Centennial State Grandstand Day 1 MVP’s
The Centennial Grandstand opened up the live period portion with head-to-head games with some of the best talent in Colorado and various other states going at it in a showcase. Teams were talented and broken up giving everyone the opportunity…
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Continue ReadingThe Centennial Grandstand opened up the live period portion with head-to-head games with some of the best talent in Colorado and various other states going at it in a showcase. Teams were talented and broken up giving everyone the opportunity to show what they have. Here are the MVP’s on the day.
Kobe Sanders—Chapparal
Sanders is one of the smoothest players in the state with the ability to stop on a dime and pull up for a three-pointer in transition with the defender still swaying back from the move. He plays under control and sees the floor well. He excels in pick and rolls and scored at ease on the day. I do want to see more of him facilitating, but his ability to standout and scoring no matter the different looks he got stood out.
Ty Robinson—Eaglecrest
Robinson finds a way to score in every single way. He had his typical allotment of baskets in the paint rather that was dunks or finishes but he was also able to get his shots to fall which made it that much more difficult to defend him. Masked Robinson was a man on a mission and was successful in proving that he is here to stay at top dog in the state.
Jalen Weaver-Smoky Hill
I saw as much as I had to see in the showcase to make the case for Weaver as a top two player in the class. He is special. He is very smooth, almost to the point that it is nonchalant and as if he is not trying. Some prospects have the ability to score whenever they want and he did just that so much to the point that I think he started trying to challenge himself in different ways. Although he played a ton off ball for his high school he was the primary ball-handler and played the facilitator role on the day. Weaver reigns supreme with his athletic ability with countless fast break dunks, knocked down three-pointers to show that he is versatile in his efforts and also played with intensity on the defensive end of the floor as well. Weaver lived up to the hype that has been surrounding him this summer and I am excited to see what the final day holds for him.
Dominique Clifford—Vanguard
Based on the showcase alone, send Clifford his 3A player of the year award, an invitation to ‘The Show’ and countless more Division 1 offers his way as all of them are inevitable at this point. Clifford does what he wants, when he wants and that was on display at the showcase. He had maybe the highlight of the weekend already when he put a big man in the paint on a ferocious dunk that left the gym in a frenzy. What’s best about his game is he just gets back on defense and is ready for the next play, he is not excited, he is not shocked, it just appears to be another day at the office for him. Clifford is a springy wing player that is versatile enough to play inside or out. He was playing the role as a primary ballhandler on the day which was a bit shocking as he was on the team with 5A championship MVP guard Christopher Speller. He can knock down shots, he plays solid team defense and he is a very unselfish player that division 1 colleges have been gushing about – count me in on that bandwagon.
Javonte Johnson—Cheyenne Mountain
Johnson is a different type of player as despite him being one of the most gifted players in the showcase and in an All-Star mentality driven situation he plays with a chip on his shoulder and with an edge to him. He is still playing full court defense and making the offensive player work for every single basket. He went and finished two easy baskets at the rim and knocked down a shot but got upset on his one miss and he is also attacking the defense despite there being double and triple teams coming his way. He has seen it all and plays a mature style of play. He is a high IQ basketball player that has good size and a change of pace on the offensive end. At the showcase he played with a different type of tenacity and he is an athletically gifted player that has it all. He is appearing to get better and every division 1 in the region should have their eyes on him with that quickly expanding.
Owen Koonce – Centaurus
Owen got to his hot spots and made the defense pay all day as he is a versatile big man that makes it difficult on the opposition as he is too strong for the smaller guys but too quick for the big guys. He has really good footwork and an everlasting motor as he simply does not allow others to outwork him. He stepped up to a few challenges on the day as I wondered how he would do against the other talented bigs and held his own by rebounding at a high rate and scoring at ease on the block. Early in the day there was a point that Koonce went for seven straight points to get his team a comfortable lead and he made sure the attack was balanced. He kept up that intensity all day and was a standout on the day.
Ike Graham—Overland
Graham is a man amongst boys. Everything he does just comes easy and if his team wanted to throw it down there to him to score every possession he probably could have. In a setting like this it would be easy to feed it to the big man every single time and clear the way and watch him score but Graham made sure to get others involved. He is an above average back to the basket scorer that has a good feel for where he is on the floor. He has a nice sky hook the he actually uses to free himself up, he is great in feeling the double-team and either making a move or passing to the open spot and on the defensive end there are not many shots going up his way that he is not going to block. Graham is one of the state’s best big men and it was on display at the showcase as he made game impacting plays from the beginning. Division 1 schools are starting to notice Graham and I am expecting plenty more to get acquainted with the big man as he continues on his dominant summer tear.