DMV Live: Friday Takeaways

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Hyattsville, MD. - <strong>DeMatha Catholic High School</strong> was the place to be on Friday as <strong>DMV Live</strong> tipped off the first June live period in nearly 15 months. Some of the best high school programs from the DMV were in attendance and I spent part of the day there evaluating the talent. Below are five takeaways from my time in the gym.</span></p> <h3><b>Bishop O’Connell Reloads</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The first thing that stands out about O’Connell is the revamping of the roster Joe Wootten and his staff have done. They have reloaded with some of the best underclassmen from the area and have added some impact transfers in [player_tooltip player_id="815607" first="Cavan" last="Reilly"] and [player_tooltip player_id="962786" first="Christian" last="May"]. Maryland commit [player_tooltip player_id="897404" first="Paul" last="Lewis"] finished with 19 points on 7/11 from the field leading O’Connell in scoring. Look for the Blue Knights to be a sneaky contender in the WCAC this year.</span></p> <h3><b>[player_tooltip player_id="904636" first="Jordan" last="Nkoa-Abessolo"] Impresses</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">There has been a good amount of talk revolving around 2022 [player_tooltip player_id="904636" first="Jordan" last="Nkoa-Abessolo"] this spring and he did not disappoint for St. Maria Goretti in the opening game of DMV Live. The hard playing 6’5 forward finished with 22 points, 13 rebounds and assists in a close loss to Bishop O’Connell. Don’t be surprised if you start to hear Abessolo’s name tied with some of the local programs in the coming days.</span></p> <h3><b>Ronnie Davis Shoots Lights Out</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Ronnie Davis was the best shooter I saw all day on the first day of the June Live Period. Finishing with 22 points including 15 from three, Davis was instant offense whenever the ball was in his hands for Rock Creek Green. If Green performs like he did on Friday later on in the weekend, the unsigned senior could see a serious uptick in his recruitment.</span></p> <h3><b>DeMatha Rolls</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">DeMatha has a new coach on the sidelines but it’s the same dominant DeMatha team as they steam rolled Paul VI, 68-52. 2022’s [player_tooltip player_id="904621" first="Rodney" last="Rice"] and [player_tooltip player_id="777065" first="Tyrell" last="Ward"] are the leaders for the reigning WCAC champs but underclassmen [player_tooltip player_id="957021" first="Jacoi" last="Hutchinson"], [player_tooltip player_id="1127312" first="Jaeden" last="Mustaf"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1127313" first="AJ" last="Swinton"] will get valuable minutes for Pete Strickland’s bunch.</span></p> <h3><b>New Look PVI</b></h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Talk about a revamped roster, Paul VI, returns one starter from last year in newly Michigan commit Dug McDaniel. McDaniel is going to draw all the attention for the Panthers but Glenn Farello has some serious underclassmen talent led by Darren Harris, Benjamin Hammond and Christian Gurdak. 2023 [player_tooltip player_id="999616" first="DeShawn" last="Harris-Smith"] is a notable prospect from the class of 2023 that was not able to participate Friday due to a high ankle sprain. </span></p>