Minutemen Fall Varsity Shootout: Standout Juniors (Pt.1)

This weekend, September 6th and 7th, Liberty High School was host to the inaugural Minutemen Fall Varsity Shootout in Bakersfield, CA. The event featured teams from Fresno, Clovis, Modesto, Stockton, Oxnard, Arroyo Grande, Porterville, Kerman and Delano, where teams played in a showcase game format with some marque match-ups such as Modesto Christian and Bakersfield Christian on Day 1. This article is a part one, and looks at 7 standout juniors from the two-day showcase, in which I watched all but 3 of the games. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. I will provide a part 2 to this article, as well as standout sophomores. I begin with the [player_tooltip player_id='2136801' first='Seve' last='Archuleta'] of Modesto Christian.    Archuleta is a physical and skilled forward that can operate in the paint, as well as space the floor with the jumper. Archuleta crashes the boards on both ends, provides second chance scoring opportunities on putbacks, and runs the floor well in the open court to get open for passes up the court. Archuleta has good hands in the paint to receive entry passes, has good timing on dives off the pick and roll, and has nice touch on finishes around the basket. Archuleta has the strong build to finish through contact at the basket and is effective with the jumper from the mid-post to bring bigs away from the basket. He will be relied upon to provide the interior presence for the Crusaders this coming season.      Bibioff is a poised and skilled lead guard that plays with pace and control, and can score the ball from 3-levels. Bibioff has a tight handle on the ball, keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor or find holes in the defense, has the court vision and precision passing to make reads in tights windows, and is a good positional rebounder, which allows him to push the pace of play up the court. Bibioff makes use of the crossover, hesitation, and the hard-pound dribble to get his defender off balance, has a good burst of speed off the bounce with lift on the mid-range jumper, is accurate with the 3-ball off the dribble or the catch, and is a crafty finisher around height in the paint, with touch off the glass on the floater. Bibioff controls the flow of the game and impacts both ends of the court, as he is a pesky on-ball defender that can turn defense to offense.     Daramola is an athletic and strong forward that is an elite paint protector, and showed improved moves to score the ball in the post. Daramola runs the floor well in the open court, gets ahead of the defense for transition dunks, is an elite shot blocker around the basket, with the lateral quickness to step out and alter perimeter shots, and is relentless on the boards providing his team with multiple offensive possessions on missed shots. Daramola showed improved balance and confidence with the drop-step post move, which he used several times over the weekend, with the physical build to muscle through contact and nice touch on shots around the basket, made nice use of the rip-through move to attack from the top of the key, and enough handle to get to the basket for the finish. Daramola has good touch on the mid-range shot from the top of the key or from the short porch on either side of the basket, and had some monster dunks off the pass or the lob to get the crowd on their feet. If he continues to develop his post moves and scoring ability around the basket, there are few teams in the Section that have anyone that can hold him and keep him out on the perimeter.      Dickson is a lengthy and skilled wing/guard that can absolutely light it up from beyond the arc, as he is one of the best 3-point shooters in the West. Dickson had a strong Spring and Summer with the Oakland Soldiers EYBL 16s and 17s, as well as a great June in both scholastic live period events in Arizona and California, and he brought that high level of play to the Varsity Shootout. Dickson is nearly automatic with the 3-ball off the dribble or the catch, he moves fluidly off the ball to get to the open spot, gets his body ready to catch and shoot in rhythm, and uses the wide crossover to get to the mid-range jumper, where he gets good lift combined with his length to shoot over most defenders. Dickson showed improved confidence creating off the dribble, getting into the paint with the ability to finish with the floater down the lane or crafty finishes around the basket. Dickson is underrated on altering shots on the perimeter and the instincts to jump passing lanes and turn defense to offense. With Jones recently reclassifying to enroll at Stanford early, Dickson will be relied upon to shoulder more of the scoring load this coming season.     Hanson is an athletic, physically fit, and skilled lead guard that can defend 94-feet, as well as create for others and get his own buckets. Hanson has a strong handle on the ball, uses the in-and-out dribble, the hesitation, and the low crossover to create space from his defender, gets great lift on the jumper with accuracy on the mid-range shot, is effective with the 3-ball off the dribble or the catch to space the floor, has a great burst of speed off the bounce, and is a crafty finisher around the basket, where he can score with the floater or through contact at the basket. Defensively, Hanson has strong, active hands to rip the ball from his opponent, has the footspeed and lateral quickness to stay in front of his man, gets into his opponents' dribbling space, has the timing and court awareness to jump passes and get out into the open court, and is a good positional rebounder with the court vision to make plays up the court or in the half court setting. He will be relied upon heavily this season to lead the new look Patriots.      Hudson is a skilled, athletic, and physically imposing lead guard that gets into the paint routinely and can lock up on the defensive end. Hudson had a strong Spring and Summer on the 3SSB Circuit with Dream Vision 16s, as well as impressive showings in the scholastic live events in Arizona and California. Hudson continued to display his all around two-way skill set at the Varsity Shootout on Day 1 of the event. Hudson is a great positional rebounder that looks to push the pace of play to get ahead of the defense, keeps the ball on a string to survey the floor with the court vision to find open players cutting off the ball or ahead in transition, or he can take it coast to coast with great on court speed and body control. Hudson uses the crossover, the hesitation, the spin move, and the toss cross to get his defender off balance, has a great burst of speed off the bounce to get into the paint, with the physical build to bully his way through contact at the basket. Hudson is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch or the dribble, has touch on the floater down the lane, and has the bounce to finish with some fancy up and under lay-ups to evade shot blockers. Hudson has become a consistent scoring threat from beyond the arc, which opens up driving lanes for him to attack, where he can get his own or make the right reads to find open teammates. Impressive showing this past weekend.      Isaac is a wing/forward that is active on the glass, is an underrated rim protector with a long wingspan, and did a great job of holding his own against bigger players in the post. Isaac has good hands to receive entry passes from the perimeter, used the spin move to evade his defender, with good touch on shots in the paint, and showed he can spread the floor a bit with the mid-post shot. Isaac outlets off the rebound, runs the floor well to get up the court, and has all the makings of a late bloomer that could add some depth and size in the interior. Isaac plays within his skill set but if he adds a perimeter game to his current skill set, he could be someone to track after high school.

This weekend, September 6th and 7th, Liberty High School was host to the inaugural Minutemen Fall Varsity Shootout in Bakersfield, CA. The event featured teams from Fresno, Clovis, Modesto, Stockton, Oxnard, Arroyo Grande, Porterville, Kerman and Delano, where teams played in a showcase game format with some marque match-ups such as Modesto Christian and Bakersfield Christian on Day 1. This article is a part one, and looks at 7 standout juniors from the two-day showcase, in which I watched all but 3 of the games. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. I will provide a part 2 to this article, as well as standout sophomores. I begin with the Seve Archuleta Seve Archuleta 6'4" | SF Modesto Christian | 2027 State CA-N of Modesto Christian.