SoCal Youth Tournament Update

Slam-N-Jam Early Bird Update #1--(November 28, 1997)

Ok, so there were a bunch of games today at Compton College. Three pools: Pool # 1 Saddleback Hoops, which featured a bunch of guys who went to Byron Scott's camps this summer, and at least one player who is also playing on the Southern California All-Stars simultaneously (no not in the same game). Didn't get their roster, but will tomorrow. Pool 1 also includes a team from the Compton area called "Balling for Christ", and a team from Thousand Oaks, which I didn't get to see. Balling looked pretty good, but only had 6 players on the roster; not overwhelming height, size or speed, but one pretty good sized center. Pool two featured Dart Stamps' 14 year old/8th grade Top Prospects, Inc. team, another team called simply "Inland" from San Bernardino (which apparently got killed in the morning and left, forfeiting their afternoon game with ARC MidValley), and ARC-Mid-Valley (which is actually the ARC 14's). Pool 3 featured the ARC Razorbacks (which is actually the ARC 13's "playing up"), the Slam-n-Jam Team, and a team from Monterey Park--the Heat--(which has a couple of former ARC 14's on it).

We got to the college with just enough time left to see the Monterey Park and ARC-Razorbacks game. Monterey Park won by about 10. ARC features Harrison Shane (6'-5" 8th grade C), who may also be playing with the Southern California All-Stars soon. Harrison is a very young 13, but he has these huge feet and has yet to go through a really big growth spurt. He's got a great touch in close to the basket, can elevate, but will have to learn to get more aggressive to use his body to block out other big guys down low. For now he seems to prefer to play the high post and the close-in perimeter, but eventually when he grows into his body, he'll do very well down low and inside. The ARC 13's also have a nice little guard, Jimmy Goffredo, who is the son of the former coach at Crescenta Valley. Jimmy has a nice handle, a good 3 point shot, nice footwork and good defensive skills, but like a lot of smaller young players, tends to slap at the ball on defense so he tends to be foul-prone.

The ARC 14's played TPI and got killed. I mean just killed. ARC looked very disorganized, did not play team ball, and played absolutely awful defense. Curiously ARC did not even attempt to run a press on TPI; in turn, TPI effectively ran its press during the entire first half against ARC. The result was that Craig Weinstein (5'-6" 8th grade Milken) who usually plays the point and protects the ball well, couldn't ever really get it under control, and had real difficulty getting the ball inbounds repeatedly after a TPI made basket; he did manage to get off some nice perimeter shots, including a very long three, but needs to improve his passing selections; there were several times when he chose to keep the ball and bring it into a half-court offense rather than release the ball to the breaking man on the fast break. Given TPI's much bigger size, the half-court never really got going, and Romel Cabrera (Byrd Middle) , who also alternates at point with Weinstein and David Gale (5'-6" Buckley), couldn't capitalize on his usual ability to drive and cut to the hole, and neither did Gale or Weinstein; TPI's pressure defense never let any of them penetrate. Matt Llewellyn (5'-8" Campbell Hall) played his usual fine game, shooting and rebounding well from the swing spot, but was inexplicably limited in his playing time, often to players who were simply not tuned in to the offense. David Gale, another PG/SG and Llewellyn at the SG/F spot passed nicely and when the fast break was working the few times it did, Gale hit Llewellyn on a couple of nice entry passes which Llewellyn was able to convert, one from the perimeter, and the other from about 10' out. Gale also had two steals and one block; Weinstein had two blocked shots, both on right side baseline shots by TPI forward Keith Everage. Brian Trump (5'-8" A.E. Wright) played well defensively, hustling and forcing several turnovers, and rebounding very aggressively against the much taller TPI guys. He also was about the only ARC player who was able to establish position in the blocks and under the basket, but had difficulty with the collapsing defense, which would just smother the ball, and as a result, did not score. Teddy Boxberger (6'-2" Harvard-Westlake), a big guy with good hands and speed, simply did not play up to his potential today, (not that any of the other ARC guys did either), and was getting pushed around pretty badly down low; when he did establish position and maintain it (which was not often), he was able to rebound well, but he'll have to concentrate on keeping that position, fronting on defense, and improving his footwork. Mike Loythian (6'-1" Holmes Magnet) looked somewhat lost, never really understanding his position on the floor, and thus never effectively using his size or his natural shooting ability.

But if, as they say, defense is what wins games, you've still gotta have some offense to go along with it, especially if the opponent has both. And TPI had both defense and offense. Charlie Kranzdorf (6'-0" Montclair Prep) who usually is pretty effective inside and out to about 15', had tremendous difficulty against TPI, losing the handle several times or getting his shots blocked, as did Casey Wong (5'-11"), and neither of them ever found their rythym or their shot. Trent Cleveland and John Williams both were frustrated inside, missing shot after shot, and never getting the second look that TPI always seemed to have offensively.

For their part, TPI's Jared Knotts (6'-4" Loma Linda Jr. High) and Samir Hernandez (6'-6" St. Malachy), presented much bigger problems down low, and they were simply unstoppable underneath, getting second, third and sometimes fourth rebounds for the eventual put back for TPI offensively. Kevin Stacey (6'-1" St. John Baptist) and Keith Everage (6'-3" Webster Jr. High) were both effective on the baseline, driving and laying the ball in, and Stacey connected several times on baseline three pointers. Fernando Sampson (5'-7" Palms Middle) and Eugene Jeter (related to Gary Jeter of USC???) played the point well, and Fernando has a good handle, but Jeter is the better passer, with good court vision. Keiota Kindred (5'-9" Horace Mann), Jason McKinney (5'-8" Orville Wright Inglewood), and Brandon Heath (5'-9" Webster Middle, Inglewood) all shot well at from the shooting guard/wing spots. More detailed observations of these guys tomorrow.

The games continue tomorrow, with the 14's-8th graders playing at Compton College starting at 10:00 a.m. Other venues for the tournament for other age groups are Long Beach Jordan High, located at 6500 N. Atlantic Avenue, Dominguez High, on Paramount two blocks east of the 710 freeway, Compton High located at 601 Acacia Street, Gardena High located at 1301 East 182nd Street, Centennial High located at Central and El Segundo, West Torrance High located at 20401 Victor in Torrance, and Carson High Located at 223rd and Main in Carson.

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