Landon’s Week 3 Player Evaluations: 2023s and 2024s

This week was full of great games that had lots of great players in them. I saw some exciting prospects and look forward to giving you my evaluations each and every Sunday throughout the season. It is time to recap this week and look at what our exciting prospects did. Fort Wayne South @ Fort Wayne North - 12/11/2020 [player_tooltip player_id="1049163" first="Jordan" last="Green"] (Fort Wayne North) – 6’3" 2023 SF: Green dominated early for North and ended with 16 points. He was getting into the lane and finishing through contact. He also outhustled South on the boards with 4 offensive rebounds. He got to the line often, but he seemed to go away late. He is a strong player, but he needs to not let himself be shut down like he was in the second half. His energy is key to his team, and he showed that by keeping them in the game in the first half. [player_tooltip player_id="1042492" first="Brashawn" last="Bassett"] (Fort Wayne North) – 6’1" 2023 SG: Bassett is a 6’2 sophomore who is going to continue to grow and gain experience and smarts over the years to come. He made some mistakes in this one, but they were mistakes you like to see from a younger player. He was always trying to make a play which you cannot fault him for. I would have liked to see him pull up at the elbow a couple times when he drove into multiple guys in the paint. However, he will continue to improve, and he has the size and skill to do good things. [player_tooltip player_id="1042492" first="Brashawn" last="Bassett"] (Fort Wayne North) – 6’3" 2024 SG: Brauntae may have very well been the reason that North pulled off the win thanks to his 18 point performance. The 6’3 freshman had the quickness to get into the lane and the size and strength to finish inside. He seemed to get inside every time he touched the ball in the second half, and he was finishing or getting to the line. Not only was he succeeding on the offensive end, but he was playing man defense on [player_tooltip player_id="874122" first="Austin" last="Jordan"], South’s best scorer. If you take away the first quarter in which North was in a zone, Jordan was held to just 9 points by Johnson. This kid has a tremendous upside, and if he can continue to grow and get stronger, he will be a player to watch in the future.   Franklin Central vs. North Central - 12/12/2020 Lyna Brooks (Franklin Central) – 6’1" 2024 SG: Brooks is a smaller guard who played with a lot of heart on Saturday. He hit his first shot of the game, and then he had all the confidence in the world for the rest of the game. He has a good looking shot stroke and showed off a nice pull-up jumper. He did get trigger happy as his confidence rose, so he needs to improve his shot selection as he improves. He also made freshman mistakes as one would expect from a freshman playing varsity, and a few of those reaches caused him to pick up 3 fouls in the first quarter and foul out with 6 minutes to go in the game. Brooks has all the potential in the world, but he needs to be smarter with the ball as his career goes on. [player_tooltip player_id="868259" first="Joey" last="Brown"] (North Central) – 6’5" 2023 SG: Brown is an outstanding athlete and an even better defender on the basketball court. He played great man defense by moving his feet and keeping his man in front. He also showed off his hands by picking pockets for 3 steals on the game. In addition to his defense, he was incredibly explosive to the rim which allowed him to get to the free-throw line multiple times. Brown has the ability to do anything that his team needs, especially on the defensive end, and he showed that in a big way. Brown knows his role for North Central, and he will grow into a bigger role as his career goes. He is definitely a player to keep an eye on in the coming years.   Gary West @ Southport - 12/12/2020 [player_tooltip player_id="868243" first="Keyon" last="Garrett-Miller"] (Southport) – 5’10" PG: Garrett-Miller is an outstanding scorer that showed that he can score in many different ways. He has a great stroke from the outside, a nice mid-range jumper, and all the confidence in the world. He also has the ability to create on the ball for both himself and his teammates. When he got into the lane, he finished inside and hit floaters with both his right and left hands. Garrett-Miller is a very good sophomore scorer who has a high ceiling for Southport. He is going to be a very good player to watch in the near future. [player_tooltip player_id="868242" first="Anthony" last="Ball"] (Southport) – 6’6" PF: Ball is a big forward that plays a very physical style. He played great physical defense down low against the 6’7-6’10 forwards of Gary West. He was also able to block a couple of shots from the big men. On the offensive end, he was able to get to the rim and finish over and through the tall front line of the opponents. One other skill that was noticed was that Ball was in the optimal position for nearly every offensive rebound, and he pulled down 4 of them. This hustle on the offensive glass is something that is great to see for a young player with great skill. He has a chance to be a very good player for Southport in the future. [player_tooltip player_id="868221" first="Nickens" last="Lemba"] (Southport) – 6’6" PF: Lemba struggled from foul trouble throughout the majority of the game. When guarding the 6’8-6’10 front line of Gary West, he picked up two quick fouls and was forced to be hesitant during the remainder of the game. Besides the silly fouls, he walled up well and played good defense. I look forward to seeing Lemba again because he was not himself after the foul trouble caused him to be much less aggressive than he normally is.   Fort Wayne Blackhawk vs. Silver Creek - 12/12/2020 [player_tooltip player_id="1042496" first="Sefton" last="Gage"] (Fort Wayne Blackhawk) – 6’4" SF: Gage is a very good shooter, and he knows the role that he plays for this team. With [player_tooltip player_id="529561" first="Caleb" last="Furst"], [player_tooltip player_id="569345" first="Zane" last="Burke"], and [player_tooltip player_id="874187" first="Marcus" last="Davidson"] running the show, Gage is usually spotting up for shots. This allows him to get a couple of shots per game, and he hit two of them. Once the three seniors graduate at the end of this season, we will really get to see what Gage brings to the table. He is going to be a player to watch in the years to come.