UK targets in Arizona: Update #4, Tournament Wrap

– Michael Avery was far below impressive in the Arizona Cactus Classic (ACC) this weekend. Avery only played in the first four games this weekend and the reason I believe why that is is that he just was not producing. Avery finished the tournament with 4 points and 3 rebounds overall and shot 40% from the field and missed his only free throw. It makes you wonder why Gillispie would give this kid a scholarship and not spend more time recruiting older guys that would help our program sooner. I understand you want to recruit younger guys but these kids have not developed at all so there is absolutely no way to tell how good they are going to be unless they are flat out dominating competition which Avery is not. Gillispie should be spending more time recruiting guys like Avery’s teammate Darius Morris, who had 15+ points in every tournament game but one. Morris is an unsigned junior and if he continues to play this way could really turn some heads at some more events. Morris was one of the best players for Belmont Shores (AAU team) all weekend and helped lead them to a 4-2 record in the event.

– Another player that UK is currently targeting that had a phenomenal weekend is 2009 guard Avery Bradley. Bradley does everything on the floor and is a coaches dream because he does everything with 100% effort and does not let an off shooting day or a couple turnovers affect him, he just works THAT much harder on the other parts of his game during the course of game/day. Bradley finished second in scoring at the ACC among all scorers with 24.7 points per game over the whole weekend. Bradley is not a great outside shooter so he found ways to score inside the arc. He has a pretty good mid range game but really excels near and in the paint with little floaters and layups, he is very good at finishing with contact. Bradley was one of the premiere defenders in the event, his length allowed him to shut every player he defended down except for John Wall, who can not be shut down. If Bradley is not playing well offensively he is going to make sure his man does not play well either, which is the attitude a player needs to have going into his college career. Gillispie needs to get on guys like Morris and Bradley and try to sign them.

– And then there is John Wall, easily the best player at the event all weekend. Wall is, in my opinion, the second best player in the nation behind Derrick Favors and Billy Gillispie needs to find as much free time as possible to go visit Wall and have him tour the campus. Wall is lightning quick with the ball and no one at the event could take it from him or prevent him from getting into the lane. Wall uses his speed and quickness to his upmost advantage by squeezing through defenders for layups and floaters, like Bradley, Wall can finish with contact very well. Wall finished the event fourth overall in scoring with 21.3 points per game and third in assists with 7.3 per game. Wall had at least 21 points in three games and 9 or more assists in two of their four total games. Wall should be the main target of Wildcat coaches for the next year, or whenever he decides on a college.

 
-The reason I did not make any updates on Peyton Siva is that a poster at Catspause.com found an article from the Louisville Courie-Journal in which Siva said he had no interest.
-Just to let everyone know the Houston Hoops won the event over the Compton Magic. Yay.

UK targets in Arizona: Update #3

Here are the upcoming games for each of UK’s targets in the tournament:

Avery Bradley – Northwest Panthers
- Plays Pump N Run Power (0-3-1) in the first round of the Championship Bracket. Pump N Run Power really has no notable players on their squad. Easily the most famous player on Pump N Run Power is Malcolm Washington, son of Academy Award Winner Denzel Washington, although he is not as good at basketball as his dad is at acting. If the Northwest Panthers wins that game, which they most likely will, they will play the winner of the Houston Hoops (2-1) vs. Texas D-1 Ambassador (1-2) matchup. The key player for Houston Hoops is Tommy Mason-Griffin. Mason-Griffin is averaging 14.3 points and 3.3 assists per game in the ACC so far, although he is capable of going off for nearly 20 points as he did in his final two games of pool play (17, 18 points). The key player for Texas D-1 Ambassador is Cory Jefferson, who is rated as the #41 player in the 2009 class and is committed to Baylor. Jefferson is averaging nearly 13 points and 8 rebounds per game in the tournament thus far.

Darius Morris and Michael Avery – Belmont Shores
- Plays Colorado Chaos (1-2) in the first round of the Championship Bracket. Colorado Chaos has one key player and that is Kameron Wilhite. Wilhite is averaging just 5 points and 2 assists per game in the ACC so since their #1 player is not performing it looks like Northwest Panthers are probably going to win. If they were to win they would face the Pump N Run Elite (3-0) vs. Portland Legends (0-3) winner. Pump N Run Elite features a few very good players, one of the reasons they have not lost a game in the tournament yet. Elijah Johnson is the best player on the team though, he is a 6′2″ guard from the 2009 class and is ranked #38 in the nation. Pump N Run Elite is very young too, they feature two players from the 2010 class and one from the 2011 class. The Portland Legends AAU team does not really have a key player, one of the reasons why they are 0-3.

John Wall – D-One Sports
- Plays Inland (2-1) in the first round of the Championship Bracket. Inland has one very talented kid named Michael Snaer. Snaer is rated #71 in the 2009 class and is a 6′4″ shooting guard. Snaer has had a very good tournament scoring wise averaging 19.0 points per game so far in the tournament. If he continues that success they may be able to upset D-One Sports. If John Wall and Co. can win their first round game they will face the winner of LA Dream Team (3-0) vs. REACH Legends (3-0). LA Dream Team has one great player and he is very great (Does that sound right?) at that. Renardo Sidney, the #1 player in the 2009 class, has lead the LA Dream to a perfect record so far. Although he is not posting eye popping numbers Sidney has still been one of the best players in the tournament. He is averaging 13.3 points and 8.7 rebounds per game so far in the ACC including 16-11 in his last game. The REACH LEGENDS on the other hand do not have a 6′10″ center to control the middle like LA Dream Team does, but they do have two pretty solid Michigan boys. Derrick Nix, a Michigan State signee, controls the middle for REACH while Dion Sims plays the 2-guard. Sims has offers from Iowa, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State and Purdue.

UK targets in Arizona: Update #2

– Well Michael Avery did not really improve his play at all in his third game of the tournament. Avery came into his final game of pool play with 2 points and 1 rebound total in the first two games and did almost nothing to improve upon those numbers. Avery did grab 2 more rebounds but that was his only contribution to the third game of the tournament for the Belmont Shores AAU squad. Belmont Shores did manage to win their third game over Abdul Gaddy (#2 PG of 2009) and the Northwest Panthers 73-70.

– Belmont Shores got a nice contribution from fellow UK target Darius Morris who added 16 points and 2 rebounds even though he was being defended by Avery Bradley, yet another Kentucky priority and lock down defender, and Abdul Gaddy. Morris has really impressed me with his scoring ability in this tournament, he is shooting nearly 50% from the field and he is 16-19 from the free throw line in only 3 games. There are only two noticeable knocks to his game and those are his three point shooting and his decision making at times. Morris has only shot 1-9 from three in the tourney and if he ever develops a consistent long range jumper he will become one of the 20 best players in the country. The other knock that I mentioned, his decision making, needs improvement as I said. He has the same amount of turnovers as assists in the Arizona Cactus Classic (ACC). Because of his lack of great decision making he becomes more of a tweener kind of guard. He has the body of a point guard, 6′3″ 175 lbs, but the skill set of a shooting guard, if he can become the total package his ceiling is very high.

– OK it is official, John Wall needs to become priority numero uno (#1) for the Wildcats. He is flat out unstoppable when he has the ball in his hands and in the open court. As alot of people have said he is almost an exact replica of lottery pick to-be Derrick Rose. Like Rose, Wall has unbelievable quickness with the ball in his hands, finishes around the rim very well, and is a cyclone in the open court. Wall has superb court vision, seemingly making every play at the right time, and can do pretty much anything on the floor thanks to his speed and basketball IQ. Wall finished his third and final game of pool play with 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists and led his D-One Sports AAU club to their second win in three games at the ACC. Wall has shown all the facets of his game in this tournament. In the first game he showed off his lightning quick first step and tight handle on the ball going for 21 points and completely changed it up in the second game by going for 12 points and 11 assists and getting his teammates involved in the game more. The third game seemed like the first encore for him where he just brought all of the tools together into one game. The only knock on him in the third game he played is not even really on him, the opposing team in Wall’s third game was the FBC Perris AAU team, which was one of only seven teams to finish pool play winless. In Wall’s fourth game he exploded for 28 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in a loss. He firmly established the fact that no one player can defend him alone and he is the quickest player in the country regardless of class and he has uncanny control of the ball. No one can just lock him up and take the ball from him.

Coming up a little later I will have a preview of the Championship Bracket, which begins tomorrow, I will be breaking down each UK target and who their possible opponents will be.