Columbus City League Preview: Top Performers
The Columbus City League preview occurred last night at Africentric. Another great event that featured tremendous talent, here are some City League players that had phenomenal performances yesterday.
Von Cameron-Davis W 6’5″ Walnut Ridge ’20
As one of the better overall players at this entire event, Cameron-Davis immediately made a statement in warm ups throwing down some high flying dunks. At 6’5″ Davis has a body that’s immediately ready for Division 1 basketball. That showed last night as Davis powered his way through everybody on the Columbus East roster and was tremendous finishing through contact. He even showed some nice secondary skills making a strong outlet pass in transition and knocking down a 3-point jumper.
Cameron-Davis already has a host of mid major D1 offers and rightfully so. The Ridge wing was clearly one of the best players on the floor at the preview. If he continues to improve on the little details of his game he potentially could snag some high major offers.
Jaden Arledge F 6’6″ Whetstone ’20
Arledge dominated scoring the basketball against Columbus West. Showing off an incredibly smooth jumpshot off the catch, boasting a high quick release, Arledge knocked down shots from the outside rather efficiently. He moved with great instincts within the West Zone trap making smart cuts even if he was not recognized as open. He was not a monster on the glass, but always improved his team’s chances of getting a rebound by consistently boxing out.
Arledge is an undersized pure stretch four. His perimeter shooting and ability to stretch the floor were phenomenal yesterday though. He will be a name to keep an eye on throughout the year for D3 and NAIA coaches.
Taquan Simington G 6’2″ Columbus South ’20
The amount of guard talent that Columbus South has is insane. I will get into Marcus Johnson and Trehon Watkins later in the week, but Taquan Simington was very impressive last night. An elite athlete, the combo guard had a knack of turning his irritating style of defense into easy points on offense in transition. Simington is lethal in the open court where he showcases his phenomenal leaping ability and blazing speed driving to the hoop.
Simington was easily one of the best guard athletes I had the opportunity to see over the best two days. At the very least he is worth low D2 attention as a potential lead ball handler stopper.
Elijahjuan Burke G 5’10” Africentric ’21
The host school put on a show in their win against Linden McKinley. While I could have chose a few other players that were much more box score friendly, Burke deserves a ton of credit. The Sophomore showed an all around skillset for a lead guard. He is a fast lead guard that can create his own shot, but is also very unselfish on the offensive end of the floor. He was able to make quick simple reads in Africentric’s halfcourt offense. Burke also did a phenomenal job on the defensive end handling Linden’s lead ball handler.
As a potential two way guard, Burke still has plenty of time to prove himself throughout the City League. However, I do think everyone will realize that he is one of the better underclassmen prospects to keep an eye on over the next few years.