Big 64 Recap: Spotlight Skills

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A staple in fall basketball events, West Chester U's basketball program hosted over 150 teams over the weekend in what made for phenomenal games from Saturday morning until Sunday afternoon. The standout were innumerable. Yet here are five players who displayed an elite skill:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2347420' first='Justin' last='Hinds'] | 6'6 W 2024 Salesianum (DE)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Defensive Rotations: </strong>Sallies played two competitive matchups on Sunday versus Roman Catholic and Bonner-Prendie. Hinds's shot wasn't there in game 1, scoring just 2 points, but that didn't affect his effort on defense. He erased a lot of his team's mistakes on the backend with how he rotated from the weak side to alter shots at the rim or fly out to the perimeter to contest a jumper. The rapidly-improving wing pulled down a rebound in traffic and disrupted passing lanes too. His 9 rebound, 2 steal, 2 block performance in game 1 carried over to game 2 where he added 12 points in a win.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1188620' first='Shareef' last='Jackson'] | 6'7 F/C 2025 Roman Catholic</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rebounding: </strong>Jackson didn't score a ton of points or make any highlight reel plays with his athleticism in Roman's two wins on Sunday. But he did rebound the basketball exceptionally well. His work on the glass set the tone for the Cahilites, allowing them to play with an edge. They seemed to win all the 50/50 balls, many of which resulted in Outbacks for Jackson. His 9 points and 12 rebounds in game 1 wore his opponents down and made the lead feel bigger than it was.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1460771' first='Jacob' last='Nguyen'] | 6'4 G 2025 Spring-Ford&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Shooting:</strong> There were no shortage of good shooting performances over the weekend, but the manner in which Nguyen executed his aerial assault set his apart. With his patented cool demeanor, he eviscerated the defenses every time they gave him an inch of space. And he did it from start to finish without letting up. From a technical standpoint, Nguyen's jumper was noteworthy because his form was consistent no matter what kind of shot it was. His pull-up looked like his spot-up and his spot-up looked like his shit off-movement. It was surgical.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1483181' first='Josh' last='Reed'] | 6'3 G 2024 Archbishop Wood&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Contact Balance:</strong> Explosive but no twitchy, Reed is the style of athlete we see more on the football field than on the basketball court. Saturday, he was able to drive past and through defenders without losing speed or control of the ball, then leap with no problem. And this wasn't just a one time feat. Whether it was in the half court or on fastbreaks, on multiple occasions, Reed pushed past someone and jumped off of one foot before absorbing contact at the rim and dunking on someone else. He's powerful to say the least.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1613878' first='RJ' last='Smith'] | 5'8 G 2024 Imhotep&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Floater:</strong> Smith came off the bench in a high-tilt game against the Patrick School on Saturday and made a starter-level contribution. Despite the Celtics having a 7'0 center and a 6'10 forward guarding the paint and Smith being over a foot shorter than them both, he neutralized their advantage with his floater game. His shifty handle kept defenders off-balance then, in a split second, he used his touch to put just enough air on the ball to get it over the defense. All 6 of Smith's points came on floaters. He added a couple steals too</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->