Clovis West Fall Shootout: Standout Seniors Pt. 1

This past weekend, September 13th - 14th, Clovis West hosted its annual Fall Shootout at the Eagles Nest. The event featured teams from Fresno, Santa Maria, Stockton, Elk Grove, Madera, Merced, and Modesto. Teams played in a showcase game format, with led to some intriguing match-ups, none more thrilling than powerhouses St. Joseph and San Joaquin Memorial squaring off. This article is part 1 of a two-part piece that looks at 8 standout seniors, which will be followed by part 2 of the senior coverage, as well as standout juniors and underclassmen. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. I begin this article with Idaho State commit, McKae Amundsen.    Amundsen is a shifty and skilled lead that can create for others, as well as get his own buckets and is a pesky perimeter defender. The recent Idaho State commit has dynamic handles, keeps it on a string to survey the defense, has the court vision and precision passing to find open players in tight windows from the top of the key or off the drive and kick out pass, has active hands on defense to get into his opponent's dribbling space, looks to poke the ball out to create turnovers, and has good timing to jump passing lanes to turn defense to offense. Amundsen uses the between cross, wide crossover, the hesitation, and the hard-pound dribble to get his defender off balance, the change of direction with the ball to keep his defender guessing, is accurate with the jumper off the dribble from the mid-range to the 3-point line, has nice touch on the floater down the lane, and is a crafty finisher over height around the basket. Amundsen plays with a relentless motor, is a heady player that has a great feel for the game, and can score in volume when he catches fire from beyond the arc.     Connors is a strong and sharp shooting wing/guard that impacts the game in various ways, and will be a relied upon senior leader for the young Bullard roster. Connors has a strong handle on the ball, uses the crossover or hesitation to get by his defender and into the paint, has a strong build to finish through contact at the basket, and is a good positional rebounder that outlets and gets up the court. Connors moves fluidly off the ball, gets to the open spot and squares his shoulders, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch. Connors has good court vision, and makes the right read from the top of the key, as well as to open players when attacking off the dribble drive, and uses timely backcuts to get open for shots on either side of the short corner.     Emerson is a gritty and skilled lead guard that keeps relentless pressure on the defense, and causes havoc for perimeter players with relentless ball pressure to force opponents into bad decisions. Emerson keeps the dribble alive to attack the defense, has a good burst of speed off the bounce to get by his initial defender, can stop on a dime to use the reverse pivot to find players cutting on the baseline, and has the court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick out pass. Emerson is a solid on-ball defender with active hands to poke the ball from his opponent's dribble space, turns defense to offense routinely, moves well off the ball to get open looks, and is effective with the 3-ball off the catch. The 4-year varsity player will be relied upon to help the Timberwolves, who have lost some key pieces from last season, and will need to play quality team ball to get wins in the TRAC this coming season.     Estrada is a lengthy and versatile wing/forward that can score in the paint, as well as create from the perimeter. Estrada has good footwork and post-moves to score in the paint, with great touch and feel around the basket, makes himself open in the dunker spot for open shots on the drop-off pass, is active on the boards to get second chance scoring opportunities, and alter shots at the rim or can close out to alter shots on the perimeter. Estrada has enough handle to push the ball up the court off the glass, uses the crossover to get by bigger defenders that over pursue him beyond the paint, is effective with the mid-range jumper off the dribble, can space the floor with the 3-ball, and runs the floor well in the open court to get ahead of the defense for easy transition buckets, Intriguing prospect that showed he can impact the game in numerous ways, and got the game-winning putback shot at the end of double overtime against Clovis North White squad.     Gish is a skilled and lengthy wing/guard that is a proven 3-level scorer, as well as an underrated defender with the versatility to defend the 1 through 5 spots. Gish crashes the boards, has the handle to push the ball up the court, the court vision to advance the ball in transition, as well as find open players cutting off the ball from the top of the key, has active hands with the wingspan to deflect passing or jump passing lanes to create steals, and block/alters shots in the paint, with the agility to step out on perimeter players and alter jump shots. Offensively, Gish continues to add to his scoring arsenal, with fluid movement off the ball to get to his shot spots off the catch, and the length and height to rise up and shoot the 3-ball over most perimeter players. Gish uses the wide crossover, the spin move, and the hesitation to get by his defender, showed nice touch on the floater with either hand, use of the long strides to get to the basket, and the ability to finish with the up and under lay-up or the Euro-step to evade defenders in the paint. Gish is at his best when he is hunting the mid-range jumper, as it opens up the court for him to score on the step-back 3-ball or get to the basket. He put up an impressive 19 points in the loss to St. Joseph on Sunday.     Kellogg is a shifty and crafty lead guard that has a 3-level scoring arsenal, which he had on full display in his home gym all weekend. Kellogg has elite handles, keeps the dribble alive to probe the defense, survey the floor, and find holes in the defense to attack, as he keeps relentless pressure on his opponent. Kellogg uses the behind cross, the hesitation, low crossover, between cross, and the hard pound dribble to create space from his defender and get them off balance, he has an elite burst of speed off the bounce to get into the paint, where he has the court vision to find teammates off the drive and kick pass, and the body control to absorb contact and still finish with tough up and under and reverse lay-ups to evade shot blockers at the basket. Kellogg is efficient with the jumper off the dribble from the mid-range to the 3-point line, gets great lift on his jumper, and moves well off the ball to get open looks off the catch from three, with a quick release. He has active hands to poke the ball out and create steals, is an underrated weakside rim protector with bounce to pin the ball, and leaves it all on the court. Kellogg will be one of the top players in the TRAC and the Section overall, and the Golden Eagles will lean on him to shoulder the bulk of the scoring load.     Orozco is a sharp shooting combo guard that has made major strides in his overall game, but especially his ability to spray shots from beyond the arc. Orozco was the biggest surprise of the weekend for me personally, as I have seen him a lot the past few years, but he has leveled up. Orozco moves well off the ball to get to his shot spots, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, showed improved confidence with the handle, used the crossover several times to create space from his defender, was effective with the stop and pop mid-range off the bounce, and attacked the basket numerous times with touch on finishes around the basket, in the half court setting or in transition. Orozco is a good positional rebounder, looks to push the pace of play, and has improved his footwork to be a solid on-ball defender. The efficiency from the 3-point line will be big for Clovis West, as it looks to establish a second reliable score outside of senior Jace Kellogg.     Powell is a high-energy and crafty combo guard that looks to push the pace of play in the open court. Powell has a strong handle on the ball, uses the crossover and toss cross to get by his defender, likes to use the floater or pull-up jumper in the mid-post area, is a creative finisher around the basket, and has good court vision to advance the ball in the open court or make reads when attacking off the wing. Powell has good bounce and timing to get the chase down block, active hands to rip the ball from opposing ball handlers, and has good timing to deflect the ball in the passing lanes to generate steals. Powell can space the floor with the 3-ball, most effectively off the catch and shoot.

This past weekend, September 13th - 14th, Clovis West hosted its annual Fall Shootout at the Eagles Nest. The event featured teams from Fresno, Santa Maria, Stockton, Elk Grove, Madera, Merced, and Modesto. Teams played in a showcase game format, with led to some intriguing match-ups, none more thrilling than powerhouses St. Joseph and San Joaquin Memorial squaring off. This article is part 1 of a two-part piece that looks at 8 standout seniors, which will be followed by part 2 of the senior coverage, as well as standout juniors and underclassmen. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. I begin this article with Idaho State commit, McKae Amundsen.