Witnessed: Week 2: Top Defenders
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I watched two games this week: Bixby vs Sand Springs and Muskogee vs Union. To start off, Bixby narrowly escaped a resilient Sand Springs team that came ready to play. Bixby has several good commits, including the #2 ranked player…
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Continue ReadingI watched two games this week: Bixby vs Sand Springs and Muskogee vs Union. To start off, Bixby narrowly escaped a resilient Sand Springs team that came ready to play. Bixby has several good commits, including the #2 ranked player in the state: Parker Friedrichsen Parker Friedrichsen 6'4" | SG Bixby | 2023 State #165 Nation OK . Sand Springs has a pretty young roster, only having five seniors listed on the roster. Parker showed every ounce of why he is the #2 ranked prospect in the state, as he was able to perform in front of the Notre Dame coach, where he is committed. The coach got his money worth to say the least. As for the Union and Muskogee game, it was close at halftime, but Union’s phenomenal junior trio showed to be too much for Muskogee, as they pulled away for an easy victory. This article is the top defenders that I witnessed in those two games.
Cedric Dixon Cedric Dixon 6’3″ | SG Grind Prep | 2024 State #323 Nation OK is one of the top shooters in the state of Oklahoma and is ranked #17 out of all juniors in the state. He showed off his shooting ability in this one, the ability to knock down several three pointers at a high and efficient clip, but he made an impact beyond that. I have seen a few games this season, but his perimeter defense was towards the top of the list. Between him and his teammate, it is a miracle that the other team can make more that a couple of three pointers. He was fighting through screens, contesting shots very well, and even came up with a few steals. This is a player that is a great 3 and D type player, with the potential to become an amazing all-around player. With the effort that he gives on both ends of the court, he can become an elite two-way player. If he is this good of a shooter and defender as a junior, senior year will be scary for opponents.
Dalen Fuller Dalen Fuller 6’4″ | CG Union | 2024 State OK was the leading scorer in the game with 20 points, but he played great defense to go along with it. He is the other piece that I referred to above. Between him and Cedric, they have the perimeter locked down. He has good length and athleticism to help him defensively. He had one great contest that forced an airball. On a different play, he blocked the ball off of the backboard in transition. There was another play that he forced a steal and scored in transition. His scoring came from mostly at the rim, but he showed the ability to knock down the mid-range shot and the three. He showed off his athleticism with a couple of crazy dunks in this game, one of them coming off of a steal and the other one was when he finished an alley-oop. He had a great performance on both ends of the court in this one.
Triston Driver Triston Driver 6’0″ | PG Bixby | 2025 State OK played with heart and made an impact on both ends of the court. He ended with 15 points in this game. He hit a floater over a smaller defender, scored at the rim a few times, scored in transition, and knocked down a three pointer when the defense closed out slightly late. He played great defense all game and came away with three steals. He was able to turn all three steals into something good for his team: he played the passing lanes and stole the ball, finishing in transition. The next steal he stripped the ball handler clean and drove down, drawing the foul. He went 2/2 from the free throw line. The third steal he found the open shooter off of it. He had good hands to knock the ball away and he showed effort by diving for it. He played well on both ends of the court.
Highlights
I usually try to avoid including the same player on every single article from one game, but Parker Friedrichsen Parker Friedrichsen 6’4″ | SG Bixby | 2023 State #165 Nation OK earned it. I could not make a scorers/shooters article and not include him when he scored 40 points, I could not make a top rebounders list when he had one of the highest rebounding totals in the game, and now I am making top defenders. He played such good defense that I could not leave him off of the roster. He has good length and size for a guard and he knew how to use it. He brought a great double team near half court to force his opponents to call a timeout. He tipped a pass to force a steal and he came up with a couple of other steals. He displayed good perimeter defense and forced his opponents into several bad shots. Not only was his offensive game and defense amazing, he had six rebounds (three of them being offensive). If you want more details on a different area of his game, I wrote a scorers/shooters article and a top rebounders article that you can go check out. He had a great all-around game to help his team narrowly win.
Highlights
Marcus Mitchell
Marcus Mitchell
Marcus Mitchell played amazing defense throughout this game. He is not the biggest guy on the court, but he makes up for it with heart. He plays with a lot of energy and harassed the ball handler continually, which led to three steals from him stripping the ball-handler and another steal from him playing the passing lanes. All-together, he finished with four steals and great perimeter defense. He always made the extra effort to contest a shot or to recover back into a play. To go along with the steals, he added in nine points and a couple of rebounds. He shot 2 for 5 from the field in this game. After three games on the season, he is averaging 3.3 steals per game.
Erik Madrid Erik Madrid 7’1″ | C Union | 2024 State OK is the tallest player in Oklahoma and has great size at 7’0 tall. He is a double-double machine with rebounds and points, scoring inside a solid amount. to go along with that, he puts his great size to use by acting as a brick wall at the basket. He does a great job contesting shots and coming up with an occasional block, to where the opponents had trouble scoring anywhere near the paint. Great interior defense and the ability to block and contest shots well is something that is beneficial to his team. He is the #1 ranked center in his class for a reason.