10 Best: Naperville North vs Naperville Central
Naperville North hosted rival Naperville Central on Tuesday night. From a prospect standpoint we were mostly looking forward to evaluating a pair of 2018 post prospects. Several other players emerged on our radar in the game and senior Mitch Lewis…
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Continue ReadingNaperville North hosted rival Naperville Central on Tuesday night. From a prospect standpoint we were mostly looking forward to evaluating a pair of 2018 post prospects. Several other players emerged on our radar in the game and senior Mitch Lewis stole the show! Naperville North got the 62-41 home win. Here we breakdown the prospects in our 10 Best: Naperville North vs Naperville Central.
MVP
SF Mitch Lewis (Naperville North – 2017)
Lewis is a 6’6” small forward that has been inconsistent throughout his career. We have seen him play really well and other times where you wouldn’t even remember him. Tuesday night was one of the best performances we have seen out of the senior. Lewis is a lefty that works best when he is attacking. Takes man off the bounce using his quickness and hesitation to get in the lane where he can score or make plays as a distributor. Plus passer for a wing that has a feel for finding teammates. Also was impressive working in the post with a couple spin moves and baseline drives. Struggled shooting it early in the game as he missed a lot of threes. Later on in the game he focused on his strengths more and dominated. He had 21 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 dimes. He is committed to Dayton for football.
Play of the game
The play of the game was when Mitch Lewis stole the ball and took it end to end for a big slam!
Best offensive performance
C Ben Wolf (Naperville Central – 2018)
Wolf is a 6’9” 215 pound center that currently sets at the #2 spot in the 2018 center rankings. He has great size and broad shoulders. Moves well for his size. Runs the floor and has solid mobility around the hoop. Wolf plays physical in the paint. Opens up wide when receiving the basketball on the block giving his guard a big target to throw the rock into. He makes quick moves with sound footwork on the block. Finishes most of the time with power. Wolf had a couple slams on dump off passes in the game. Can hit a short 10-15 foot jump shot. Great screener. Defensively he is a presence inside with his strength. Struggled a little when he was pulled out trying to defend the more perimeter oriented Mitch Lewis. Would have liked to seen him rebound at a higher rate in this game. Overall Wolf is one of the better posts in the class. He had 18 points, 3 rebounds, and 1 block. Should be looked at by low-major and potential mid-major programs.
Best defensive performance
PG Youcef Merabet (Naperville North – 2017)
Merabet is the intangible guy for this team. Tough defender that mixed in a few offensive plays hitting a three and scoring on a drive. He had 7 points. Small college prospect.
Best rebounder
PF Chris Johnson (Naperville North – 2018)
Johnson is a 6’7” power forward that plays with a non-stop motor! He is constantly moving and trying to make plays for his team. Johnson plays extremely physical down low. He is a tough defensive presence that had a pair of monster blocks and got his hand in passing lanes for a couple steals. He is an average athlete, but how hard he plays covers a lot of that up. He seeks contact on the interior. Had a sweet finish at the rim on a pick and roll where he showed his lateral mobility. Below average free throw shooter. Dropped a few bullet passes in the paint. As a passer he had a really nice high/low pass that his teammate converted. Rebounds well both in and out of his area. Chased a couple down out of his area in this one. This lefty is worth taking a look at for D2 programs looking to add some toughness inside. He had 5 points, 5 boards, 2 blocks, 2 steals, and 1 assist.
Best passer
Naperville North wing Mitch Lewis was the best passer in this contest from his point forward/wing position.
Best catch and shoot guy
SG Nick Kramer (Naperville Central – 2017)
Kramer only scored four points, but is intriguing. He has plus size at 6’6” with length and a projectable frame. Hit a corner three showing pure mechanics on his shot. Didn’t really get a ton of opportunities, but might be worth a look at the D3/NAIA level.
Best intangibles
SG Tyler Carlson (Naperville North – 2017)
Carlson is a 6’3” senior that scored on the interior. He converted on a backdoor cut, layup, and a slash off the bounce. Small college prospect had 6 points.
Best under-the-radar performance
PG Noah Swope (Naperville Central – 2017)
Swope is a 5’10” point guard that has good speed in transition. He had a few slippery drives to the hoop in transition. Also hit a pull up jumper. Finished with 8 points. Small college kid.
Best underclassmen
PF Thomas Welch (Naperville North – 2019)
Welch is a 6’5” sophomore with good length and should grow a little more. He is a solid athlete that displayed quickness around the hoop. Got on the offensive glass. Had an and-1. Ran the floor well. Bad free throw shooter. One to add to our radar!