What We Learned: TDIT
Unlike past years, I didn’t get the chance to watch all of the TDIT because of some scheduling conflicts and other games that were going on, but I did get to watch almost every team (sorry Highland Springs and Armstrong,…
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Continue ReadingUnlike past years, I didn’t get the chance to watch all of the TDIT because of some scheduling conflicts and other games that were going on, but I did get to watch almost every team (sorry Highland Springs and Armstrong, I got you guys), and we learned some things. Here’s some info on the event and some of what we learned throughout it.
TDIT Champions: Collegiate School
TDIT Runner-Ups: Huguenot
TDIT All Tournament Team
Jordan Crump | 6’3” WG | Highland Springs 2019
Osmand Jones | 6’0” F | Huguenot 2020
Mac McDonald | 6’1” WG | Collegiate School 2021
Henry Coleman | 6’8” F | Trinity Episcopal 2020
Robbie Beran | 6’9” F | Collegiate School 2019 (MOP)
Henry Coleman Production Rate is Out of This World
If the Times Dispatch didn’t give the Most Outstanding Player to a guy on the winning team every year, Coleman would have run away with the award. The 6’7” combo forward has stepped into the go-to role and has hit the ground running, using the TDIT coverage to stamp his place as possibly the most productive guy in the state. If he keeps these numbers up there won’t be a question. In the first game, their loss to Huguenot, Coleman finished with an eye popping 38 points 21 rebounds. He followed that up 18 hours later with 25 points and 15 rebounds in a win over rival St. Christopher’s, and then followed that up with a 46 point 14 rebound outing in their win over Douglas Freeman. Coleman’s blend of physical strength, athleticism and high motor make him a monster on the offensive glass and he just refused to quit throughout the tournament. I’m not entirely sure about the tournament’s 24 year past, but his averages of 36.3 points and 16.6 rebounds has to put him somewhere in the record books.
Robbie Beran Taking Control at Collegiate
I’ve been front and center for the blowup of Robbie Beran this summer, and the Northwestern commit showed all of his ability with a 28 point 15 rebound showing in the championship win over Huguenot. One of the few things I have questioned about Beran in the past is whether or not he’s capable of being the go-to guy for his team, but he’s slowly starting to show that he’s capable of doing that. He came out of the gates aggressive, scoring Collegiate’s first seven points, and while he’s a guy who is comfortable on the perimeter and will likely play there in college, he used his size to his advantage against a smaller Huguenot team crashing the glass on both ends, posting up and attacking the rim hard off the bounce. He also was big on the defensive end with some big blocks and even those he didn’t block he altered with his length.
Parham, Fortune Snubbed from All Tournament Team
I know it’s hard for anyone who has to pick an All Tournament Team of five players in a tournament with eight teams. While I didn’t see all of the games as I stated before, it’s very hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I saw two dominant 30 point performances from two separate teams and neither of those kids made the All Tournament Team. This isn’t a slight at any of the kids who made the All Tournament Team, they all deserved it, but just hear me out here.
Huguenot junior guard Jordan Parham was held scoreless in the championship game against Collegiate, but that’s because the cat is out of the bag after his big time performance in their upset win over Trinity Episcopal in the first round. Parham poured in 34 points, hitting shots from all over the court and hitting big time shots down the stretch. Both the Armstrong and Collegiate defenses honed in on him and made him a focal point, but without him going off the way he did Huguenot isn’t even in the championship game and the tournament would have been much different.
In Douglas Freeman’s win over George Wythe in the second round consolation game, senior Michael Fortune was phenomenal as he went for 30 points, 9 rebounds and five assists. The 6’4” wing is far from flashy, but he has great fundamentals, plays the game the right way and finds ways to fill it up. He had one of the more impressive all-around games and was still left off the All Tournament Team.
George Wythe, St. Chris Both with Bright Futures
Both George Wythe and St. Chris both struggled in the tournament with Wythe beating St. Chris in the seventh place game after losing their first two games. However, the thing both teams have in common is youth. Neither team has more than one senior that plays meaningful minutes, and both have freshmen playing key roles with St. Chris having four they rotate in. They each have juniors in Ikechi Chantilou for GW and Gabe Jimmerson and Nigel Green for STC to help the young ones come along, but the biggest thing for both of these programs will be patience. Each coach showed teaching moments, with GW Head Coach Willard Coker pulling all of his starters early in the third quarter against Douglas Freeman and letting the bench play the rest of the game. If they stay the course and everyone buys in, both teams will look like totally different groups by the end of this year and will have promising teams next season.
Basketball in Richmond is Ever Changing
Sure we can talk about the fact that the TDIT was missing some of the best programs in the area in the likes of LC Bird, Varina, John Marshall, Hopewell and others, but if it showed anything it’s that things are always changing as far as basketball in the Richmond area. Trinity Episcopal was thought to be the favorite coming in but were upset by Huguenot, a team that wasn’t supposed to be as good as last year losing three of their biggest players. We mentioned Wythe and St. Chris both being young teams, but it seems like, if anything, the playing field is becoming more level and we can’t just expect what we’ve become used to over the past few years.