Recruiting Report: Branden Ellis (2018)
Warren 2018 guard Branden Ellis continues to impress us each time we see him. The 6’3” point guard went to work both scoring and distributing late in the spring for Kessel Heat 17U. Everything he did seemed to work. Very crisp lead guard with good size. He loves to get in the lane and work in the mid-range where he can hit a pull up jumper or floater over a big guy. Consistently got in the lane which put pressure on the defense to make decisions to either stop him or stay on their man. When the help defender came Ellis did an outstanding job of finding his teammates for dump off passes, lobs, or open jumpers. Ellis should be on D2 and low-major D1 radars!
Ellis chatted with PHI about his spring with Kessel Heat.
“The spring has been pretty good. I have been balancing track and basketball so some practices I can’t go to because of a track meet. My legs are feeling a lot better than they have before. You can see that a lot more with the fast paced to my game. I have been trying to work on elevating in general so I don’t get blocked.”
Where has he seen the biggest improvements in his game this spring?
“I feel like I have improved in my decision making. I have cut down in my turnovers. Also finding open teammates in time. Before it was a little delayed.”
Ellis spoke about his high school campaign with Warren
“High school season was alright. We were under .500, but it was more of a chemistry thing. We didn’t gel together. People were trying to get their own shots. I feel like next year we are going to play more like a team. Individually I think I made improvements scoring. I was our teams leading scorer. I didn’t really look to score as much as I probably should have.”
He updated us on his recruitment.
“I have an offer from Hillsdale. Some other schools send me some texts and emails. Cal State Fullerton texted me to check in. Dartmouth has asked me to come to their elite camp. Coach Burns and I have talked about some schools that have invited me to their elite camps like North Dakota State and Northern Illinois. For track I have interest from Northern Colorado, William & Mary, and Dartmouth.”
Ellis is also a state finalist in the high jump and triple jump. He says it is possible to do both at the next level.
“Some schools have talked to me to see if it is possible to do both. I could really benefit the track team and basketball.”