Grit Region Finals: Teddy's Saturday Notebook (Part 2)

Top 2024 Bigs in Illinois Square off in Classic 16u Team Rose and Paradise Basketball faced off in the third round of the 16u Championship Friday evening. Two of the top forwards in the state faced off in Team Rose’s [player_tooltip player_id="1157224" first="Mike" last="Jones"], and Paradise’s [player_tooltip player_id="1285496" first="Jason" last="Jakstys"]. In the beginning, it was the guard play that stood out. [player_tooltip player_id="1295497" first="Josh" last="Aniceto"] was on fire from the start for Paradise Basketball. He moves the ball up the floor at a fast pace, and did a great job getting his teammates involved. For Team Rose, [player_tooltip player_id="1285486" first="Tristan" last="Ford"] hit a pair of 3’s early, and Jon’Tayveon Samuels was knocking down shots from several areas of the floor. It took a little while for the two bigs to get going on offense, but Jones was making the plays on defense. He shut down Jakstys throughout the entire first half in the block. It wasn’t until Jones was subbed out when Jasktys got going. He threw down a dunk and displayed a terrific touch in the paint to conclude the first half. This put Paradise in front at the break. Paradise continued their strong play in the 2nd half. [player_tooltip player_id="1295575" first="Bryce" last="Salek"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1295470" first="Colin" last="Gerrity"] made some terrific play on offense. Salek did a nice job filling holes in transition and finishing through contact. While Gerrity knocked down shots from all three levels, and really gave them a spark. But again, [player_tooltip player_id="1157224" first="Mike" last="Jones"] and Jon’Tayveon Samuels would bring Rose Back. [player_tooltip player_id="1157224" first="Mike" last="Jones"] really got going with several inside buckets in the 2nd half, and got to the line several times. But what stood out to me was his passing. I counted four 2nd half assists from Jones as a forward. In the closing minutes, [player_tooltip player_id="1295497" first="Josh" last="Aniceto"] and [player_tooltip player_id="1285497" first="Luke" last="Kinkade"] stepped up. Kinkade had an and-one and hit several other cutch shots. Aniceto showed off a nice burst to the basket for an and-one to regain the lead. Up 1, Aniceto hit two clutch free throws to seal the win. Paradise Basketball took down Team Rose 66-63 in a classic game.   Fundamental U 2025 Falls to No Limit Despite Strong Effort After a strong showing in the morning, I knew I had to watch Fundamental U again. Theo Rocca opened the game with a nice assist to Reid Olson. He followed it up with a driving layup to the basket and two fast break steals. Rocca even stepped up and took a charge late in the first half. Olsen made nice plays early in the second game with a couple cutting baskets and solid feeds. Ayden Farrare played strong on both ends. Squared up well in the low block and guarded almost everyone on No Limit. He showed lots of explosiveness with the ball in transition too. He banked home a contested shot in the beginning. A turn-around fadeaway by Drew Bartolai was the best play I saw as he broke off the defender for the shot at the free throw line. Rocca ended the first half with a transition floater to give Fundamental U a 22-17 lead. Bartolai scores a coast-to-coast layup and Reid Olson hits a 3 to open up the 2nd half. Rocca also hit another floater to extend the lead to 10. He then blocked a shot on defense. But No Limit crawled back and took a 34-31 lead. Rocca played some more terrific defense and stripped the ball away from an opponent for an easy layup. This cut the deficit to 1 with 2:40 to go. A minute later, Olsen found Farrare cutting to the basket to tie the game. On the next possession, Rocca grove down the lane and hit a layup through contact. No limit tied it, and the game went into OT, where they’d lose 44-41.   Cole Beinborn Shines for Team Iowa in Intriguing Game This was the first game I scouted with only one referee. But play went on for a good 10 minutes before the site director stopped it. 6’3” 2025 G Cole Beinborn was the big name to watch. He opened the game with a spot-up 3, and created problems on defense with some nice footwork. He followed things up with two midrange jumpers near the elbow. He went hard to the paint and drew a couple fouls, and got quickly into double figures. With about 6 minutes to go in the first half. The game was halted. Neither team wanted to play with only one official. After about 5 minutes, the game resumed. Beinborn made two nice assists to begin the restart. He made a third one in transition to a cutting teammate near the basket. Xavier Gamez got hot with buckets from all three levels by the end of the half. He hit a three, pulled up for a jumper, and made a solid cut to the basket. He was pretty active on the glass too with some productive boards on both ends.   [player_tooltip player_id="1157220" first="Sean" last="Brown-Coley"] Vastly Improving for Team Ten Jabari Parker Brown-Coley had high expectations coming into high school. After two mediocre years, he’s made an impressive leap to his game. I saw him out on a terrific showing against Team Tru from St. Louis in the 16u Championship Bracket. He opened with a three and responded with some stellar defense. Forcing a difficult basket and was immediately on the glass for the rebound. Despite being bigger, he was quick moving the ball up the floor. He got an and-one in the paint a few mins later and made a 2v1 fast-break layup. When trailing, he stayed hot to keep his team in the game. Hitting a mid-range pull-up and an assist ahead to a teammate for a fast-break score. He was the first player of the game in double-figures. He even got active on the offensive glass with a board over two taller players. I counted at least 13 points and 6 assists at halftime for Brown-Coley. He continued his strong play in the second half, opening with a transition layup through contact, and some more strong defense. He was definitely Italy the most efficient defender on his team that game.