Pittsburgh Prospects To Watch This Week

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>We've taken quite a bit of time to preview marquee matchups and we'll return with this week's matchups to follow tomorrow. Today we look at individual prospects to follow this week who are hot this year.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1395834' first='Makhai' last='Valentine']</strong> | 6'3" | G | Steel Valley 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Valentine is an ATM machine of points. He is a threat anywhere in the halfcourt and he's gone over 30 nearly every single night, pushing 40 or more on occasions as well. The Steel Valley side is struggling to round into basketball shape and coming up just short early in the season as the entire team was football players, including Valentine, but he's showing why he's got D1 interest thusfar. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1185952' first='Sawyer' last='Butler']</strong> | 6'1" | G | Beaver 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Beaver girls team recently saw successes led by now Point Park Star Emma Pavelek, but its Butler and his younger brother Ty who are now driving the bus for the boys basketball program at Beaver. Butler is a solid floor general who can also shoot from beyond the arc and plays bigger than his size. He's a tough defender and has interest from several college programs. The Butlers, along with 6'3" forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1395899' first='Aiden' last='Townsend']</strong>, make up the core of the Beaver scoring this year. Townsend is a rugged post player who is also getting college interest. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='991349' first='Bryce' last='Epps']</strong> | 5'10" | G | South Allegheny 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Epps is a scoring machine. He's within about 50 points of the school scoring record, which is over 1,600. He's currently averaging just under 25PPG. Epps has put on some muscle and can get through contact easier than he did as a junior, which is aiding his high scoring style. He's also a shooter with good range. He's a four year starter and will be a solid guard at the next level. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jonathan Anderson</strong> | 5'9" | G | New Castle 2023</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Anderson is usually the smallest starter on the floor for Castle, but he plays much bigger than his height as a lead guard. He's a patient facilitator, tough on ball defender(That's mandatory if you play for Blundo) and he's also capable of scoring the basketball at multiple levels. He had 26 in a big divisional win over Butler last week and has drawn praise from media, coaches and opponents alike. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='991401' first='Brandin' last='Cummings']</strong> | 6'3" | G | Lincoln Park Charter 2024</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Cummings recently committed to Pitt and he had a fantastic weekend in Erie at the McDonalds showcase against elite teams from around the Rust Belt. He's a lethal shooter from range and can score the basketball at the rim as well. He's comfortable facilitating in the backcourt when called upon and teams up with <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='991408' first='Meleek' last='Thomas'] </strong>to form what may be the top backcourt in Western Pennsylvania and one of the top in the state and perhaps the entire country. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->