Run N Slam: Saturday Superlatives
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A look at the top Saturday performers from the Bill Hensley Run N Slam in Fort Wayne. Broken down by individual skill sets. Best Scorer– Trey McKenney 6–4 2025 Orchard Lake St Mary’s (MI) (pictured) Like a lot of elite players in…
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Continue ReadingA look at the top Saturday performers from the Bill Hensley Run N Slam in Fort Wayne. Broken down by individual skill sets.
Best Scorer– Trey McKenney 6–4 2025 Orchard Lake St Mary’s (MI) (pictured) Like a lot of elite players in younger classifications. McKenney is physically advanced. Just bigger, faster, and stronger than most of his peers. But one thing always stands out to me when I watch him—that is not what makes him an elite player. Has a complete scoring arsenal already. Uses a tight handle to get to his spots. Has variety of Olajuwon-esque spin moves and pivots that he uses to get his shot off. Has a soft touch and shoots a high percentage. Very rarely will you see him just lower shoulder and try and bully ball a defender. Now don’t get wrong he will definitely do that if he needs to. It’s just not the first or second thing in his bag of tricks. Game recognizes game. On more than one instance I heard an opposing coach encouraging his team. With something along the lines of “there’s not much you can do that about that.” Because frankly that’s the truth. Due to the diversity in McKenney’s attack. You just have to hope the shot isn’t falling.
Best Transition Threat– Dailyn Swain Dailyn Swain 6'7" | SF Africentric | 2023 State #81 Nation OH 6-6 2023 Columbus Afrocentric (OH) Cheating a little bit on this one. I didn’t actually see Swain play on Saturday. But what I saw on Friday night merits mention. Swain kicked off the tournament with a big dunk in the post early in the contest. However as the game opened up in the second half. He showed what makes him an elite national recruit. Simply electric in transition. Is a long strider so he has a built in head start on his opponents. But what caught me eye was the ability to change direction. Did it both with the dribble and with an assortment of loping euro steps. Finishes off the package with length and explosive leaping ability. Gets to the rim quickly and knows what to do with it. Easy to see why is trending towards being a top 50 national recruit.
Best Ball Handler– Tayshawn Bridges 6-2 2024 Milwaukee Academy of Science (WI) If I wanted to be really lazy I could sum up this prospect with one word— BOUNCE. Every part of his game simply bounces. The obvious one is vertical bounce. Had several highlight reel dunks (and missed dunks) in Saturday night action. But I’m putting him here as a ball handler. He easily gets to wherever he wants to go off the bounce. He is not a small point guard prospect by any means. So if he wants to go the elbow. He’s getting to the elbow. The Mac Irvin Fire did do a decent job of sending multiple defenders at him. Forcing him to find open teammates. That is probably your best recourse. Too much speed, power, and precision in his handle to try and stop him one on one.
Best Post Prospect- Austin Parks Austin Parks 6'9" | C St. Mary's Memorial | 2023 State #166 Nation OH 6-9 2023 St Mary’s Memorial (OH) If you needed a template for an old school Big 10 big. Here it is. Parks has thick frame with a wide lower body. He seeks out contact in the post. And has no problem finishing through it. Appears to be well schooled in how to play in both pick and roll and pick and pop situations. Able to finish easily at the rim with explosion that you would not expect from his frame. Let’s not forget this is the 21st century. So he’s not going to spend all his time on the block. Has touch out the three point line with a smooth and easy release. Ohio St is getting a good one in Parks.
Best Potential– Flory Bidunga Flory Bidunga 6'9" | C Kokomo | 2024 State #7 Nation IN 6-10 Kokomo (IN) While you could argue Parks is close to a finished post product. Bidunga just oozes long term potential. I don’t know how long the Congolese product has been playing the game. As there are times it looks like he trying to figure things out. However most of time it’s opponents trying to figure out how to keep him off the glass. Has elite lateral quickness and simply beat his defenders down the court numerous times Saturday against the Illinois Wolves. Quick second jump allowed him to basically play volleyball on the glass. Getting multiple offensive rebounds in a trip. To use another “sports” analogy. At times it looked he was playing “Nerf” ball. Would snatch a pass and turn and dunk with no power dribble or gather step. Like your big brother did on the Nerf hoop in your room. Showed elite body control and hands by catching some very difficult passes in transition. Not a household name nationally. But is having a huge grassroots season with Indiana Elite. The national accolades should be coming soon.
Best Duo– Trent Sisley Trent Sisley 6'8" | PF Heritage Hills | 2025 State #47 Nation IN 6-7 2025 Heritage Hills (IN) and Jalen Haralson Jalen Haralson 6'7" | PG La Lumiere | 2025 #8 Nation IN 6-7 2025 Fishers (IN) My colleague and Indiana native Brandon Ramsey touched on this in his Friday notebook. So let me just add an amen to his comments. It goes without the saying that this is a big time elite field of talent. Surprisingly the two of the more dominant performers in the 2024 bracket are not even 2024’s. Sisley was dunking everything in sight on Saturday night. He wasn’t doing this against an overmatched first day pool play opponent. This was against one of the better long term post prospects in the state of Michigan. Ran the court with speed and purpose. Showed above average ball skills for his size. Has the look of a special prospect. Haralson is no stranger to playing up an age group. Did it last year with Team Teague on the Prep Hoops Circuit. I worried then that he might have too physically advanced for his age. Allowing for others to catch up later. Consider that foolish. One year later. He looks like an even better athlete. Seems have added an inch or two and filled out his frame. The skills are already there in full measure. Can play inside and out. Sees the court well and is a good passer. Like Sisley has the look of special prospect.
Best Clutch Performance– Jordan Briggs Jordan Briggs 6'0" | PG Muskegon | 2023 State MI 6-0 2023 Muskegon Scouts love to note traits you can’t coach. One of them is confidence. Briggs showed thins in a big way in REACH’s thrilling buzzer beating victory over Team FVV (IL). With four seconds left his coach called a timeout. Briggs came to the bench shaking his head. Saying he didn’t need a pick to be set up and could get the winning basket on his own. Sure enough that’s exactly what he did. It was fitting that he did it off the dribble. Because that is strength of his game. A “ball on the string” type of ball handler. He knifed through the FVV full court pressure multiple times on Saturday. Beyond the final play. He really was the engine that led the huge comeback. Already the holds of few D2 offers. That could number could grow judging by who was under the basket for his Saturday performance.