Grassroots Update: Bay City Select 2019
The core of Bay City Select 2019 has been together for awhile now. Two of main guys Zach Johnson and Miles Amos have been playing on the team together since fourth grade.
Their hoping that cohesiveness and team chemistry they’ve built over the years can lead to abundant success this July.
According to Bay City executive director and 17U coach Matt Durell, his team played really well last year and made the adidas summer championship. While there they “made a nice run and beat some nice teams.”
This year they were invited to adidas Silver Bracket.
In April, at an adidas event in Irvine, they played their best tourney of the spring, winning their pool and advancing to the final four of the tournament. Had they won one more game, they’d have qualified for the adidas Gauntlet Finale in New York.
The team has been battling injury throughout the spring, but is healthy now. Lately, they’ve been working on building camaraderie and preparing for a busy summer ahead.
“There’s 12 guys on the team and pretty much every one of them is capable of playing college basketball at some level,” Durell said. “We’ve got a lot of pieces, now it’s a matter of putting it all together.”
Bay City Select 2019 will in the Bay Area, Las Vegas and Orange County this July for what promises to be an eventful end to their season.
Standouts
Executive director and 17U coach Matt Durell talks about five of his standout players
Zach Johnson, 6’6 F (Lick Wilmerding) — “Coming off a knee injury, he missed a lot of the spring. Now we got him back, he’s an interior threat who kind of does a little bit of everything, kind of a Draymond Green-type player. He can create of the dribble, post-up, finish inside, he’s one of our best defensive players and can guard one through five.”
Miles Amos, 6’1 G (Stuart Hall) — “He’s probably one of the top point guards up here in Northern California for the class of 2019. Most people consider him our best player. He gets a lot of press up here. He’s being recruited by a couple different Division I programs, he got a call from Loyola in Chicago, a team that was in the Final Four this year. And San Francisco likes him a lot. He’s our best player most likely; he’s a great passer, gets everyone else involved, is ultra athletic”
Connor Murphy, 6’5 SG (San Ramon) — ”He’s kind of a player that people don’t really know about that much, but he’s an absolute stud. A 6’5 shooting guard. He was sick in early April, but when he came back we were really clicking, because he provides a knock-down shooter from the perimeter. He’s not being recruited super heavily, but I think he could be a good college player. He’s under the radar, but he’s a starter for us as like a three/four. He’s an all-around good player.”
Brendan Patrick, 6’1 G (Bishop Odowd) — “He’s a utility guyy from Bishop Odowd. He was a starter for their state runner-up team, one of the best teams in Northern California. He’s a combo-guard that does everything, he’s all over the floor when he plays, he’s got a lot of passion out there. I think it’s players like that that kind of define our team.”
Desan Johnson, 6’5 C (Riordan Prep) — Named the most-improved player on the team by Durell, Johnson is poised for a big senior season. Here’s what Durell had to say about the up-and-coming big-man: “He’s been a backup center for us, but has been getting better every week. We’re looking for him to have a big senior season next year with Riordan. He’s really athletic, he’s just learning how to put it all together and kind of play within the flow of the offense. He’s just an ultra athletic guy and gets a lot of dunks, but he’s starting to put other things around his dunking ability, like shooting elbow jumpers, and he’s a really good defender as well.”
Avri Finch, 6’6 C (Albany) — The starting center, Finch has been flashing a great mid-range game this spring and summer and excels in pick-and-pop situations. He’s one of the team’s best defenders. “Avri has great post move, too. And is a true big-man in an age when players do not play much with back to basket.”
Alex Byrd, 5’9 G (Stuart Hall) — One of those guys like Johnson and Amos that have been on the team for a long time, since sixth-grade Byrd has been loyal to Bay City. He’s the starting shooting guard or sometimes is the first one off the bench for this unit. Durell describes him as: “improved shooter, ultra athletic and great passer, defender, glue guy.”