The Spring Showdown came to an interesting conclusion Sunday with no clear champions in any divisions. With a very large field of teams, pool play was forced to be played through Saturday night. Therefore, tournament play did not begin until Sunday. Some teams even played pool games on Sunday morning, which meant there was no way to finish the tournament before the time that it had to end due to NCAA rules.
Eric Gordon 17’s finished the gold bracket without a lose as did the Eric Gordon 16’s. In the 15’s, the Spiece Indy Heat 2015 group also finished without losing a tournament game. I guess you count those teams as at least co-champions? I’m not exactly sure.
Here is our report of the final day of the Spring Showdown plus a few overall impressions from the tournament.
Best Tournament Performers
Devin Davis 6’6†SF/PF Warren Central 2013 (Indiana commit) had an outstanding weekend. He was a work horse for the Eric Gordon 2013 group. His rebounding was thoroughly impressive. Every time there was a shot missed in the intense battle between the Illinois Wolves, Davis would get go the rebound. He was also very good scoring over and through people inside. He is strong and athletic with good body control. He had the play of the tournament if Cliff Alexander didn’t do what he did Saturday night. Davis jumped for a fast break pass, while in the air he got the lone defender back to bite on a pass fake and once he came down from catching the pass, he took one dribble and pounded it home. Davis was also great defensively; he’ll be able to guard most small forwards in the Big Ten.
Mislav Brzoja 6’5†SG Trader’s Point 2012 had a great weekend in all phases of the game. He moves very well without the ball which leads to him getting a lot of easy baskets. He also plays the passing lanes and anticipates well on the defensive end. Brzoja is also a good outside shooter and shot it well this weekend. The weakness to his game is his lateral quickness, but he didn’t look as slow this weekend as I previously thought.
Cliff Alexander 6’9†PF Curie (IL) 2014 might have made the list even if he did not shatter a backboard Saturday night, but it definitely sealed his place. He is a player that can truly go “beast mode†and do whatever he wants at this level. He moves well both running the floor and laterally. Plus, he can hit a 15-footer with consistency. Alexander was very impressive.
Here are notes and evaluations for 15 other players from Sunday. Like we noted in our Day 2 report, we concentrated on 2013 and 2014 players this weekend. Next weekend will be dedicated to 2015 players.