Premier Summer Championships: Top Five of Class of 2019 Player Evaluations
The Premier Summer Championships took place this past weekend in Salem and as you might expect, the majority of the state’s top Class of 2019 players were in attendance – including the top five ranked rising seniors. How did they do and what college programs were watching them play? Here’s a rundown of what we saw.
#1: Marcus Tsohonis (2019 Jefferson HS/Seattle Rotary) – The only Oregonian on the team, Tsohonis certainly had no shortage of people watching him play as Rotary games attracted the largest and loudest crowds – both in terms of fans and college coaches. While he missed half of the team’s opener getting there late due to I-5 traffic and went scoreless in another, Tsohonis put together some solid performances in the other two games. With most of the defensive attention deservedly going to teammates Jaden McDaniels and Paolo Banchero, Tsohonis was able to sneak in points of his own, mainly on mid-range shots and posting up smaller guards. He also helped out on the boards and ball-handling duties. From the schools who have offered him, Portland head coach Terry Porter was there to watch all of his games as well as Washington State and Eastern Washington, and others such as Washington (head coach Mike Hopkins and top assistant Cameron Dollar), Cal, and Colorado State were there to evaluate him.
#2: Aaron Deloney (2019 Grant HS/Rose City Rebels) – Deloney got off to a very slow start in the tournament as he really struggled with his shot on Friday. In fact, his shooting percentages were outright terrible in both games but at least in the second game he was able to play the role of facilitator more and racked up some assists. He finally got his shot back in Saturday’s lone game in a win. While Deloney didn’t hit any threes, he took it strong to the hole and strung up three traditional three-point plays. We only caught the tail end of the C bracket title game but Sunday was much better for him scoring the ball. It is apparent that Deloney is a key Portland State recruit and the Vikings were at every single one of Deloney’s games with head coach Barret Peery personally in attendance the last two days (even at the Rebels games held at McKay High School). Eastern Washington also followed him around intently and Colorado State came to evaluate him on Friday. According to Rebels head coach Kumbeno Memory, Colorado State will be back watching Deloney in Vegas along with several other schools, notably UMass.
#3: Jaden Nielsen-Skinner (2019 South Salem HS/Hoop Salem) – After a stint on the EYBL, “Skinny” rejoined Hoop Salem and it couldn’t have started off better as he hit a three-point shot while getting fouled with over a second to go to beat the Griffins in pool play. In that game, he actually was more impressive with his pinpoint passing as he played the role of pure point guard in the first half, dishing off eight assists alone. Then in the second half he focused more on scoring as Hoop Salem battled John Stockton’s team down the stretch. While that was the only full game we caught, the word was the Portland State commit played well the rest of the tournament and the Vikings coaching staff were at all of games the entire time.
#4: Isaac Lange (2019 Thurston HS/Team Fly Williams) – Lange was particularly impressive on day one of the tournament, getting a chance to showcase his athleticism. He didn’t show any ill effects of the injury he had earlier this summer, and got up and down the court with ease, getting up and around the rim with no problems – in fact after one dunk on Sunday a college coach was asking what his vertical leap was. Lange shot well from the perimeter earlier in the tournament, and when that wasn’t quite working on Sunday he focused on using his athleticism on defense. Oregon State head coach Wayne Tinkle took a peek at some games and coaches from Portland, Cal State Fullerton, San Francisco, Eastern Washington, Central Washington, Carroll College, and Lewis & Clark were all in attendance at some point in time over the weekend.
#5: Stevie Schlabach (2019 Tigard HS/Team Fly White) – Schlabach started off the tournament like a house on fire, ringing up 16 points in the first half of Team Fly White’s game against Team Jones Hedgecock, and ended up scoring 31 points in the game. The second game he continued the high scoring with 24 points. As usual, Schlabach scored in an efficient manner but what was also impressive was the way he contributed on the boards and even on defense. Despite the high scoring totals, he remains under the radar although it did seem as if Portland and Portland State were consistently watching on the sidelines – sometimes both head coaches Terry Porter and Barret Peery – as well as some lower level schools such as Central Washington and Carroll College, who were likely there to scout out many of Team Fly White’s other standouts.