Top Players From my Week in Columbus
In this article:
This week I went out to three games. On Tuesday, November 29th I went to Olentangy Orange as I watched the Pioneers pick up a 68-46 win over St. Charles Prep. Then I was in Dublin on Friday and Saturday.…
Access all of Prep Hoops
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingThis week I went out to three games. On Tuesday, November 29th I went to Olentangy Orange as I watched the Pioneers pick up a 68-46 win over St. Charles Prep. Then I was in Dublin on Friday and Saturday. I caught Dublin Jerome beating Thomas Worthington 52-38 on Friday and then Dublin Coffman get its first win of the season over Northland 68-47 on Saturday night. This article will cover the top players I saw this week in Columbus.
Kendrick has been talked about a lot and there is a reason for it. He is special. He went viral this summer for being caught shooting the ball ambidextrous. Now I didn’t catch him shooting the ball with his left and right on Saturday night but he for sure was using them both effectively around the rim. He had tough finishes and his mid-range game impressed me. He does a good job at breaking you down with his dribble and then pulling up with his quick jumper. Super long arms so he does not need much of any space to shoot it but he does a great job of using his pivot and fading away when he gets caught in a bad spot. He has a super tight handle on the ball and splits through the defense very well. This kid is a great talent.
Edwards was a fun player to watch Tuesday. His playmaking ability took the game over. He only had four points in the first half but it felt like he had 18 with how much his fingerprints were on the game. He does an incredible job of throwing one-hand passes across the court on the money to his teammates off the dribble. He always finds the open man. Just a fun player to watch. He ended the game with 14 points and did all of his work in the paint as he used his body to clean up the boards and attack the basket. He also was a pest on defense. He picked up a ten-second call on a St. Charles guard for his full-court pressure.
Walker is a big body that demands a lot of attention in the post. He is a player that you can not just have one player guard him. Everyone needs to dig in on him and probably double-team him. Orange did a great job at this. Walker got in foul trouble early so he didn’t get it going until late. When he hit a beautiful spin move in the first you saw the special talent this big fella is. He got into his rhythm late when his shots started falling and he started making his presence felt in the paint on the boards. Unfortunately for him and St. Charles Prep, it was just too late.
McCollum is just a bucket. Pretty simple. He can score at all three levels but does most of his damage on the first and third levels. He has some really good moves to get the defense off balance and pull-ups at the perfect time. He leads the game in scoring with 17 points. He had a tough fadeaway running jumper when attacking the basket which was simply a next-level move. He has very good control of his body when attacking the basket. I believe he will be an instant impact at Hillsdale next year if he gets bigger.
The first thing that jumped out to me about Nutter on Friday night was his size. He has seemed to put on some muscle between now and the AAU season and it shows. He also did most of his scoring in the paint but now he is in there banging and moving others around. Got a lot of rebounds and was at the free-throw line all night. He started to find his rhythm scoring at the end of the half and then came out in the third and executed ball screens beautifully. Did a great job of dragging out the screen to attract help defense and hit the open teammate for easy points.
Lewis is just as solid of a player as they come with some great athleticism. He was a monster on the defensive end for Olentangy Orange. He was in the opposing guards’ shorts all game long. Flying around defensively. He won’t make any mistakes for you. He had a nasty alley-pop dunk in the third quarter for Orange and it showed what this kid is capable of. I really like Lewis’s game.