VA Top 250 All Camp First Team
FREDERICKSBURG, VA — With the Prep Hoops Top 250 Expo officially in the books, the work begins for the staff. We will be providing comprehensive coverage from today’s event throughout the upcoming week. Today, we take a crack at making…
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Continue ReadingFREDERICKSBURG, VA — With the Prep Hoops Top 250 Expo officially in the books, the work begins for the staff. We will be providing comprehensive coverage from today’s event throughout the upcoming week. Today, we take a crack at making our All Camp Teams, with seven guys on the First Team to get started. It wasn’t easy with so many talented guys in the gym, and just because a guy didn’t make the team doesn’t mean he didn’t play well. With that being said, here’s our Prep Hoops VA Top 250 All Camp First Team.
Allen Strothers | 6’2” PG | Menchville 2021 (MVP)
Strothers gets the nod for MVP of the camp for the fact that it didn’t take long for people to realize how good he was and pick him up full court and send double teams his way, and he still was able to get the job done every time he stepped on the floor. With his incredibly long wingspan he was able to play at the rim and make plays on both ends of the floor, and he showed a ton of ability off the bounce to get in the lane and make plays for himself and others as well. He was able to score without being overly selfish, he competed on both ends and he relished in the attention he got when he started to get it going. He fits the camp setting perfectly and played to his strengths throughout the camp, and he’s a guy you can expect to see his recruitment pick up big time moving forward.
Andre Bottoms | 6’1” PG | Oscar Smith 2020
Another point guard from the 757 that stood out and was consistent throughout the camp, Bottoms showed a well rounded game and has a lot of poise and things at the point guard position you simply can’t teach. He changes pace really well, he makes others on his team better, he has the ability to finish in traffic with both hands and while he’s a streaky shooter he took good shots and made them at a good clip. He also stood out on the defensive end guarding the basketball and made life difficult for opposing ball handlers on the regular.
Dean Lockley | 6’1” G | Tandem Friends 2020
I said in a tweet that I wanted to apologize to Lockley for leaving him out of the new 2020 rankings, but after his performance at the camp there’s no way I’ll forget to put him in this year. He’s a well built guard that’s a natural athlete, he showed the ability to play both guard positions and he showed a solid scoring package that included a good midrange game and good finishing ability around the rim. He was consistent on both ends throughout the camp and scored it at a high clip, impressing a number of small college coaches that were in attendance.
Gilbert Brown | 6’0” PG | Menchville 2020
Brown is a guy who got on our radar earlier this summer, and he’s poised for a breakout year at Menchville alongside Strothers and a talented group at Menchville that will have a chance to compete for a state championship this year. He’s a natural athlete who was one of the quickest and fastest kids in attendance, and in a camp setting where most guys focus on getting their own on the offensive end he set the tone defensively by picking up full court and forcing a lot of turnovers. Offensively he’s a dual threat guy that is somewhat of a streaky scorer, but he had quite a few moments where he took the game over and scored in bunches. His stock should continue to rise as he seems like a hard working kid with the right mindset in the game.
Jordan Parham | 5’11” G | Huguenot 2020
One of the best shooters in attendance, Parham was lighting teams up from behind the arc both on and off the basketball, but he also showed more to his game that some people maybe didn’t know he had. He’s a shifty ball handler who changes directions well and was able to slither his way into the paint, and while he isn’t the biggest guy by any means he was still effective finishing in the midrange and finishing at the rim over bigger guys on the regular. He scored the ball well in bunches and took good shots, and he also showed that he was a better athlete than many give him credit for.
Marcus Banks | 6’3” WG | Bethel 2021
Another one of the top shooters in attendance, Banks is known by many as one of the top shooters in the whole state and it was on display as he shot the ball at a very high rate all throughout the camp. He’s a guy who understands spacing very well and is able to run to his spots in transition and knows where to drift, cut or move to on drives to be able to get open and show his quick release and deep range off the catch. He also showed some other stuff to his game such as his ability to go both ways off the bounce and finish around the rim with both hands. While we didn’t have stats available, I wouldn’t be surprised if Banks was one of the top scorers in the entire event.
DJ Slaughter | 6’1” PG | John Paul the Great 2020
Slaughter is a name that I knew well coming into the event but hadn’t seen much live, and he thoroughly impressed me with his vast skill set and good knowledge of the game at the point guard position. He’s a strong kid with a solid frame that he uses well around the basket to finish, he’s a guy who’s able to score the basketball at all three levels and while he can go get it he is far from selfish and makes good decisions both on drive and kicks and in the pick and roll situations. He’s a crafty kid who’s able to get in the lane at will and doesn’t try to do too much, playing to his strengths and getting it done on both ends of the floor.