My Weekend in the TRAC and TAAC: Surprise Players
Toledo Central Catholic and Emmanuel Christian both won very big in-conference games this past weekend against Toledo St. Francis DeSales and Ottawa Hills on the back of their star players but in both games, there were some unsung heroes that…
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Continue ReadingToledo Central Catholic and Emmanuel Christian both won very big in-conference games this past weekend against Toledo St. Francis DeSales and Ottawa Hills on the back of their star players but in both games, there were some unsung heroes that played vital for their teams. Here are my surprise players from this past weekend:
Sam Lee (2022): Big, 6’6, Toledo Central Catholic
This football standout turns out to be quite the basketball player as well. He is listed at 6’6 and looked to have gained about 15-20lbs of muscle from last year, and it shows in the paint on both ends. The smaller St. Francis guards showed trouble getting anything clean in the paint. When he was given the ball offensively he made good quick moves and showed impressive touch, including 2 nice putback tip-ins.
My favorite part about this kid is his ability to move for being so big. He showed great ability to hard hedge and/or blitz ball screens without getting beat by the small and quick SFS guards. He also picked up his man 94 feet one time and showed that he was able to do that against a stretch big easily, even though he is more of a big banging post player. In an area where there are not many bigs, Lee could have a very dominant season.
Elvis Syroka Elvis Syroka 5'9" | PG Toledo St. Francis | 2024 OH (2024): Guard, 5’9, Toledo St. Francis DeSales
Elvis took the load of handling the ball for the Knights all game long. The two games I have seen him, he went against immense pressure from St. John’s Jesuit and Central Catholic all game and handled it well. Elvis is a smaller, but quick and fast player that is not afraid to bang and throw his body around. He got to the free-throw line a number of times on Friday night and end up finishing the game with 12 points.
Elvis showed a lot of leadership for being the sophomore as he started the offense all night and showed everyone in the gym how tough he is. He showed patience as well when he continued to drag out hard-hedged ball screens and attack or even call for a twist screen as well. I believe if Elvis can find a way to consistently make the three when the defense goes underneath, his game would elevate to the next level.
Tylin Patterson (2025): Forward, 6’0, Emmanuel Christian
Patterson is a freak athlete. The 6-foot freshman can play whatever position you ask of him because of his athleticism. He can jump out of the gym, with a great wingspan, and a very mature-looking size for his grade. He had multiple blocks throughout the game for the Warriors and grabbed many rebounds for them as well. He had some foul trouble against Ottawa Hills but he showed great potential. Patterson already has next-level athleticism, if he can add some more skill to that he could be a highly recruited player in the future.
Caden Coy (2022): Guard, 5’10, Ottawa Hills
Coy had a great night for the Green Bears. He showed great vision and ability to handle the ball as he consistently attacked the pressure of Emmanuel Christian. He hit a couple of big threes for them as well. He played very hard, attempted to take multiple charges.
AJ Geroge (2023): Guard, 6’0, Ottawa Hills
AJ George was the surprise of the game against Emmanuel Christian. He finishes the game with a high of 19 points. He got almost all of his points in the paint as he finished multiple tough layups all night. Ottawa Hills were very close to pulling off the upset and without AJ George they would have had no chance.