DeMatha Catholic is a dozen deep at the guard position.
The DeMatha Catholic guards for this coming season are very deep & talented. They feature players in each class & most are D1 prospects from mid major up. We will give a brief breakdown of every guard on the Stags 2017/18 roster. DeMatha’s varsity guards could very well be the deepest in the DC DMV & Maryland. In addition to the current DeMatha guard roster below, we could technically add 6’5″ 2020 point forward Earl Timberlake who in our pinion (my) could become a top 25 player nationally & 6’6″ 2019 Carsten Kogelnik who we currently rate as D1 mid major. Head Coach Mike Jones & his excellent staff are renown for producing very fundamentally sound & very skilled players who excel on & off the court. Before we forget, DeMatha has bigs, & we will look at them in our next article this week, DeMatha’s X-factors.
2018 class
Markanthony Fidelis, 6’1″, CG, 2018. Grassroots Team: Team St8ment
Markanthony caught our eye this summer at the DeMatha BSN Summer League & DMV Elite 80 Showcase. He can really shoot the ball, facilitate & has had an excellent preseason this fall. Markanthony is a threat to become a key player this season in DeMatha’s traditional 8 deep rotation. We will be providing a detailed Recruiting Report for Markanthony in the next week. In our opinion he has the upside to become a D1 mid major recruit.
Justin Gielen, 6’0″, PG, 2018. Committed to The University of Maryland on a Soccer Scholarship.
Last season Justin played outstanding basketball & proved he can beat on ball pressure. Many teams applied trap defenses, double & teams to no avail. Justin knocked down key shots from all 3 levels & delivered many key assists. He plays with a very high motor & makes wining plays. Justin is an elite soccer player & accepted a full scholarship to the neighboring University Of Maryland Terrapins.
Xavier Marbry, 6’4″, CG. 2018. Grassroots Team: Team Takeover Orange
We have seen excellent flashes from Xavier this summer & in pre season pick ups. He is very is very athletic, very long, skilled, dedicated to basketball & smart. Without question Xavier possesses some D1 skills such as explosion, high IQ, ability to play on & off the ball & score from 3 levels.. He passes the look test & he is a scholarship college basketball player. Xavier has grown over 2 inches this summer & he still has a great upside. He is the sleeper of the DeMatha guards & possibly one of best in the DC DMV. We will write a Recruiting Report for Xavier in the next week. We want to get a closer look at Xavier before we rate his college level any higher. This fall he is one of the most intriguing players I have seen. We will be going to DeMatha several times to specifically scout Xavier.
Deven Richmond, 6’4″, WG, 2018. Grassroots Team: Maryland 3D
Last season Deven opened our eyes & had an excellent summer. He is very strong, athletic & skilled despite playing basketball for only 4 years. Deven can score from all 3 levels, defend & get rebounds in traffic. He is very tough with a high motor & performs all the intangibles. Deven is just beginning to scratch the surface of his potential & we rate him as D1 mid major potential recruit. We wrote a Recruiting Report for Deven this summer & will have an updated article for him in the next 2 months.
2019 Class
Bobby Carson, 6’6″, WG, 2019. Grassroots Team: New World
Every time we see Bobby he looks taller & he has now sprouted to 6’6″. He is very talented & plays with a high IQ. Bobby is an excellent slasher, facilitator & defender. With Booby’s skill-set, coordination, height, wingspan & determination he will become a very sought after recruit. Bobby has a huge upside & we predict he will get there at some point this season. We will update Bobby with a new article before the new year. His younger brother, Malik is an outstanding 6’4″ 2021 WF.
KJ Holton, 6’1.5″ PG, 2019. Grassroots Team: The District Basketball Club
KJ Played very well this summer in the DeMatha BSN Summer League & for the District basketball Club. He moves up to the DeMatha varsity after a very successful JV season as a sophomore. KJ has a very good handle & passing skills, & a very good mid range game. He has made some noise this preseason in pick ups. KJ is a scholarship player, but we want to watch him more this preseason & regular season. We see some excellent upside in his game & will update KJ’s progress this December.
Justin Moore, 6’4″, GG, 2019. Grassroots Team: Team Takeover
Once Justin regains his form he will be a 5 star recruit. There are no glaring weaknesses in his game & we have seen some new wrinkles & dimensions to his game this fall. This past January 3, Justin took a very ball fall & tore his ACL after going up for a tomahawk dunk over two 6’9″ players. The dunk would have been converted, but Justin was bumped from behind & lost his balance. Justin’s rehab is going very well, but Justin, his Doctors & DeMatha are not rushing his return to intense live game action. However, Justin is back on the court & has looked amazing. It was great to see him smile this past week during 5 on pickups. During his recovery Justin has gained excellent overall strength & some new ball handling skills. His shooting range is beyond the college 3 point line with a lightning quick high release. It is too early to make predictions for Justin’s full recovery this pre preseason. During a players ACL reconstruction recovery they must get the injured knee & surrounding muscles as strong as possible. The next step is making lateral cuts & some drills, then jumping. As the player progresses he is cleared to scrimmage full court which is Justin’s current status. His final hurdle will be to play with no restrictions & get back to the level Justin was playing at in late December 2016.Nobody knows when Justin will get back to 100%, but what we do know is that every Coach, player or person in the DC DMV & nation wishes Justin a full recovery. He is a special person & player.
Josh Wallace. 6’2″, PG, 2019. Grassroots Team: DC Blue Devils
Josh is an impact transfer to DeMatha & could be a starter this season. Head Coach Mike Jones will not know his rotation until after formal practice begins on December 8. Josh is an excellent downhill pass 1st PG whose #1 priority is to get his teammates involved. He has looked very good in preseason scrimmages. He can score very well from all 3 levels & an excellent ball handler. He can defend, make clutch plays & is a winner. Currently we rate Josh as D1 mid major recruit. In the next week we will have a Recruiting Report for Josh.
Jahmir Young, 6’1″, CG, 2019. Grassroots Team: Team Takeover
Jahmir is another impact transfer for the Stags & can play on or off the ball. He is very skilled , athletic & can score from all 3 levels on a consistent basis. Jhamir possesses a very high IQ & facilitation skills & can defend 94 feet. It is very possible DeMatha could field a starting back court of Josh Wallace & Jhanir. The duo play very well together & like Josh Jhamir is currently a D1 mid major recruit with potential to go higher. When Justin Moore returns to live game action we could see Justin, Josh & Jhamir on the court together at times, but we are only speculating. In the near future we will have Recruiting Report for Jhamir who had a fantastic summer for Team Takeover.
2020 Class
Donovan Miller, 5’11”, PG, 2020. Grassroots Team: The District basketball Club
Donovan had a fantastic freshmen season for DeMatha who lost just one game. We are not sure if he will play varsity this season, but Donovan is an excellent player. He has played very well on 5 on 5s this preseason. Donovan impresses with his ability to get in the paint, facilitate & rise up very high on his soft jumper. Donovan is very strong, athletic & possesses very good overall skills on both sides of the ball. We will follow his progress during his career at DeMatha. He has a great future at DeMatha & we will be writing a Prospect Spotlight article for Donovan in the next few weeks.
2021 Class
Brayon Freeman, 6’1″, PG, 2021. Grassroots Team:
Brayon comes to DeMatha with very high rankings & we see why. He can really get past his defenders off full court pressure & break them down in the half court off the dribble. Brayon has advanced facilitation skills, a high IQ & makes winning plays .Brayon is very tough & heady with an excellent upside. We will be writing a Prospect Spotlight for Brayon before DeMatha begins the regular season.. We will be following Brayon very closely this season on whichever level he plays.
Jaylen Hall, 6’0″, PG, 2021. Grassroots Team: Team Durant
Jaylen possesses excellent skills as a freshmen yet still a very big upside. He is very tough, smart, has a great passion for basketball. Currently he has some bumps & bruises which are keeping on the sidelines in the pre pre season, but he is attending the pickup games. We predicted he will play some JV & move up to varsity, or move up & down to get more playing time on the JV & the experience on the varsity. No matter which level Jaylen plays, we will be attending his games.