Monday, February 23, 2015

Buckeye Prep Winter Showcase Recap

Jaydin Arnold, Taylor Bacon, Donte Ingram, Trent Lloyd & Shelby Humphrey
Despite the winter storm that had moved into the greater Cincinnati area on Saturday, die hard basketball fans made the trek to Woodward High School to participate in the inaugural Buckeye Prep Winter Showcase. Approximately 100 players participated in this 2-day event that attracted a number of talented players from the southwest area of the state. The event wrapped up on Sunday with a series of all-star games in three divisions.

One of the best players we saw on Saturday was one of the youngest players. Jaydin Arnold is a highly skilled 3rd grader with big game. He handles the rock superbly, and doesn’t mind sharing it with open teammates. He’s young, but this kid can really play.  We were also really impressed with Taylor Bacon (4th grade PG ), who like Arnold, has excellent ball handling skills.  Bacon is quick; is always in attack mode and can really score the ball. We plan to keep an eye on Donte Ingram Jr. (4th Grade PG) who almost single handily kept his squad in games. Ingram pushes the rock from base line to baseline with great speed and excels at getting to the cup. Joshua Brown, Jeremiah Henderson, Trent Lloyd and Shelby Humphrey were also standouts on day-1 of the event.

In the 5th/6th grade division, no one dominated more than big Will Sizer, Sizer, a 6’0 center from Cincinnati, is a horse in the paint. Sizer, a 6th grader, is strong and is more than capable of finishing close the cup with defenders draped all over him. Sizer has nice hands and decent footwork for a player so young.  Oh yea, if your not careful, Sizer will drop 30 on you and make it look easy. The biggest surprise of the day was the play of Osean Anuford, a 4’10 PG from Cincinnati.  We had not seen him before, but Anuford’s dynamic game was quite impressive. Anuford is an elite score who can score at all three levels, but can also set up teammates with a drive and dish.  From what we saw, Anuford needs to be mentioned among the best in the state in the class of 2021! We also really liked Aaron Davis II (5’4 WF 2021 Cincinnati). Davis shoots the trey ball well and is an able and willing passer.
 
Will Sizer, Paul McMillan, Osean Anuford, KK Bransford & Aaron Davis
Not only are we convinced he is one of the most elite point guards in the state, everything we saw in Cincinnati on Saturday indicates that Paul McMillan IV (5’4 PG 2022) Cincinnati should get more respect nationally. McMillan has the ball on the string, has great vision and passing skills and is an élite shooter from deep.  Like most elite floor generals, McMillan plays with great pace, makes good decisions with the rock and rarely turns that thing over.  Because he has good size, McMillan can play more physical.  He can also create his own shot Very impressed with the kid! Remember this name, KK Bransford, a 5’1 PG from Cincinnati will be playing major college basketball for a lucky D-I program in a few years. She may be a female playing with the boys, but you would never know it by her game. Advanced skills, tough as nails and relentless best describe her game right now.  We know she has had success in past events, but Saturday was really the first time we had enough to watch her play and appreciate her game. Big upside potential!

Darrion Henry, Dontae Mosley, Dare Moffit, Ronald Hampton & D'Marco Howard
The 7th/8th grade division featured several big time players as well. One of the most impressive performances we saw all day included Darrion Henry (6’3 PF 2020 Cincinnati). Henry has good size, is strong, athletic and rebounds in bunches.  Henry also runs the floor well and does not mind doing his work in the paint.  Dontae Mosley (6’3 PF 2021 Cincinnati) also has good size, but also has the skills to be productive further away from the basket.  Mosley can knock down the open shot; he defends well and can also get up and down the court well. We got our first look at Dare Moffett (6’1 PF 2019 Cincinnati) and we liked what we saw. A good athlete who shoots it well from the mid range and off the bounce, Moffett has good upside potential. D’Marco Howard (5’8 SG 2019 Fairfield) and Ronald Hampton Jr. (5’7 PG 2019 Huber Heights) both logged in solid performances.  All in all it was a great first year event that gave us an opportunity to evaluate players who we had not seen before.  Congrats to Paul McMillan for making the event happen!


Top Performers:

3rd/4th Grade Division

Jaiden Arnold (3rd)
Taylor Bacon (4th)
Trent Lloyd (4th)
Donte Ingram Jr. (4th)
Joshua Brown (4th)
Jermaine Matthews (4th)
Jeremiah Henderson (4th)
Shelby Humprey (4th)

5th/6th Grade Division

Will Sizer (6th)
Osean Anuford (6th)
Dillon Britton (6th)
Aaron Davis II (6th)
Kelvin Turner (6th)
Antonio Lowe (6th)
Paul McMillan Jr (5th)
KK Bransford (5th)

7th/8th Grade Division

D’Marco Howard (8th)
Mario Freeman (8th)
Ronald Hampton (8th)
BJ Bransford (8th)
Shubh Khandhadia (8th)
Brad Colbert (8th)
Dontae Mosley (7th)
Darrion Henry (7th)
Prophet Johnson (7th)
Dare Moffett (8th)


7 comments:

  1. My assessment this weekend... This event had alot of potential but missed the mark. I really think this event would of benefited had they added a skills/drills portion. I thought the 3rd/4th grade group overall wasn't an elite a group as I expected when I seen "Buckeye Prep's" name attached to this event. It was some of the worst basketball I've seen in a long time. Just selfish, hero buddy ball basketball. TERRIBLE. The teams were divided awful too. How do you have 3 or 4 kids that played AAU ball on the same team? Another thing I think this event needed was coaches. Day 1 HS aged kids was on the bench. Really?!? This event needed some HS coaches from around the area to sit on those benches and coach not just sub every 4 mins. The Big Buckeye Prep has Real Coaches... Sonny's event had Real Coaches... John Lucas's event has real coaches... OGBR has real coaches... Successful models should have been adapted. The event wasn't all bad but I think Buckeye Prep has set a standard and these regional events should live up to that same standard if it's gonna be affiliated. I really enjoyed the speaker. I also thought the older divisions played basketball the way it's supposed to be played and was really impressed with the talent 5th grade and up. *Sidenote* I seen videos and tweets from the NEO event and the vibe looks/feels totally different.

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  2. Good afternoon. I would like to first of all thank you for allowing your child to participate in the event. As the Director I think the event went extremely well, and all of the kids in attendance got an opportunity to gain some exposure. As to the skill and drill portion, we got word that the weather was going to be bad, and the decision was made that the players could benefit more from playing in game situations vs. just drills. As to the worst basketball every, come on really.... All of the kids that participated came out and gave their best effort. I'm disappointed that you will call their efforts the worst basketball ever. I thought that the games for the most part were competitive, and well played games. As to kids from the same AAU teams on the same team, Keep in mind that the invitation for this event was posted, and sent to just about all of the coaches around the city. Some people didn't send their players, some coaches didn't tell their players. But my idea was, and is to host quality events, that provide exposure for Southwest Ohio! As to real coaches coaching, every coach that coached the teams are on a HS staff in Cincinnati. The only two coaches that were not were to ALL- STATE HS players that I knew the kids would enjoy playing for, and that clearly knows the game of basketball. (Both Players will be on Full ride scholarships next season) Older players are mature enough to have a better understanding of the game. so obviously, those games will look a little more team oriented. Keep in mind that the idea I had was to provide exposure to Southwest Ohio. Mission Accomplished!!!! Northeast Ohio event was great!! They had over 300 hundred kids. When the day comes that Southwest Ohio participates in not only the exposure event in Cincinnati, but the event the Rob host in Columbus, and the NYBL, like Central Ohio, and Northeast Ohio does, then you will see Southwest Ohio players gain more exposure, and more players from Southwest Ohio in the National rankings. Again, thanks for your support, and I value the positive, and negative feedback from parents. I will take all of the suggestions and make the next event even better! Instead of posting an anonymous comment on the blog, feel free to call me and give your thoughts so that we can better serve The kids in Southwest Ohio. Thanks! "BH"

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  3. I would never go to any showcase if I was taking my son for exposure lol he never gets none. He's made allstar games at a few showcases. At the neo even took home mvp honors and 2nd most points in the allstar game all for me to see a kid he destroyed get his picture up and some ink. Lol but we both enjoy events and will continue to support the events

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  4. I really enjoyed the event. I thought the younger age group was very skilled. However, I think the teams could have been more balanced . The 5th/6th grade group had some great talent as well, two really special guards stood out to me . As I was sitting there with my 3rd grader enjoying the event, we really tuned into the older group(7th/8th grade) trying to learn from them. I noticed a guard not from the Cincinnati area that really impressed me. This guard was fast, crafty and was able to get to the rim at ease. He did make the All Star team and the top 5 but I was a little disappointed that he didn't get a better write up on this site. I was really interested in seeing what the director/writer was going to say about him. Anytime a kid completely changes the speed and style of the game every time he was in, had a high motor and high skill set should get more love . Other than that the event was good and the director/ writer of the event got it right. Besides the 1 left hand guard in the older group everyone else featured on this site received well deserved pub.

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  5. I also feel like these events have players that they like and are automatically selected. I seen kids play better than the so called top
    preformers and they are not even mentioned. These events are money makers you get sucked in thinking your getting exposure but what we really are doing is funding that team travel
    and tournaments cost

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  6. The last comment was a silly comment. $50 for a showcase is a steal! After facilities rental, shirts/jerseys, paperwork, workers, and refs, I doubt very seriously if travel team could be funded. Duh.......

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  7. Grown men see kids getting exposure that they kid didn't get and now they wanna discredit the kids that got it. You dudes are haters! Great event Coach Paul keep putting on for the city!!

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