Elite young talent on display at NEO Youth event
The NEO Youth Elite Showcase in Garfield Heights the weekend of June 24-25 brought out some of the top young talents not only in the state but in the country.
Zion Harmon (2021), the No. 1-rated player in his class made an appearance just days after returning from Argentina where he played as a member of Team USA U16 squad that won a gold medal.
Harmon squared off with Florida PG deluxe Julian Newman during a June 24 game. If you want to see the highlights, Gooogle their names and some will come up. Harmon, who is 5’10’’ and hails from Bowling Green, Kentucky, got the better of the smaller Newman, as he scored 26 to Newman’s 16.
Harmon describes his game as crafty. His highlight of the day came when he crossed over his defender with a quick between the leg dribble and then drained a step-back three. He’s already collected seven D-I offers, including ones from Creighton, Stephen F. Austin, and Missouri.
Newman, who is from Orlando, is listed at 5’7”, but is more like 5’5”. He does have some crazy handle and can knock down the jumper off the dribble and get to the basket.
Harmon is the bigger and more developed of the two highly touted guards, but both need to grow.
Newman, who lives in Orlando, is the youngest player in Florida to score 1,000 points, while Harmon led his high school team to state title as an 8th grader.
The star of the game turned out to be none other than Garfield Heights’ own Alonzo Gaffney. The 6’8” Gaffney scored 41 points on an assortment of deep jump shots (including six threes) and buckets in transition.
Another star in the game was Illinois sharpshooting guard Mike Salter, a sharpshooting 6’3” guard from Romeoville, Ill., who has drawn the interest of Wisconsin, DePaul, Western Illinois, Illinois State and Miami of Ohio amongst others.
During a game on June 25, he displayed an ability to shoot the deep ball as well as a strong handle that allowed him to weave through traffic with ease, but a really good shooter.
“I’m more of a shooter a facilitator now. I started out being a point guard and developed a jump shot,” explained Salter.
This summer Salter has tried to develop his ability to get to the basket. He and his mother, Tiffany Thigpen, were slated to be featured on a reality TV show showing on the Lifetime Network titled “Bringing up Ballers,” according to a story in the Chicago Tribune.
Salter’s mother runs Big Thig Customs and Auto Repair in Chicago Heights.
Salter is ranked No. 32 in the state of Illinois, in the Prephoops.com ranking