miles has two in front of his recruitment with one being from the Big East as well as recruiting and performance updates from Shaq Thomas, Davontay Grace, Shaquille Stokes, Kelvin Amayo, Derrick Wilson, Tyrone Johnson, Myles Mack, Kamari Murphy and MORE…

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