Top 250 Expo: 2020 First Team
The players who participated in the Top 250 Expo at Pickerington North High School on Saturday all left it on the floor! During 5-on-5 and skill development, everyone involved pushed each other — creating a basketball environment that allowed prospects to grow.
As always, certain players stuck out amongst the crowd of 170+ participants. So, it’s only right that we recognize the top five performers in each class during our first day of recap coverage.
Anthony Garcia’s 2020 First Team
MVP: Joey Holifield, 6’0” PG, Cardinal Stritch
Dalton Mischal, 6’3” W, McClain
Brent Darby Jr., 6’6” W/F, Garfield Heights
Jordan Howard, 6’2” G, Dayton Springfield
Brandon Noel, 6’6” F, Chillicothe
Holifield’s unselfishness, especially on the secondary break, set the tone for his 5-on-5 group. Everyone ran the floor and stayed active as cutters because of Holifield’s vision. Mischal has a high-motor and had countless rebounds because of it. Also, Mischal is skilled on the wing and showed creativity in the mid-range as a scorer. Darby disrupts in the paint as a defender; he also showed development as a ball-handler and slasher on offense. Noel was the best stretch-4 prospect we saw in the gym all day on Saturday. Noel simply does two things very well: rebound and catch-and-shoot triples.
Tony Peters’ 2020 First Team
MVP: Joey Holifield, 6’0” G, Cardinal Stritch
Simon Blair, 5’9” G, South Central
Kaleb Leach, 6’2” W/G, Pickerington North
Yousef Saleh, 5’11” G, Beavercreek
Jhaiden Wilson, 5’2” G, Cardinal Stritch
Holifield is a tremendous passer and overall talented guard. He dominated off the dribble in 1 on 1 situations and finished well in traffic. Blair had one heck of a jump shot. He was able to find open guys when he wasn’t knocking down shots. Leach is a talented athlete with great upside. He knew how to utilize screens and rebounded well for a guard. Saleh is a lightning quick guard that was aggressive under the rim on the offensive end. He showed great potential as an on-the-ball defender. Wilson had a beautiful jump shot and knocked down 3 point shots all day in 5 on 5.