Border League: California Standouts (Part I)
Last weekend’s Border League event featured many of the top programs on the west coast with state representation from teams in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and more. Games from the highest division, the Top Flight Division, were featured on…
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Continue ReadingLast weekend’s Border League event featured many of the top programs on the west coast with state representation from teams in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and more. Games from the highest division, the Top Flight Division, were featured on ESPN 2 Sunday with the title game resulting in IMG Academy defeating Coronado (NV) led by University of Texas-commit Tamar Bates and highly-regarded center Moussa Diabate.
The California representation featured two CIF Southern Section Open Division-caliber teams, which were not able to go by official school names due to the event being out of season, including “Big Red” based out of Santa Ana and “Husky Nation” based out of Corona. Other SoCal based programs included “Eagle Select,” “San Diego Falcons,” “MoVal Mustangs,” and “NC Mavs,” among others.
In this piece we take a look at some of the California based players who put together strong efforts during the Border League event.
Nathan Bittle Nathan Bittle 6'11" | C Prolific Prep | 2021 State #20 Nation CA-N , Prolific Prep – Bittle, a five-star prospect committed to Oregon, relocated to Prolific Prep in Napa from Crater High in Oregon for his senior season and brought with him his versatile skill-set to Northern California. The 6-foot-11 center has inside-out scoring ability, is a fluid catch, gather and finisher in transition and can stretch the floor with touch to the three-point line. It will be interesting to watch how Bittle develops as an interior defender and rebounder this season and his freshman year at Oregon to maximize his full potential.
Kylan Boswell Kylan Boswell 6'2" | PG AZ Compass Prep | 2023 AZ , Husky Nation – Boswell made a splash at Colony high school during his freshman season before making the move over to Corona Centennial and his game is exactly what the Husky Nation needed. The 6-foot-1 point guard will be a fine perimeter scoring replacement for now-graduated Paris Dawson Paris Dawson 6'1" | PG Corona Centennial | 2020 State #356 Nation CA-S and teams with fellow 2023 guard Jared McCain Jared McCain 6'3" | PG Centennial | 2023 State #24 Nation CA-S to form one of the more potent scoring backcourts in SoCal. Boswell’s feel for the game is well beyond his years and his ability to balance scoring and facilitating while being able to play on or off the ball make him a ready-made high school guard.
Wilhelm Breidenbach Wilhelm Breidenbach 6'8" | PF Mater Dei | 2021 State #91 Nation CA-S , Big Red – Big Red was one of the eight teams in the Top Flight Division of this event and the recent Nebraska-commit showed why he should be a productive college player. The 6-foot-9, class of 2021 forward is as high motor as they get and that results in him being a high rate rebounder and effective rim runner in transition. What’s preparing Breidenbach most for the next level is the fact that he has to do a little bit of everything for Big Red to be successful. Breidenbach leads the break, reads the floor like a guard, finishes with both hands around the basket and he stretches the floor to the three-point line.
Chris Bunch Chris Bunch 6'7" | SG Wasatch Academy | 2022 State #74 Nation UT , Hillcrest Prep – Bunch, who attends high school at De La Salle in Concord (CA) joined the Arizona-based prep powerhouse for the Border League event and the 6-foot-6 wing didn’t disappoint. Bunch is a naturally gifted athlete with a combination of fluidity, long strides to cover ground, and vertical explosiveness. Aside from his athletic gifts, Bunch is a skilled perimeter prospect whose pull-up jump shot is as lethal as you’ll see at the high school level. Bunch has the ball skills and shiftiness to create his own shot within the offense or in isolation situations.
Fallou Cisse, Prolific Prep – Cisse started his high school career down in the San Diego area before a stop in Arizona and now at Prolific. The 6-foot-8 forward, whose committed to UC San Diego, will be a nice piece for a Tritons squad that will be in its second season as a Division I program upon his arrival to campus. Cisse is an active and high energy guy on both ends of the floor. He thrives as a versatile defender who can guard multiple spots, but also showed that his hands, feet and touch around the basket have all improved since the last time we saw him.