Top Tigers!
NOTE: Jorian Cantrell made All-Tournament team, but escaped our watchful eye. He earned his honor surely, but I just didn’t see enough of him to evaluate. Head Coach Chip Smith took his Tennessee Tigers 17u team to Hoover, Alabama. How…
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Continue ReadingNOTE: Jorian Cantrell made All-Tournament team, but escaped our watchful eye. He earned his honor surely, but I just didn’t see enough of him to evaluate.
Head Coach Chip Smith took his Tennessee Tigers 17u team to Hoover, Alabama. How did they do? Who was special?
Be warned that all ranked prospects are not created equal. A safe rule of thumb is to consider the top 30 potential DI prospects, the top 50 are likely to land DII/DI/JuCo. If you trek to the 50-100 range you will see many DIII/NAIA guys and then the lower ranked players likely exist as strong high school starters with an outside shot at post-HS basketball.
If you want to peruse the rankings in their entirety smash here.
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#122 Kavon Blankenship
Wonderful first step. Kavon is dangerous in the lane. Unlike most point guards he is equally threatening as a shooter or as a passer. Kavon projects as a D2-LM combo. He plays with a toughness few boast. Using his quickness Kavon fights his way to the free throw line constantly.
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#26 Dusty Williams WG
Blessed with unusual athleticism, Dusty is new to the Tennessee Tigers . Angular, spry. Dusty has ideal wing size. Like many unheralded 17u players, Dusty Williams needs a strong AAU push. He is very capable and more than any Tiger, expect maybe Kavon Blankenship, Williams will score in spurts. Dusty is a spotty outside shooter, but when he makes three pointers his game threatens to overwhelm teams.
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NA Ryley McClaran PG
Coach’s kid. Wonderful basketball mind. He looks to the coach every five seconds. Clearly McClaran grew up with deep respect for coaches and, this is a guess, but his body language and eye contact with coaches were probably drilled into him by a smart, basketball man.
Ryley’s first step is good. This event did show that McClaran needs to improve in traffic against much bigger players. If he intends to play D2 or LM-MM basketball, this is an area of need. McClaran shows most of the other skills. Finishing at the rim becomes more challenging the taller and stronger the defenders. His quickness advantage now will also be subsumed by the incredibly quick elite bigs he will be facing after high school, if he doesn’t keep training in the weight room.
Good player. Great shooter.
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#65 Dalton Marsh PF
Dalton defended the post with technique. His value continues to rise entering his senior year.
Had a great first weekend of AAU with that strong 20 piece finish in the championship game #TNTigers @HoopSeenAL pic.twitter.com/nWxgVs5CSe
— Dalton Marsh (@DMarsh_34) April 14, 2019