PA Commonwealth Cup: Under the Radar Prospects

Chad Graham February 10, 2022 @ 06:57 PM

The PA Cup is a round-robin between four of the elite private schools near Philadelphia - Hill School, Perkiomen, Phelps, and Westtown. It featured talented players who have the potential to contribute at the highest levels of basketball, including top tier academic colleges and universities. Below are several under the radar prospects who will be scholarship-level players in college   [player_tooltip player_id="1382971" first="Josh" last="Cameron"] | Hill School 6’6 W ‘23 With a different team context than last season, Josh is playing more on the wing and the move is paying dividends. Being off-ball helped him take advantage of his skillset because he didn’t have to create for himself as much. He had clean looks to showcase his signature passing ability, alongside the handle, by getting his teammates the ball in position to score. The passing also sustained advantages created by others. Josh’s shooting was a pleasant surprise. He knocked threes off of 1-dribble pull ups, spotting up, and pick & pop opportunities. Although he wasn’t able to put up stats in high volumes, Cameron was efficient with the touches he did have. Sean “SJ” Hutchinson | Phelps 6’3 G ‘22 SJ displays several indicators of a good shooter at the next level. His shot versatility is an asset to the team’s offense. He takes movement, self-created, and catch-and-shoot threes. The overall volume is there too, making 4 threes versus Hill and 4 versus Perkiomen. Every catch SJ gets from behind the arc warrants a closeout and defenders have to fight over screens because he stays ready and willing to pull the trigger. The stroke from the free throw line looks good as well. Rounding out his scoring abilities, Hutchinson is developing his in-between game as a counter for his deep ball. [player_tooltip player_id="1200771" first="Matt" last="Mayock"] | Westtown 6’7 W ‘23 The junior wing was a great glue guy on this squad because of how he fits in around Westtown’s more-heralded players. For one, Matt was sound as a weak-side defender. He showed great awareness, always staying at the right level between the ball and his man and keeping his feet active. This is especially important because he prevents their defense from getting back-cut when Dereck Lively comes up and away from the rim on ball-screens. As a floor spacer on offense, he keeps defenses honest by making them pay for helping off of him. In the comeback win against Perkiomen, Matt did just that making 2 threes late in the second half. [player_tooltip player_id="1283973" first="Priest" last="Ryan"] | Perkiomen 6’6 F ‘23 Ryan was versatile on both ends. He profiles as more of a combo forward, but in their three matchups, he faced true bigs with varied skill sets and was fairly successful. Lively II from Westtown was of course his biggest test. Priest managed to win a few possessions 1-on-1 with the Duke-signee by using his quickness to deny entry passes, his leverage to force touches outside of the paint, and his physical tools to contest shots. When it came to him touching the rock, Priest converted almost everything he got around the basket with his explosiveness and some craft. And when he had clean looks from deep, he fired some of those in too. Additional Prospects Anthony Wise | Hill School 6’2 G ‘22 [player_tooltip player_id="991187" first="Ibrahima" last="Bayu"] | Perkiomen 6’8 W ‘22 [player_tooltip player_id="1382943" first="Daouda" last="Dembele"] | Perkiomen 6’6 F/C ‘22 [player_tooltip player_id="991172" first="Neel" last="Beniwal"] | Phelps 6’5 W ‘22 [player_tooltip player_id="1379563" first="Quin" last="Berger"] | Westtown 6’1 G ‘22 Seyphon Triplett | Westtown 6’1 G ‘23