The Classic at Damien (Post Players)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>LA VERNE, Ca.--The Classic at Damien continued to show it's the ultimate holiday tournament on the West Coast due to its plethora of quality teams and stellar players, led by Tournament MVP [player_tooltip player_id='1630617' first='Brayden' last='Burries'] of Roosevelt.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In the following days, there will be numerous breakdowns of prospects ranging from High-Major Division 1 talents to junior college prospects under a bevy of categories. Let's begin with Best All Around. This type of player impacts the game in a variety of ways–fills the stat sheet, per se.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1538434' first='Blake' last='Rawson'] (American Fork, UT)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2024, C, 6-foot-8, 225 pounds</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Joel's Take: </strong>Rawson is your typical blue-collar 5-man for the Division 1 level. He can play with his back to the basket and bully ball his way to the rim using his excellent footwork. Also, he can face-up his opponent and maneuver to the rim using his fundamentals and grit. He can play through contact, knock in the elbow jump shot, and can grind at both ends of the floor.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1168376' first='Grayson' last='Brousseau'] (Lehi, UT)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2024, C, 6-foot-6, 225 pounds</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Joel's take:</strong> it's not shocking to find "bigs" in Utah that are fundamentally sound and Brousseau is yet another example. The undersized 4/5 can face-up his defender or play with his back to the basket. He has the strength and girth to pound his defender on the interior and his footwork is excellent. In addition, he can post up and finish over either shoulder. In fact, one of his more impressive moves was a fade-away turn-around jump shot over his right shoulder. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1630667' first='Nate' last='Garcia'] (Damien)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2025, C, 7-foot, 260 pounds</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Joel's take:</strong> One of the bigger specimens in all of high school basketball is Garcia. Despite his size, he shows solid balance and mobility while operating in the post. He has a mature back-to-the-basket game where he can finish over either shoulder and his hands and touch are great. If the double team comes he also showed an uncanny ability to deliver the appropriate pass to an open shooter. His overall demeanor is mature beyond his years as well. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='1185179' first='Kyle' last='Lemke'] (Dixie, UT)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2024, C, 6-foot-9, 235 pounds</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Joel's take: Lemke is a strong blue-collar 5-man for the next level. When evaluating "big men" we look for soft hands and good feet, and Lemke has them both. He can pound the paint area and he knows how to carve out space to create openings for his post-delivery. He transitions well from offense to defense and he does a nice job of keeping his hands high at all times while defending. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->