Creme of the County: Event Surprises, 2024 edition

<p>While my colleague's Devin Ugland and Frank Burlison have covered my signature event from soup to nuts, there are several players who had performances that caught my attention. We'll start with my surprises from the 2024 Creme and Select games. </p>   <h2>Jaeden Robley, 6-5 2024 W, University City</h2>   <p>In his second Creme game appearance, Robley had an understated but effective performance, scoring 10 points on 4-6 shooting and grabbing 5 rebounds. The long, willowy swingman has a fluid release from three and runs the floor hard and did a good job receiving passes in the lane and finishing through contact. He's a consistent handle away from really elevating his stock as a true 2/3. </p>   <h2>[player_tooltip player_id='1502828' first='Derek' last='Edmond'], 6-4 2024 G, Victory Christian Academy</h2>   <p>Edmond, who just turned 16 over the summer, continues to showcase why he's one of the more underrated combo guard prospects in the class. He's got great size, solid length, can drive assertively and score going to his right and is a solid shooter off the catch and with a live dribble. He has to improve his off hand handle, but he's got time. And a lot of upside. </p>   <h2>Amanuel Tesfahunegn, 6-1 2024 G, Hoover</h2>   <p>After a disappointing sophomore year, Tesfahunegn looked back to his old self in the Creme game, scoring several drives through contact and playing solid on-ball defense. His game is unorthodox and he's not quite a point guard, but he is productive. </p>   <h2>Luke Sandburg, 6-0 2024 PG, Del Norte</h2>   <p>Sandburg played his way into a player of the game award with his scoring and distributing in the 2024 select game. He did an exceptional job changing speeds and pace to get into the lane and made some high level passes to cutting teammates. And when he needed to, he was able to get into the chest of shot blockers and finish through contact. </p>   <h2>[player_tooltip player_id='1423837' first='Mazen' last='El Bissat'], 6-4 2024 W, San Marcos</h2>   <p>Bissat made a big impression in the Select game, knocking down a pair of threes off the catch and aggressively rebounding on both ends. He's a prospect with great length, broad shoulders and a frame that has a ton of upside. He also had a couple of nice straight line drives to set up finishes or second chance opportunities cleaning up his own misses. </p>   <h2>Matin Madadkar, 6-4 2024 W, Torrey Pines</h2>   <p>The lefty Madadkar was the surprise of the 2024 class games, both Creme and Select. A lefty with solid ball skills and feel, Madadkar scored it both off the bounce and off the catch from three, and was tough to keep out of the lane, as he had a size advantage over his defenders. A big guard with solid length, Madadkar is a prospect that is a regional sleeper. </p>   <h2>Kumari West, 6-1 2024 G, Mission Bay</h2>   <p>West, who recently played his first two high school seasons at Mira Mesa, continues to evolve as a guard. In this game, he was MVP on his squad and did it by crashing the glass and scoring off of second chance opportunities created by his motor and hustle. A right-hand dominant slasher, West is a combo guard with a lot of upside. </p>   <h2>Zion Applewhaite, 6-4 2024 W, Del Norte</h2>   <p>Applewhaite did what West did for his squad in a winning effort: rebound. He collected more than 10 boards and consistently crashed both offensive and defensive glass to give his team extra possessions. While his ball skills are still a bit raw, they are rounding into form and there's a lot to like about his trajectory as a utility wing who can knock down threes off the catch, slash to his dominant hand and finish through contact. </p>   <h2>[player_tooltip player_id='1502886' first='Jack' last='Jillson'], 5-10 2024 G, Mission Hills</h2>   <p>Jillson, a prolific scorer for his high school and travel teams, showed off the deep range on his three ball, hitting two rhythm threes from well beyond the college line. A compact guard who can finish in traffic, he played a big role in the East team's near comeback in the Creme game, especially on the defensive end, where he played tough second-half defense against his travel teammate, Brycen Mackenzie. </p>   <h2>Zach Thompson, 6-3 2024 G, Rancho Bernardo</h2>   <p>In terms of pure upside, Thompson has a higher physical ceiling than most guards in the class by virtue of his length, and size. More crafty than explosive, Thompson has a bag of tricks at his disposal with the live dribble, keeping defenders off balance with hesitation dribbles and evading defenders with his euro step. He sometimes looks for the home run play versus the fundamental pass or finish, but overall, I like his trajectory as a prospect. </p>   <h2>Ben Gavani, 6-6 2024 F, University City</h2>   <p>Gavani is a prospect who doesn't play out of his comfort zone, which is being a disruptive rim protector on offense and a rim runner and productive finisher in traffic in the half court and transition. He had at least 6 blocks in the game and altered several other shots. He's one of the better young big prospects in our local class. </p>   <p> </p>

While my colleague's Devin Ugland and Frank Burlison have covered my signature event from soup to nuts, there are several players who had performances that caught my attention. We'll start with my surprises from the 2024 Creme and Select games.