Baltimore Hoops Festival: Standout Bigs
We continue our coverage and breakdowns from the Baltimore Hoops Festival held at St. Frances Academy this past Saturday as we take a look at some standout forwards and centers. John Ojiako | Farragut Academy ’20 At 6-foot-10,…
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Continue ReadingWe continue our coverage and breakdowns from the Baltimore Hoops Festival held at St. Frances Academy this past Saturday as we take a look at some standout forwards and centers.
John Ojiako | Farragut Academy ’20
At 6-foot-10, Ojiako was by far the tallest player on the floor as his team faced off against Boys’ Latin. Although they came up short by a score of 66-61, Ojiako showed progress from the last time we saw him in the summer. He’s always been able to catch and finish strong over the rim, but he showed hints of a jumper from 8-10 feet. At his size, he already has great athleticism. If he can adapt a floor game more into his repertoire, it’ll increase his stock immensely. Ojiako finished with 10 points and was an effective presence on the glass.
Jake Nichols | Boys’ Latin ’20
Nichols had a tall task (literally) matching up against Ojiako. Nichols is just 6-foot-6, but plays with a great motor and is able to stretch the floor with his jump shot, forcing Ojiako to cover a lot of ground. He finished with eight points, but two of his shots came off of pick-and-pop situations. His foot was on the three-point line for one of them, but in both scenarios, Ojiako couldn’t recover quick enough after hedging the guard to contest Nichols’ shot. This is where he can be effective. He also did his job of playing with great strength and doing what he could to limit Farragut to one-shot possessions.
Elijah Rantin | Mervo ’20
Rantin was arguably the most impressive big on Saturday as he finished with 21 points that included a handful of dunks from dump-off passes. Rantin has made drastic improvement since the summer on his footwork and overall coordination. At 6-foot-9, if he can keep developing his overall game, Division I programs will start tracking him. He is still a very raw prospect, but has the length to turn into a productive player at the next level.
Makhel Mitchell | Wilson ’19
Mitchell began his work early against St. Frances before his team slacked to eventually lose 77-51. He caught the ball on the block and was a brute as he power dribbled and turned over either shoulder toward the rim. Wilson had a distinct height advantage due to the Mitchell twins, and they let that be known with their shot-blocking and scoring presence inside the paint. Mitchell finished with 13 points.
Jason Murphy | St. Frances ’19
Murphy had the duties of matching up against either Mitchell twin throughout the course of the game. Where he made his impact was crashing the defensive glass aggressively and helped swing momentum toward the Panthers with two big finishes as a trailer in transition. He finished with seven points, but did plenty of things that don’t show up in the box score to help his team get the emphatic win.