Hoop Group Spring Jam Fest Notebook
In this article:
Over the weekend the Hoop Group held their annual Spring Jam Fest at Spooky Nook Sports in Manheim, Pa. It was a tremendous way to kick off the AAU season after missing its entirety last year due to the pandemic.…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingOver the weekend the Hoop Group held their annual Spring Jam Fest at Spooky Nook Sports in Manheim, Pa. It was a tremendous way to kick off the AAU season after missing its entirety last year due to the pandemic. As usual, there was nonstop basketball from Friday to Sunday. I attended the Saturday session and will be supplying a notebook of my findings.
Team BBC 16U Intriguing Prospects
I started my day catching Team BBC 16U in large part to check up on the progression of 2024 forward Gabe Grant. Grant played his freshman season at McDonogh and gives scouts/coaches plenty of intrigue due to his size and length at 6-foot-9. The southpaw showed improvement in his approach as a scorer around the rim and was more aggressive than I remember. Grant is still extremely raw as a prospect, but I’ll be keeping an eye on his progress this summer as he has all of the tools to become a legitimately coveted prospect long term.
Grant’s teammate, 2023 guard Tyler Pelky, had a productive outing in the early morning game I attended. It was my first time seeing the 6-foot-3 combo guard in action after hearing good things about his game. His release has a slight hitch, but Pelky was letting it fly well beyond the arc and connecting at a decent rate. He also had a few nice pull up jumpers in the mid-range after attacking the closeouts. While he isn’t the quickest player on the floor, Pelky competes hard on the defensive end guarding the ball and held his own against smaller, shifty guards.
A newcomer to the Baltimore area playing on this BBC team is 5-foot-10 guard Jordan Malmlov. He mainly played off the ball and used his smooth jumpshot to make his presence felt from three. Malmlov nailed five triples in the game I watched and wasn’t shy about getting shots up. All of his attempts were within the flow of the offense and unforced. I didn’t see him do much off the bounce, but he didn’t have to considering he was helping his team stretch the floor and making the defense pay for any slow rotations. Malmlov told me that he is still undecided on where he’ll attend high school, but from other sources I’ve heard Archbishop Spalding could be in the driver’s seat for the 2023 prospect.
Team Thrill 16U Impresses
Team Thrill’s 16U played up in the 17U bracket and looked dominant until playing the eventual champion in Team Spartans (who is loaded with high caliber Division I prospects). Quite a few players caught my eye from this team.
Quite possibly one of the favorite players from the weekend was 2023 Daniel ‘DJ’ Dormu. Dormu is a 5-foot-8 guard who is the definition of gritty and tough-nosed. He is the floor general that his Thrill team needs as he’s someone who supplies relentless ball pressure, pushes the pace in transition any time he can and gets the team set up in the half court. Dormu was fearless on his takes to the rim and is no stranger to contact on the way. Whenever Dormu was out of the game, this Thrill team wasn’t as dominant and he’ll be a big piece to their success as the UAA Circuit looms closer.
I had a chance to see 2024 guard Malachi Palmer Malachi Palmer 6'6" | SF Mt. Zion Prep | 2024 #53 Nation MD for the first time live and he didn’t disappoint. What first caught my eye was how fluid his jumper is from extended range. He has great mechanics, gets textbook rotation on his release and showed that he can hit off the catch with regularity. Palmer poses great size for his position at 6-foot-5 and has athleticism to finish above the rim in transition or off cuts in the half court. As he develops over time, look for him to become more comfortable with the ball operating off the dribble. Once that happens, I could see him being a handful for any defender to contain.
2024 forward Derik Queen Derik Queen 6'9" | PF Montverde Academy | 2024 State #18 Nation FL didn’t take long to display his elite vision as a passer. On Thrill’s first possession he caught the ball at the top of the key and zipped a pass to a cutting Cortez Johnson Cortez Johnson 6'7" | PF St. Frances | 2022 State MD in a window only high-level players could fit it in. His ability to read the defense and anticipate when his teammates will be open off of cuts is second to none. The 6-foot-8 forward also made plays in transition for himself and finished around the rim consistently.
Speaking of Johnson, he impressed many scouts who hadn’t seen him play this season. Currently in the 2022 class, it’s expected that Johnson will join the 2023 class sooner rather than later. The 6-foot-7 forward is extremely versatile and his athleticism continues to improve over time. He had impressive dunks over defenders, moves constantly without the ball to put himself in scoring position and rebounded at a high rate.
It was good seeing 2023 guard Mike Williams Mike Williams 6'3" | CG Bishop Walsh | 2023 State #141 Nation MD back in a Thrill uniform alongside talented players. It allowed Williams to play off the ball as he and Palmer feasted in transition filling the lanes and finishing at the rim. Williams was active in passing lanes as a defender and caused a handful of deflection that helped spark fastbreak opportunities that led to scores.
Team STAT 17U Always Finds A Way
While Team STAT didn’t win their bracket, they always find a way to earn quality wins throughout their weekends in the Hoop Group events.
It’s looking like Jao Ituka Jao Ituka 6'2" | SG Gaithersburg | 2021 MD will reclass and become a 2022 prospect, which should boost his stock overall. The 6-foot-2 combo guard never fails in putting on a show and making those around him better. He isn’t the fastest player on the floor, but his quick twitch ability off his first step allows him to get by the quickest defenders almost every single time. Once he gets into the paint, Ituka can finish by way of floater, strong layups through contact or pull-up jumpers. While he tends to fall into being a tunnel vision scorer at times (his team needs him to in order to win), he’s shown the awareness of finding open teammates based off the defensive rotations. Most importantly, Ituka is a winner and that’s the style of basketball he plays. He’s an elite rebounder for a guard and does plenty of things that don’t show up in the box score to put his team in striking position against almost any team.
2022 forward Dauoda Dembele was terrific in their win over PPA Broncos. The Broncos had a distinct height advantage over STAT and considering Dembele is his team’s tallest player at 6-foot-6, before tip-off it looked as if it’d be a long game for STAT. That was until Dembele dominated his matchup against a 6-foot-9 center and a 6-foot-8 forward off the Broncos’ bench. Not only did Dembele hold things down on the glass, he was getting deep catches in the paint after establishing position and finishing over the shoulder hooks with soft touch. He’s a work horse that alongside Ituka, keeps STAT in games against high-caliber competition.
2021 Jamal Ikaegbu had a few impressive plays that will circle the internet for some time. The biggest dunk he had came against PPA Broncos after Ikaegbu stole the ball at half court. The opposing 6-foot-8 big challenged him at the rim, but Ikaegbu’s explosion, athleticism and length at 6-foot-7 catapulted him over the defender for a two-handed flush that made the gym ignite. He also had a one-handed dunk in traffic over a defender in their win against Team Final Black.
Global Squad Shows Upside
Global Squad always seems to court a solid roster with quality talent and they did so again this spring/summer for their 17U team.
2022 Cesar Tchilombo Cesar Tchilombo 6'8" | C John Carroll | 2022 MD picked up where he left off this winter after helping lead John Carroll to a BCL title thanks to his dominant presence on the glass and being a consistent threat as a shot-blocker around the rim. He checked out in both areas when I watched him on Saturday on top of having a couple of baseball-style outlet passes that traveled the full length of the floor to streaking teammates for easy buckets. It’s hard not to enjoy watching Tchilombo play just because of the outstanding energy he provides on both ends.
2022 point guard Kyle Gaskins Kyle Gaskins 6'1" | PG Coolidge | 2022 State MD is a fun watch on this team because of the balance he brings as a scorer and distributor. In transition, Gaskins was pushing the ball and snaking his way to the rim for finishes, but when operating in a half court setting, he was setting up teammates for clean looks. He did a nice job defensively both on and off the ball as well.
Next to Gaskins in the backcourt is 2023 Solomon Ball Solomon Ball 6'3" | CG Brewster Academy | 2023 State #106 Nation NLG . Ball is a legit 6-foot-3 now and seems to be gaining significant confidence in his overall game. He’s a smooth operator off the bounce and with Gaskins handling much of the primary ball-handling duties, it allows Ball to be more aggressive as a scorer. He broke his matchup down off the dribble, got to his spots in the mid-range and cashed in after creating separation. Ball also took advantage from deep off kick-out passes.
Kirispuu Is A Diamond In The Rough
My colleague Adam Ayalew found me in the gym and told me to watch 2021 combo guard Johannes Kirispuu for 6th Man Warriors as they were set to play Team Spartans. Adam raved about his style of play and as soon as the ball tipped I could tell why. Kirispuu is 6-foot-2 and was giving the opposing guards (all of which are Division I prospects) a handful. He was effective in ball-screen situations where he found driving lanes and finished soft-touching floaters over the extended arm of 7-foot-1 Donovan Clingan. He had a pass in transition that he made from half court where he threw a bounce pass off the live dribble through a window that even Adam or I didn’t see there. It was timed perfectly as his teammate appeared, caught the ball and had an easy layup despite being contested. Kirispuu at this point is an absolute steal and a prospect that can come in from day one and produce as a freshman especially at the Division III level.
Burnett shines for PPA
Despite coming up short in their game against Team STAT, it was clear that 2021 guard Marcus Burnett is a gifted scorer. He also boasts great size at 6-foot-6. It’s unknown if he’ll remain in the 2021 class, but if he were to reclass to 2022, he’d be an extremely intriguing prospect for Division I programs. Burnett scored 26 points in the loss and scored just about whenever he wanted from all three levels. He’s a crafty operator in isolation scenarios and applied pressure on the rim in transition as a driver.
Greene Runs The Show For Team Final Black
2022 point guard Drew Greene was a prospect that caught my eye right away thanks to his command as a floor general. He didn’t light up the scoring column, but the 6-foot-1 point guard consistently made the right basketball play and made other players around him better. His teammates struggled to convert on open shots that he created for them, but the fact that he never got frustrated and continued making the high IQ play speaks to his approach. Greene was also extremely gritty as a defender and caused multiple turnovers in the full game that I saw him play in.
Clingan Is The Goods
2022 Team Spartans center Donovan Clingan is regarded as a top 10 player at his position nationally and he showed why on Saturday. The 7-foot-1 big man from Bristol, Connecticut scored whenever he wanted to on his post touches, but it wasn’t his dominant scoring prowess that impressed me most. It was his willingness as a passer and vision to locate weakside shooters of slashing cutters with pinpoint passes when he was facing double teams. In a lot of ways, Clingan mirrors former DeMatha big Hunter Dickinson Hunter Dickinson 7'2" | C DeMatha | 2020 State #50 Nation MD , except I would argue Clingan is more mobile and agile than Dickinson at this point. It’s safe to say that Clingan has all the tools to eventually make a lot of money playing this game.