The Tune Up: Mike’s Saturday Guard Standouts

The Tune Up allowed teams to get back into the swing of things for their July AAU tournaments that will pick up over the next two weekends, in this article I'll break down my standout guard performers from Saturday.    I liked how House set the table for his team in the half court, helping move the ball around and get teammates touches. I was impressed that he didn't have to bring the ball up the court every possession but still made a big impact as a playmaker for others. In the second half House hit two or three 3's from the corner to spark a huge run. I think college coaches will enjoy the mentality that House brings to the table from the lead guard position, a bit of a throwback style player.     The second pair of [program_tooltip program_id='2075957' first='The' last='Work Foundation']'s impressive guard duo, Lowe was a gritty guard who kept his team hanging around the entire game I caught. Lowe played through contact and went to the foul line a few times thanks to his grit. I also enjoyed watching Lowe and House work off each other and take turns attacking off the dribble.     When his game got tight in the closing moments, Dowell turned his game up to another level and completely took over the final 5 minutes of game time. Dowell had two righty reverse layups on the left side, made some slick passes by looking off the defense and putting the perfect touch on the pass to find his teammate in stride and hit a cold-blooded pull-up 3-pointer. While I was impressed in the first half with how Dowell moved on the ball and the pace he played at, his crunch time performance made him potentially my standout of the day overall.     A big time athlete from the guard spot, Overton was playing above the rim on the fast break and has quick twitch athleticism that makes him tough to stay in front of at the point of attack. Maybe the highlight of the day happened when a guard went up for a layup and Overton skied from out of nowhere to pin it against the backboard. That type of play requires big time athletic gifts that not everybody has but Overton possesses.     Maybe my favorite player I saw compete all day, I'm positive I didn't see a higher IQ player today than Holcer. Whenever I was watching him play he was deflecting passes as a help-side defender, taking care of the basketball and cutting to make himself available. The little things add up and Holcer would be a great player for younger prospects to watch and see how he impacts the game without making 20 crossover moves off the bounce.     I could've picked a handful of players from Martin's team but landed on him due to his ability to finish advantage situations his teammates created at an efficient clip. Martin made shots from 3-point range, attacked closeouts and scored in transition off steals and defensive rebounds. Keeping the game simple can allow you to score efficiently and help your team win and that was the formula Martin stuck with on Saturday.     Cervantes had to create a ton of offense for his team and seemed to enjoy being the engine of the offense. Against a full court pressing defense he was the guard who was attacking and being aggressive to beat the defense and create numbers advantages on the other end. Quick and slippery off the bounce, Cervantes also knocked down a couple jumpers when given time and space to fire away. One of the more creative guards I had the pleasure of watching on Saturday, Cervantes is a fun player to watch from Illinois.

The Tune Up allowed teams to get back into the swing of things for their July AAU tournaments that will pick up over the next two weekends, in this article I'll break down my standout guard performers from Saturday.