Brawl For The Ball Recap: 2026 Evals

We’re back!  It’s Circuit Season! The Prephoops Circuit is upon us. I will be covering and providing exposure for the Hustle Region Circuit. The Hustle Region Circuit consists of AAU Programs from California, Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Utah, Montana, Idaho, Colorado, and New Mexico. The circuit features 10 stops including the Hustle Region Final in Irvine July 15th – 17th. For stop number 8 the circuit returns to Phoenix with the Brawl For The Ball. The second half of the circuit signals the beginning of the high school careers for 2026 players. We had several of them participating in Phoenix. Here’s a look at some 2026 evals. 

Brandon Stapleton Brandon Stapleton 6'3" | CG Chandler | 2026 State AZ 6’0 SG AZ Gremlins – Stapleton is a prospect to keep an eye on. The lefty has good positional size, to go along with the ability to score in 1 v 1 situations. I would like to see more of a consistent motor and outside shot from him, however, he’s a capable shooter, who showed that he can also score the ball in transition. 

Drew Payne 6’4 SF Colorado Hoops Academy – Speaking to a few people about Payne, you get the impression that he’s going to be good. It’s not just talk either. The wing has a good skill set, to go along with a pretty advanced basketball IQ. Payne was an active rebounder and scored effectively around the rim. Perhaps his most impressive skill was his ability to move without the ball. Payne was accurate and displayed good fundamentals shooting the ball coming off screens. 

Blake Cremeen 6’3 SG Colorado Hoops Academy (featured image) – Cremeen did a lot of little things I liked. He moves well and was a willing passer. The 6’3 wing proved to be a mismatch even playing a year up, as he had too much size for guards, and had enough ball skills to take advantage of bigs on the perimeter. 

Austin Curry 5’11 PF Colorado Hoops Academy – Curry is a Long prospect with a lot of upside. His best skill was his ability to rebound the basketball as he used his long arms to win more than his share of 50/50 rebounds. He will have to remember to keep the ball high, but he’s pretty agile and showed the ability to get off the floor with a good 2nd jump this weekend. 

Evan Santos 5’5 PG Team Rampage – Santos’ top skills are on the defensive side of the ball. He is a player that loves to take the challenge of defending ballhandlers, and he showed the ability to do this at a high level. The jitterbug’s defense changed the entire energy of some games as he used quick hands to get steals and cause general havoc. Offensively he’s a drive-first player that is good at getting paint touches and collapsing the defense. 

Nicolas Quartaro 6’0 SG Colorado Hoops Academy – Quartaro caught my eye in one of the last games of the weekend. I really liked how he moved off the ball, and he showed the ability to be accurate from both behind the arc and mid-range. Quartaro kept maximum pressure on defenses when the ball was in his hands, as he was a threat to hit pull-up jumpers from both aforementioned spots. 

Cole Hunt SF Colorado Hoops Academy – Hunt is a hard hat glue guy with the willingness to do the team’s dirty work. The forward was able to defend the interior and clean the glass at a high level. He’s a fluid rim runner that was part of a talented 2026 crop for C.H.A. 

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