Jordan’s Favorite Sun Bash Standouts (Part 2)

<p>Nothing beats my annual trip to Tampa to watch the best player’s in Florida duke it out at the Sun Bash, run by none other than my good friend and mentor Jake Perper. While there were a ton of gifted players in the building for all 3 days, I was only able to get a look at a few teams over the second day due to some previous engagements. Nevertheless, I walked out with seeing some fantastic talent and I am excited to get to highlight them in this two-part article series. </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1055592" first="Daniel" last="MacGregor"]</strong><strong>, 6-0, 2024, Clearwater Calvary Christian</strong></p> <p>Macgregor put on what might be one of the absolute best performances by a Sun Bash participant ever. 32 points, 18 rebounds and 8 assists was Macgregor’s final statline in a game where he absolutely dominated a local Clearwater team. Macgregor is unironically the toughest player I have ever seen. He plays with a grit and determination that is so rare in a kid his age. His soft skills, like shooting, could use some polishing, but he isn’t really <em>bad</em> at anything. He’s the first one back on defense. He has quick hands in the passing lane. He skies for more rebounds than anyone who is 6-0 should ever get. He blows by defenders for easy lays. He climbs the ladder against big men and forces them to foul him. He makes free throws. It feels like there is literally no part of his game that has a massive hole in it. Macgregor is Florida’s most underrated point guard and hopefully will get his shot at playing Division 1 basketball at the end of his career.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="829492" first="Trevor" last="Parks"], 6-3, 2022, Clearwater Calvary Christian, Coast Guard Academy commit</strong></p> <p>Trevor definitely played second fiddle to a wild night by [player_tooltip player_id="1055592" first="Daniel" last="MacGregor"], but nonetheless was able to stand out for what he does best: shoot the basketball. Parks hit exactly half of his 10 three point attempts on path to a 17-point outing. He serves as a good shooter who has limitless range and the physicality to play solid defense and do other things on the offensive end. He’s already committed to the Coast Guard Academy, where I think he will make an immediate impact with his lights out shooting. This game wasn’t necessarily his most impressive performance, but his solid reliability gives him a nod from me here.</p> <p><strong>Josh Meo, 6-4, 2023, Olympia</strong></p> <p>I really liked Meo’s game. While usually Olympia is the Jizzle James show, Meo really stood out here and put them in this one. He finished with 23 points on 4-8 shooting from distance and a perfect 100% 2PFG percentage. Meo has good size for a shooter, which helps him get shots up over bigger defenders. It also enabled him to be a threat around the rim, generating both fouls and easy points inside that added 8 huge points to his total. Meo on defense is a more than capable defender who had 3 steals in his outing against a tough St. Pete squad. He served comfortably as a second option to a very good Jizzle James outing and will be a nice tool for Olympia to have as they try to make a run at the state title.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="709233" first="Tristan" last="Gross"], 6-6, 2023, St. Pete</strong></p> <p>Man, it’s good to finally get to see [player_tooltip player_id="709233" first="Tristan" last="Gross"] have a good game in front of me. I’ve watched him a few times and he always seemed to struggle, but I was able to buy into the hype a bit more after this game. His shot from distance is butter, and he can get it off in an instant over all kinds of defenders. In the clutch, he really turned it on and hit some really tough pro-move jumpshots from mid range. He flashed his ability to get downhill with some crazy finishes and solid moves against much larger defenders. Overall, his offensive arsenal was on full display, and his 31 points proved that. </p>