Border League: California Standouts (Part II)

<p>Last weekend’s Border League event featured many of the top programs on the west coast with state representation from teams in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and more. Games from the highest division, the Top Flight Division, were featured on ESPN 2 Sunday with the title game resulting in IMG Academy defeating Coronado (NV) led by University of Texas-commit Tamar Bates and highly-regarded center Moussa Diabate.</p> <p>The California representation featured two CIF Southern Section Open Division-caliber teams, which were not able to go by official school names due to the event being out of season, including "Big Red" based out of Santa Ana and "Husky Nation" based out of Corona. Other SoCal based programs included "Eagle Select," "San Diego Falcons," "MoVal Mustangs," and "NC Mavs," among others.</p> <p>In this piece we take a look at some of the California based players who put together strong efforts during the Border League event.</p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="747083" first="Nick" last="Davidson"]</strong>, Big Red - The Nevada-commit has always been an inside-out scoring threat, but it was good to see him make it a point to attack the rim at this event. The 6-foot-8 forward has the shooting stroke to stretch the floor off the pick and pop, but he also showed the ability to put it on the deck and blow by slower perimeter defenders and get to the paint where he finished with power and finesse.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="994920" first="Zack" last="Davidson"]</strong>, Big Red - The younger brother of the above-mentioned Nick, Zack has a similar style of game in the way that he shoots the ball with consistency from three-point range. The 6-foot-6 forward will likely see major minutes this season after spending his freshman year as a reserve and the Border League showed that he’s ready for that extended time with his confident shooting stroke and ability to play in pick-and-pop situations.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="970280" first="Donovan" last="Dent"]</strong>, Husky Nation - Dent continues to be one of the more under-the-radar and under-appreciated guards in the state. The 6-foot-1 guard is an absolute terror to cover in transition as his speed, balance and ability to change speed and direction on a dime when going downhill makes him impossible to keep in front. Den’t is a great on-ball defender who applies tremendous pressure and has quick hands and feet. One of Dent’s most intriguing attributes is the fearlessness in which he plays and the chip he carries on his shoulder.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="870211" first="Kamari" last="Lands"]</strong>, Prolific Prep - This was one of my first good looks at Lands who arrived at Prolific from Midwest-based prep program La Lumiere. The 6-foot-8 swingman showed an impressively smooth three-point shooting stroke which he can shoot off the catch, off the bounce and when coming off of screens in the half-court setting. Lands’ can get hot in a hurry from distance and fill up the scoring column with a barrage of deep perimeter jumpers.</span></p> <p class="p1"><span class="s1"><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="992480" first="Jared" last="McCain"]</strong>, Husky Nation - McCain is one of the top returning freshmen in SoCal and burst on the scene with Husky Nation last season due to his pure shooting stroke. The 6-foot-1 point guard is a consistent and confident three-point shooter who seems to have added some strength to his frame resulting in improved balance through the bump and finishing ability around the basket. McCain had a really nice floater as a freshman, but struggled to absorb and finish through contact. Based on what we saw over the weekend, McCain’s added bulk should help him finish his paint touches.</span></p>