44 Elite Starts Strong in Vegas
44 Elite stepped out of bed on Thursday morning ready for action, and by the time their heads hit the pillow they earned wins by a combined 54 points.
The first game of the day was against Branch West Black and resulted in a 64-40 victory for the Minnesota kids. Game two was against Los Angeles Elite – let’s pause right there, this team had some real young kids and a lot of raw players, an odd team to call elite – and 44 Elite beat them 64-34.
The game didn’t provide us much of a chance to talk about what 44 Elite players did against other top notch players competitively but it did give onlookers a chance to see what the kids are capable of, and it gives us a chance to talk about their stories a bit more.
Deszi Sims for example. The guard who averaged 26.4 points per game for Minneapolis Roosevelt as a junior. Sims is lightning quick with the ball and there wasn’t an initial defender that could slow him down on Thursday, the only time he was slowed was when he got going too fast himself and lost the ball! Sims is lightning in a bottle and this winter there will be very few defenders who can keep him in front regardless of who Sims, Luke Barnes, and new Coach Mike Walker play.
Sims and Jalen Dearring are fun pair to watch and have to be one of the more dangerous 1-2 punches in Minnesota 17u this season. Jalen is coming off a 17 point per game season at Minnetonka and if anybody had time to keep track, I think he may have set a building record for steals/creating turnovers against LA Elite. Jalen was like a D-back in an Alabama vs Maine A&M football game just jumping on every pass and seizing all opportunities for breaks the other way. I continue to love his lift into a shot.
In my tweeting for the game I was fouled by the Adidas website roster of 44 Elite from last week. It was not Daveonte Davis scoring And1 after And1 in the second half versus LA Elite, it was 6-foot-4 frontcourt player Amahn Decker, a 2020 from Brooklyn Center who we have also seen play this summer with Mpls FAB. Decker cut off ball, used a dribble baseline, and power moved to the rim for second half And1s putting together a dozen second half points. Decker scored five a game as a sophomore but really played well during the section playoffs and should have a strong winter for BC.
Davis and Dion Ford are both coming back to St. Paul Central (among others) which is why they are pegged to be a dangerous team in 18-19 and certainly the conference favorites. Central lost to Johnson twice last year losing the St. Paul City league by a pair of games but Johnson losses a lot of their line-up and Central returns nearly everything, including Ford . Ford hit for double figures quickly on Thursday afternoon including a lob from Zach Zebrowski (East Ridge player who had a lot of great passes on Thursday). Dion is a slashing 6-foot-3 player that should put up huge senior year numbers.
The last guy that grabbed our attention on Thursday was The Power Ball Kato Seley. Dreams of winning the lottery? Coaches put Kato on you. Dreams of stopping him from powering through you? It’s just a dream. Seley went at the rim a number of times early and there was no player on the floor friend or foe who could deal with the upper body muscle of Mr. Seley The Power Ball. Between the late season games I saw from Seley at Champlin Park and then watching a game yesterday as well as a game last week in Adidas on good ole Baller TV (the one that 44 Elite gave up a late 13-2 run), I’ve really seen a big step taken by Kato.