Jaylen Brown brings the ENERGY

-The player I enjoyed watching the most was Jaylen Brown (pictured above) from G3 Elite 16U. One thing you can’t coach is effort, and Brown truly does bring the effort when he's on the floor. He’s got the drive necessary to lead a team, and the will to win ballgames. This showed clearly in G3 Elite’s win against SC Focus.  At 6-3 he may be slightly undersized for a big, but that doesn’t stop his competitive nature. He scored 12 points but more impressively, he hustled for every 50/50 ball, applied tremendous defensive pressure in the paint, and showed great communication skills by being vocal. Brown’s buckets came from mostly low-post touches, but he made it evident that he wasn’t afraid to knock down the 15-foot jumper. 

Shooters Galore

-Quality shooters will never grow old. There were multiple players who had great shooting performances across the board. My favorite shooting performance of the day came from the combination of Justin Webb and Lior Berman(BJBC 17U) who combined for 10 threes in a win over Hoops 360. Webb tallied 6 threes for 18 total points. Berman finished with 22 points(4 made threes). Another playing who had a noteworthy outing was Caullin Bracey(Team EAB 16U). Bracey finished with 24 points in a matchup against Chattanooga Elite Navy, 18 of which came from 6 deep three-pointers. Also, Emontae Shannon of the Gainesville Stampede(17U) connected for 5 threes in an 18 point performance vs. BCB Black. 

Players who performed well in a loss

-Although their respective team’s lost, two players who caught my attention were Ashton Burley of Hoops 360(17U) and D’Angelo Riascos of TNBA South Select(17U). In a matchup against BJBC, Burley finished with 21 points. He was explosive off the dribble and he consistently used his speed to get in the paint for finishes around the basket. He also made sure to convert his free throw attempts when he got fouled. D’Angelo Riascos scored 25 of his team’s 48 points in a game against Chattanooga Elite Navy. Riascos scored every way possible in an attempt to keep his squad in the game. He knocked down shots from beyond the perimeter, dribble pull-ups in the midrange area, and he attacked the paint. He’s a player who can get a bucket at will.