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.
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2013
Grassroots Indiana-2013
Antonio Penny 6'1" PG Logansport 2013-Penny is extremely quick, explosive around the rim and finishes plays. He is also a really good passer. His downside is his shooting ability. He struggles shooting from the outside.
Sean Howard 5'9" PG Lawrence North 2013- Howard was one of the top performers all weekend long. He shoots it well from the outside. Plus, he is quick enough to get past his defender then he makes good decisions when help comes over. I'm not sure he could overcome his height as the D1 level but could be really good at the D2/NAIA level.
Sawyer Glick 6'4" SG Columbus North 2013-Glick is a really smooth and consistent shooter. He can shoot off the dribble but he isn't going to create his own shot. He is likely a step slow to be a low-major player.
James Volovic 6'1" CG Carmel 2013- His best ability is likely his on-ball defense. He can really get after it defensively full court. He is also a good spot-up shooter and can handle the ball. He could be a really nice player at the NAIA/D3 level.
2014
Spiece-Thompson
P.J. Thompson 5’9” PG Brebeuf 2014 was solid in the 3 games that I saw him. Two of those games were blow-outs against weak competition though. He is starting to get pretty strong in the upper body. Another thing that stood out was his floater. He scored on the floater in the lane consistently, which he will need since he is a good amount under 6-foot. He noted to us that he will attend Stanford and Butler elite camps this summer.
Meanstreets-Wilburn
Drake Harris 6’4” SG Grand Rapids Christian 2014-DNP the “championship game” but did play the game before so I am not sure why he did not play .
Matt Holba 6'6" CF Chesterton 2015-Holba looked timid against the athletes of Team Rose and even against Eric Gordon who doesn’t have as many big-time athletes. I'm not sure he is ready to play up a year against that competition.
Justin King 6'7" CF Bowman Academy 2014-King looks taller then he was last year and that is surpring because I thought he was done growing. He handled the ball much better than a year ago has well. I doubted that he could transition into being a true small forward but it looks like he will make the move smoothly. King attacked the rim from the perimeter consistently. He didn’t always finish but he got there with ease. He is a very good athlete that can explode with his first step. He shooting form looks much improved, but he didn’t shoot well against EG.
Darohn Scott 6'9" C Grand Rapids Christian 2014- Scott has really grown into his body, he's adding some muscle, and moving really well. He can explode around the rim. He had a huge tip-dunk off a stand-still jump against EG. He has a chance to be really good with his physical tools.
Cole Teal 6'3" SG Chesterton 2014-Teal is a pretty good looking athlete. He moves well laterally and seems to elevate decently. It also looks like he handles it pretty well. He is best known for his shooting ability as he shot over 40% from 3 this high school season. He is a player for D1’s to keep an eye on.
Tye Wilburn 5'11" PG Lake Central 2014-Wilburn wasn’t very productive in the match-up against EG. He is a quick point guard that can also stroke it from the outside. Overall, I like his game but today was not his best showing.
Eric Gordon 2014
I have seen the EG 2014 a lot so far this spring and have written about their players in fairly length detail compared to most teams. So, I don’t want to write too much about them again but I did want to mention a few things.
Sean Sellers 6'5" SF Greensburg 2014-Sellers had a very productive weekend. He was consistently the team’s leading scorer or second highest scorer. Justin King did win the individual match-up against him in the “championship game”. King had the advantage off his first step and his strength. The biggest thing separating the two is the strength factor though. Down the road, I can see Sellers winning that match-up.
Bryant McIntosh 6’3” SG Greensburg 2014 and Jacob Johnson 6’5” SF Mooresville 2014 consistently played well this weekend. Johnson showed off his perimeter shooting more and more this weekend. He has a nice stroke from the outside. McIntosh played well each time I watched EG, but I did hear that he had some off shooting games. He can still be productive when he doesn’t shoot it well though mainly with his passing ability. {/iACL}
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