AZ Club players to watch: FMD
The FMD basketball club is one of the top Native American clubs in Arizona, having reached the NABI final and secured a championship at the recent Lori Piestewa Native American Tournament. Here are a few key players to watch moving forward:
- Tanner Poeschl has a very tall frame and uses it as a defensive stopper down low, blocking and contesting shots. He rebounds pretty well on both ends, though he has a slight frame for his height. He gets to the rim well, but can also hit some jumpers from range if left open.
- Jackson Reavis is certainly not huge, but makes up for it with his quickness and dribbling skills. The FMD team seems to thrive in transition, and he is usually the player securing the outlet pass off a rebound to dribble up the court to either get to the basket himself or make the right pass to a cutting teammate.
- BJ Burries is a pest as an on-ball defender of guards when he locks in. He causes steals and errant passes, which allows teammates and himself to get in transition, where the team plays well as mentioned before. In the half court, his teammates seem to look to him more-so than others to knock down perimeter jumpers, which spaces the floor for his bigger teammates on the block.
- Nicholas Valencia has a huge frame for a high school player, and he loves to use it on offense, posting up in a club scene in which such play has become somewhat of a lost art. He does not always make much of an effort to hustle back on defense, especially after his misses or rebound like someone his size should, but he can use that aforementioned frame to make a difference when he chooses to.