Prospect Spotlight: Darius Allen (2019)
Darius Allen inherits a style of play that gets overlooked on the basketball court. He possesses a style of play that’s simple, and not hard to understand.
He has an old man’s game, with the size of a typical shooting guard (6-foot-3, 175 pounds). Allen’s style of play has a simple formula. He’s not flashy with the basketball. He plays defense, and rebounds on both ends of the court. Most importantly, he doesn’t rush any of his shots. The Jefferson County High School product prefers to wait for the right opportunity to score.
Allen, who’s a shoot-first guard, has only one more year to perfect his game enough to give a school a solid portfolio of the type of guard it will get. From some of his highlights, Allen is a smart basketball player. He seems to understand his position on the court, and knows when it’s his time to be the offensive showstopper.
In the 28th Hardee’s Basketball Classic at David Crockett High School last season, Allen led the Patriots with 14 points in the 63-62 win over Morristown. He was named the tournament’s most outstanding player.
The most intriguing aspect of Allen’s game is his unselfishness with the basketball. Even though he’s a shooting guard, he doesn’t force himself to be the offensive machine night in and night out. He can either score from the outside or use his size to overpower defenders in the paint.
The great thing about Allen is that he uses the entire court to find his sweet spots.
“I’m a 3-point shooter, but if my shot isn’t falling, I can drive, too,” Allen said.
Allen is a left-handed guard, just like his favorite basketball player James Harden, but admits he’s still working on perfecting his outside game.
“That’s a work in progress,” Allen said.
Allen can shoot from 3-point range, and some of his 3-point attempts fall when he’s all alone on the wing or in a corner, with no defender in sight. He mentioned he has to get better at getting a shot off on the dribble, and perfect his ball handling skills.
But, one attribute Allen possesses that will carry him a long way is his leadership skills. He grew into that role as a junior, and has since gotten comfortable with it.
“As a junior, I took more responsibility with the scoring, and more of a leadership role,” Allen said. “I just tried to attack more and score.”
Allen likes to think of himself as a playmaker, and has the perfect mindset of what it will take to play college basketball.
“I think I can play multiple positions, and just come in and do whatever the coach tells me to do.”
Allen doesn’t have any offers at the moment, but he’s looking to go to East Tennessee State. The other schools Allen is interested in are Maryville College, Covenant College, Virginia Military Institute, Marietta College, Bryan College, and Citadel.