PSAL AA Championship Breakdown

In the finals of PSAL AA championship at the Barclays Center, Eagle Academy II (Brooklyn) had an absolute showdown against Thomas Jefferson. I have had the opportunity to watch both of these teams compete this year and had some serious questions about how they would match up against each other.   Thomas Jefferson is known for playing a high-tempo game looking to force as many turnovers as possible and dominate in the transition game. Thomas Jefferson's home court is not close to the size of an NBA court and I was worried that their style would not convert to a full-size NBA court (literally). But boy oh boy was I wrong. Thomas Jefferson is led by the play of senior Anthony Isaac who still remains unsigned. At 6'7 he is an absolute physical specimen. In the previous game I watched 'Ant' play in, he was running up and down the court bullying smaller players and getting everything on the glass. I was worried that against stronger competition he would not be able to do the same.   Anthony Isaac managed to be the leading scorer of his team and showed that he was a superior athlete even against big players like Eagle Academy's Trey Shepp and Emarquis Jones. 'Ant' showed that he has a lot more to his game than physical dominance, he was 2/2 from 3 point range in the game and had a few excellent dimes out of the post. 'Ant' is also the bedrock of his teams defense, with the ability to protect the rim and the foot speed to switch out onto smaller guards, 'Ant' can do it all on that end. I am not sure why more schools are not taking a serious look at Isaac who has the athleticism, feel and skill to be an excellent wing at the next level.   Eagle Academy was led by the play by senior LIU commits Trey Shepp, [player_tooltip player_id='1125345' first='Eric' last='Acker']s and unsigned junior Taj Smith. It is clear that Smith is one of the best players in the city and that he will dominate the league next year. Smith was locked in on defense breaking up passes and forcing opponents into tough shots. Smith's talents really shined in transition where he was out running kids and showing off his mean behind the back crossover. Smith also displayed his jump shot hitting a few threes from NBA range (the Nets line was still out there).   You can't talk about this game without talking about the man of the hour, unsigned junior guard/forward Eddie Munyak. Earlier in the season, Munyak was coming off the bench for the Eagles but it was clear that his IQ and shot making ability made him a real asset to the team. By the time of the championship, Coach Hamilton could barely take him off the floor. Munyak started off the game slow, missing a few shots he normally makes but showed an incredible amount of mental toughness. Down 2, with about 15 seconds left in the game, Coach Hamilton drew up a play for Munyak and he bricked the shot but Eagle Academy got the ball back. Without flinching, Coach put the ball back in Munyak's hands who had a clean look from the corner and this time he drained the buzzer beating game-winning 3. Every shooter will tell you that shooting is all about mentality and Munyak has that mentality.   Part of the reason that Munyak had struggled to hit his shot earlier in the game was due to the incredible defense of Thomas Jefferson sophomore guard Tristian Davis. On multiple occasions, Davis forced turnovers by either having Eagle dribble out of bounds or fail to get the ball over half court in time. Whatever Davis may lack in size he makes up for in strength and a killer mentality towards the game. Davis had some absolutely filthy crossovers that he used to get nice pull-up jump shots or to get into the lane and finish over the Eagle Academy bigs. Despite only being a sophomore, it was clear that every on Thomas Jefferson trusted Davis to take and make huge shots in the final moments of the game and he did.   Another key part of this Thomas Jefferson team is sophomore guard Connor Sprattley. For lots of young, highly ranked AAU players like Sprattley it can't be hard to adjust to the game when you no longer have the ball in your hands all the time but Sprattley has shown that he has a much deeper understanding of the game. Sprattley hustled like crazy during the championship game, getting loose balls, offensive rebounds and finishing his teammate missed shots. When Sprattley did have the ball in his hands he showed his ball handling skills, splitting a double and finishing at the rim.   The PSAL AA championship was a game to remember with tons of unsigned talent showing off their skills.

In the finals of PSAL AA championship at the Barclays Center, Eagle Academy II (Brooklyn) had an absolute showdown against Thomas Jefferson. I have had the opportunity to watch both of these teams compete this year and had some serious questions about how they would match up against each other.