Underrated Player Report: Kam Harris, West Ouachita
I’ve posted a few times on my growing affection for West Ouachita as a potential playoff game winner in 4A. I reached that conclusion for a multitude of reasons, but in reviewing the few times I have seen the Chiefs…
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Continue ReadingI’ve posted a few times on my growing affection for West Ouachita as a potential playoff game winner in 4A. I reached that conclusion for a multitude of reasons, but in reviewing the few times I have seen the Chiefs this year, I found that guard Kam Harris was the one that kept popping up. So, having seen him so many times this year and a few times last year, I put together a few notes on his game to introduce you to this underrated guard in 4A.
It’s worth noting that West Ouachita plays a pretty critical District 2-4A game tonight against Neville, so if reading this about Harris gives you the itch to watch him play, you can do so tonight.
Kam Harris, junior, PG, 5’8”
- I’ll go into each facet in the scouting report below, but what stands out is the well-rounded nature of his game – and more importantly, his apparent ability to pull out any particular asset when the Chiefs need it. When the Chiefs need a 3, he can hit one; when they need someone to facilitate up-tempo offense, he can do it; when the Chiefs need to get to the bucket, he’ll lead the charge.
- When I saw West Ouachita in the Sterlington Christmas Tournament in handing Delhi Charter its first loss of the season at that point, Delhi Charter’s athleticism gave West Ouachita’s defense trouble at times. The answer to get back in the game was the 3-ball, and Harris hit a few down the stretch to make that happen, both in transition and in the halfcourt set. With enough bigger bodies in the frontcourt to force some game plan changes on the low block, that skill of Harris’ is particularly vital for this team.
- It’s not necessarily West Ouachita’s MO to go fast, but when they do, Harris runs the break well. He has the ability to get flashy with the dribble-drive when he’s going coast-to-coast with the ball: against Ouachita in the Don Redden Memorial Classic, I saw him flash a nice behind the back move to get into the middle of the lane, brought the ball back to his right with the next dribble and floated around a defender trying to draw a charge.
- From this point forward, it will be no secret who West Ouachita’s fourth-quarter offense runs through: Harris. If you see West Ouachita in the final five minutes of a tight game, it’s likely two-thirds, if not three-quarters, of WO’s scoring possessions end with either a Harris bucket or Harris assisting a bucket. It’s hard not to like what you see out of Harris in these situations – I’ve never seen him looked rattled and I can’t remember very many mistakes in crunch time, either. Dependable ball handlers in pressure situations are no common occurrence in high school basketball, but West Ouachita seems to have one for the rest of this year and next year, too.
Final takeaway: It’s hard to say if he is going to play college basketball – I wouldn’t rule out the possibility for a D3 spot, since West Ouachita’s best guard before him, Saxton Becker, is seeing minutes for Millsaps – but the potential is there, I think. He will probably need a monster summer to start the conversation.