Drill Work Friday Afternoon at NCAA Basketball Academy-Midwest
Friday afternoon I caught intense drillwork from four of the Tennessee campers. Read about their performances in this very prestigious event. For what it is worth, players are grouped together somewhat haphazardly into teams. The drill within their team and…
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Continue ReadingFriday afternoon I caught intense drillwork from four of the Tennessee campers. Read about their performances in this very prestigious event. For what it is worth, players are grouped together somewhat haphazardly into teams. The drill within their team and rotate throughout the gym. Both Friday and Saturday evening the teams compete against each other.
Their @PrepHoopsTN state ranking is listed to the left.
If you want to look at the complete 2020 rankings, smash here.
If you want to peruse the complete 2021 rankings, smash here.
The College Basketball Academy (NCAA) is in its first iteration. The Midwest portion, there are four academies nationwide, was divided into two sessions. This list focuses on Session II only. It will take place at the University of Illinois (Champaign, Illinois) and include players from all over the Midwest and for some reason South Carolina (ranking listed left of their name).
#20 Raymon Adams (Lipscomb Academy) 2021
Raymon was up-and-down Friday afternoon. He began really strong in 3-on-3 drills, but about 15 minutes later he made two small mistakes. So what? Well, for whatever reason he played his worst basketball of the day after those mistakes. Did he let them effect him? Don’t know. He played timid and unenthusiastic over the course of the next 10+ minutes. He made a nice deflection steal, but instead of attacking the rim and putting away the bucket he gingerly approached the tin and a shorter, hungrier guard completely whacked away his layup attempt. No reason for it.
Raymon is taller and more athletic than most players. He just has to be more consistently hungry in traffic. Still can’t decide if he is a tall wing or a face-up forward. Adams’ played much better later.
NA Lucas Brown Jr. (Red Bank) 2020
Incredible junior season. Red Bank High loves him. Stands about 6-foot-1. At this event he was pretty small relative to the competition. Maybe that is because his team has two 6-foot-7 players, haha. Brown Jr. is naturally quick. He is learning a lot and it appears many of these drills are new to him…not a judgement…just an observation. Brown Jr. improved a lot from the first run through a drill to the second. Clearly, he was absorbing the intricacies as he moved along. Need to get a much deeper read on him during team play.
#128 Ben Knight (Lakeway Christian Academy) 2020
Ben Knight is all of 6-foot-7. He might be taller. His muscle is much better than it was 6 months ago. Still a slender player, Knight is not getting bumped off his spot quite as much as before. There is something there with Ben. Level is still really, really unclear though. Need to watch him shoot more and rebound in the flow of fullcourt action. Likes to learn. Coachable.
#53 Daniel Loos (Clarksville Academy) 2020
Strengths and weaknesses in Daniel Loos’ game are glaring. Technical player. Nice feet. Doesn’t have shooting range like a scoring guard should.
Still concerning how much more comfortable Loos is inside of 8′. He looks more like a perimeter defender than he did in November 2018, but his outside attack is just not impressive. Loos intends to improve his outside shot. He clearly works on it in practice and during the off-season. It just isn’t where it needs to be. The perimeter defense is his greatest area of growth. He is also slightly more bouncy than he used to be. Don’t consider him an “above-the-rim” player, but he can rebound against guards and hunts misses with an encouraging passion.
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