University of Denver Team Camp: Observations, Part II
The thrill of the July live periods are right around the corner. Three huge weekends for prospects to prove themselves in front of college scouts are on the horizon.
But there was a matter of high school team business to take care of first this weekend with the running of the University of Denver Team Camp. Prep Hoops Colorado was on hand to catch some of the action Saturday and Sunday and we’ve created a two-part series going over our observations from the event.
Here’s the second part, which takes a closer look at several of the teams and players we were able to catch:
Eaglecrest
The Raptors went 9-1 and won the gold bracket championship. The Raptors, fresh off a 5A state title, will be introducing a lot of new players to the floor this season under first-year coach Jarris Krapcha, who is coming off a successful run as the coach at Doherty that included a run to the 5A state quarterfinals in 2016.
One player who will play an obvious key role for the Raptors as a player who made a big contribution to the state title team is Xai’Vion Jackson, the 5-11 rising senior point guard. XJ may not get the same recognition as some of the other point guards in his class, but he has played an instrumental role on every team his played on, from the Raptors to his AAU days with the Colorado Hawks. Jackson is, first and foremost, a reliable defender who can provide strong pressure on the basketball. He’s good at disrupting an opposing team’s point guard and getting him out of his comfort zone.
Jackson can also handle the ball and is unselfish with it. He doesn’t need to take many shots to be effective, and when he is looking for his shot it’s often after he’s surveyed the court and decided he’s the team’s best option on a given possession. In short, Jackson does all the little things, and that is especially paramount to have on a largely new team figuring things out under a new coach.
That’s not to say the Raptors don’t have some other intriguing weapons. We continue to be impressed by the growth of 6-5 rising senior forward Morgan Brown. He really began to arrive on the scene for Eaglecrest as a junior last year, an energy guy of the bench who can hit the glass, really get out in transition and finish above the rim. Brown still has all that, but we’re also seeing a player who is still a little raw gain a better feel and understanding of the game. With his increased confidence has come improved awareness, and we saw him turn to heady defensive plays into dunks the other way. As he continues to hone his skill set, he’ll have a chance to play at the next level because of the obvious athleticism and motor he could match that up with.
Branden Bunn, a 6-1 rising senior guard who arrived midway through last season from New York, can be an effective outside shooter when he’s hitting. He gives the Raptors another guy who can handle the ball in the backcourt. He’ll need to continue to improve his grasp on Krapcha’s offense and look to be a distributor more at times, but he’s got a lot of natural talent and is a guy who can go get you a shot.
Aaron Bokol is a rising junior who is coming off a nice spring with the Colorado Hawks 16U team that will be playing in the Adidas Gauntlet circuit. We’ll have more on him in an upcoming prospect spotlight. But at 6-2 and seemingly growing quickly, he’s got some potential as a guy who could play multiple spots at the next level.
The Raptors, as Coach Krapcha would be the first one to tell you, have a lot of work to do between now and next season, but there are some nice building blocks in place.
We didn’t even talk about rising senior guard Thomas Dangerfield, who put down the dunk of the tournament.
Please stay sleep..??? pic.twitter.com/hFqqOe3rJm
— Thomas Dangerfield (@_TDanger5) June 25, 2017
Lawrence Free State
The team from Kansas was undefeated until losing to a talented Pueblo South team in the championship of the Vince Broyla Bracket (the top bracket at the camp). The way Free State shares the ball, particularly at this stage in the season, when many teams are tinkering with chemistry, was impressive.
It was hard not to notice Jalan Robinson. The 6-5, 275-pound big man is brute force underneath the basket. In a game we watched against Mountain Vista, Robinson was persistent on the offensive glass. Though his biggest strength is the ability to move opponents off the block and away from the rim with his size and physical strength, Robinson has some nice touch to his game. He uses his pump fake well, drawing several fouls during a win over Mountain Vista and completing 3-point plays. He’s also got nice touch as a passer and knows how to find the open man when he gets the ball in Free State’s motion offense.
Garrett Luinstra was particularly impressive at the guard spot for Free State. At 6-2 he has decent length at the point guard spot and is just as comfortable coming off the ball. He’s a high IQ player who is always in control and changes his pace well. He’s got good scoring ability. Strong outside shooter, but he was most effective Sunday in catching the ball and turning downhill. Mountain Vista had few answers once he went at the basket.