I95 Coalition: Championship Sunday Takeaways

<p>The <strong>I95 Coalition</strong> came to an end on Sunday and I was able to be in the gym for Championship Sunday. Below are five takeaways from the day.</p> <h3><b>Team Durant 15U Is Elite</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> I think one of the main takeaways from the whole summer could be how elite this 15U Team Durant team is. They are completely loaded at every position and it would be truly incredible if they are able to stick together throughout their AAU together as they could be one of the best AAU teams across the country in the coming years. A new guy that I was able to evaluate yesterday was 2023 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="991338" first="Shawn" last="Simmons"]</strong> out of <strong>Friends Central School</strong> in Philadelphia. Simmons has tremendous athleticism and that was on full display yesterday. He finishes strong above the rim whenever he is given the chance and is a guy you will see dunking the basketball on a lot of mixtapes in the coming years.</span></p> <h3><b>Team Richmond Elite Knows How To Play</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;"> Huge shoutout to Team Richmond for the success they had this summer in the I95 coalition. They did not have the talent that a lot of the other teams had this summer but they play a great game of basketball. It is an unselfish group that will do what it takes to win a basketball game. <strong>Mac Macdonald</strong>, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="957903" first="Garrett" last="Cox"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="697137" first="Caleb" last="Kenney"]</strong> all improved their stock this summer.</span></p> <h3><b>[player_tooltip player_id="815613" first="Saxby" last="Sunderland"] Is Poised For A Breakout Season</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is a safe bet to say that 2022 <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="815613" first="Saxby" last="Sunderland"]</strong> will take a jump in the updated 2022 Virginia state rankings in the next update. Sunderland can play both guard spots and has good size to him as he is already pretty strong and physical. Sunderland showed that one of his best attributes is scoring the basketball in a variety of ways. In two games yesterday Sunderland averaged 15 points with an efficiency percentage of 64%.</span></p> <h3><b>DMV Sports Academy Wins The 17U Championship</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The DMV Sports Academy made a statement yesterday after beating New World in the 17U semifinals and then beating Team Durant in the championship game. This was a huge win for the program as they are another program that does not have as much talent as these other programs but find a way to win. They are a scrappy bunch with a good amount of underrated prospects including <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="902033" first="Kris" last="King"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="902049" first="Kent" last="King"]</strong> and the MVP of the championship game, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="902069" first="Mike" last="Woods"]</strong>.</span></p> <h3><b>I95 Coalition Success</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This needs to be said as the event winded down yesterday but the I95 Coalition was a great event this summer especially during the tough times we are going through in the world. The people from Team Durant, The St. James and Legit Stats deserve a huge shoutout for putting this event on and it was great to help these kids get more exposure when a lot of people wondered if there would even be summer basketball. Another thing is, the battle of the different brands. Seeing teams from different shoe companies and non sponsored shoe teams is always fun and something I hope we can see more of down the road.  </span></p>