Phoenix Phall Phace-Off: Junior standouts: Part-2

<p>September 18-20 I attended Justin Vargas <strong>Phoenix Phall Phace-Off.</strong> </p> <p>The AAU event had 15U-17U divisions with 4-5 teams in each division. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>The teams that competed in the event that I viewed were:</p> <p><strong>AZ Firestorm 2023, 2022 and 2021</strong></p> <p><strong>AZ Legends 2022</strong></p> <p><strong>AZ Prime 2022 and 2021</strong></p> <p><strong>AZ Select 2023 UAA</strong></p> <p><strong>AZ Supreme 2023 EYB</strong></p> <p><strong>AZ Tucson Select 2022</strong></p> <p><strong>NM D1 2023 UAA</strong></p> <p><strong>PAL Elite 2021</strong></p> <p><strong>The Show 2022 and 2021</strong></p> <p><strong>Tucson Prospects 2021</strong></p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p>Here were some more of the junior standouts I viewed: </p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="827030" first="Trent" last="Moser"] Gilbert (AZ Prime 2022)</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A long and talented forward. When the going is good, he will catch your eye. He has a smooth 3pt stroke and makes it at a decent clip when he is balanced. He also plays way above the rim on the break as a fluid athlete. He will rebound and block shots to go along with his scoring.</span></p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="826997" first="Foune" last="Doucoure"] St. Mary’s (The Show 2022)</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A physical specimen has a great body with real length and he is a true rim runner. He grabs any rebound near him and is an explosive dunker. I thought he was going to tear down the rim on one of them. He has a nice hook shot and can keep progressing his post footwork in the next two years. </span></p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="827013" first="Amir" last="Locus"] Deer Valley (Firestorm 2022) (Pictured) </b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A long and skilled face-up forward. He can make the 3 and is best at around 17-feet. He moves well up the court and can get hot and have some swagger with his jumper quickly. He plays above the rim on the break and his stamina is slowly getting better as we head into the fall.</span></p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="936379" first="AJ" last="Riggs"] Highland </b><b>(Prime 2022)</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-3pt specialist is improving his first step to get to the basket. He has a comfortable 3pt stroke with a quick release. He smartly moves without the ball and his Prime teammates know how to find him. They run some elevator action for him and he sets up quickly and fires away.  </span></p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="1054334" first="Elijah" last="Johnson"] Gilbert</b><b> (Prime 2022)</b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-I thought Johnson had a big weekend. He is always known as a stong ball handler with speed who can run a team and make plays on both ends of the court. But his skill is improving. He has the floater game when he gets into the lane with his speed and is now more consistently hitting 3’s. He will still act as their PG who can defend, but an added bonus is his improved shooting. </span></p> <p><b>[player_tooltip player_id="827050" first="Brandon" last="Lee"] Corona del Sol (AZ Legends 2022) </b></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">-A highly competitive combo guard may not jump out of the building but his skill is quickly improving and he is tough! Just when you think his team is down and out, he kicks it into another gear of play. His drive to win is very high. He loves the pull-up off the dribble and has a polished floater game but his 3pt shooting showed up this weekend as well. He made six in the two games I viewed and the lefty’s confidence is soaring. </span></p>