Halloween Hoopfest at North HS: Standout Juniors

This past Saturday, I attended a one day basketball showcase held at the spacious North Bakersfield High School gym. The showcase featured teams from Bakersfield, Clovis., Arroyo Grande, Porterville, Delano, Kingsburg, Oxnard, Hanford, and Visalia. The event featured some of the top players in the Section, and a few that have Regional notoriety. I was in attendance for all 18 games, two courts used so a 9-game slate schedule. This article takes a look at 9 standout juniors from the event, and the players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. We begin this article with one of the hottest prospects in the Central Section, [player_tooltip player_id='2646533' first='Taiwo' last='Daramola'].    Daramola is an athletic, physical, and bouncy player that dominates the paint on both ends, is an elite rim protector, and continues to improve his offensive skill set. The 6-foot-8 power forward is relentless crashing the boards, gets putbacks off the offensive rebound with tip-ins or dunks, has good timing and bounce to be an elite rim protector that blocks/alters shots in the paint, with the strides and agility to close out and alter perimeter shots, and is a solid interior defender that is learning to use his natural gifts and not overreach or extend to prevent foul trouble. Daramola has good post-footwork, looks increasingly comfortable using the drop step and spin-move to get space from opposing bigs, is effective with the one-dribble mid-post jumper off the bounce, and has good timing and body control diving off the pick and roll action, where is he always a threat to go get the ball off the lob for some crown pleasing dunks. Daramola continues to show he is one of the top overall prospects in the Central Section, and throughout the Western Region, as he would have two strong showings of 11 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 blocks, followed by a double-double of 14 points and 12 rebounds.     Hanzak is a wiry and high-motor player that looks to attack the basket regularly, is a versatile defender, and likes to get out in the open court. The 6-foot-2 wing has a solid handle, uses the crossover and hesitation to create space from his defender, looks to get into the paint routinely off the bounce, has the court vision to make good reads off the dribble drive, especially with the slip pass to teammates opposite in the dunker spot, and is accurate with the jumper off the dribble. Hanzak has good body control off the take, has the build to finish through contact at the basket, hits the tough up-and-under lay-up to evade height in the paint, is active on the boards, and runs the floor well in the open court to get ahead of the defense for transition points. Hanzak plays with great energy, keeps pressure on the ball, and looks to poke the ball out and turn defense to offense.     Jackson is an athletic and wiry player that is an elite perimeter defender, has the court awareness to make plays for others, and continues to evolve as a scorer with more shots in his arsenal on display this past weekend. The 6-foot-1 lead guard has solid handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the court, uses the crossover, toss-cross, and hesitation to get his defender off balance, looks to get paint touches routinely, uses the pivot nicely with the court vision to find open players cutting off the ball or off the dribble drive and kick out pass, and is a good positional rebounder, which allows him to push the pace of play and make good reads up the court to open players ahead of the defense. Jackson is a crafty finisher around the basket, with the reverse and Euro-step lay-ups in his bag, nice touch on the floater off the bounce down the lane or the baseline, and is effective with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the catch to space the defense. Defensively is where Jackson continues to shine brightest, with great footwork and lateral quickness, the long wingspan to deflect passes or jump passing lanes, and gets into his defenders dribbling space with quick hands to poke the ball out or rip it from his opponent to create steals and get out in transition. Jackson will be a key piece for the Eagles this season, especially setting the tone at the top of the defense, as he would finish with 8 points, 4 assists, and 3 steals.     Jensen is a skilled and physical player that can score the ball from 3-levels, makes plays for others, impacts the game on and off the ball, and is an underrated defender. The 6-foot-4 lead guard keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor, plays with good pace and control with use of the hesitation, crossover, between-cross, and toss-cross to get his defender off balance, is accurate with the jumper off the bounce from the mid-range to the 3-point line, and gets into the paint routinely where he uses the pro hop or the spin-moves to create space on shots around the basket, with the strength to score through contact. Jensen has great court vision, is a high-level positional rebounder, looks to initiate the offense off the rebound, makes pin-point passes up the court to open players, and makes timely reads from the top of the key, as well as off the drive and kick pass to open players. Jensen makes quality decisions in the pick and roll actions, has good timing and length to get weakside blocks, and has active hands to rip the ball from his opponent. Jensen showed he can play the 5-spot for the Bullpups against zone defenses, where he can pick it apart or get easy mid-post shots. Jensen had 22 points and 3 steals, followed by an impressive double-double of 11 points and 10 rebounds to go along with 2 blocks.     Johnson is a shifty and skilled player that can score from 3-levels, makes plays to get others involved, and likes to push the pace of play. The 5-foot-11 lead guard has dynamic handles, keeps the ball on a string to probe the defense, uses the between-cross, the hesitation, and low-crossover to get his defender off balance, is accurate with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce, uses the reverse or Euro-step lay-up to evade length at the basket, and has touch on the floater down the lane or off the wing. Johnson has good court vision, makes good reads to open players off the drive and kick pass, and makes timely reads out of the pick and roll action to hit players in stride diving to the basket. Johnson has been away from the basketball scene the last year and it was great to see him back in the mix, and as he and fellow junior [player_tooltip player_id='2273494' first='Zander' last='Jensen'] build the chemistry, Hanford will have one of the top backcourts in the Section. He had 10 points and 4 assists in Hanford's loss to the Drillers.     Killebrew is an athletic, skilled, and bouncy player that can spray shots from various spots on the floor, looks to take flight in transition or off the lob, and is an underrated rim protector. The 6-foot-5 wing/guard has solid handles, uses the crossover, the spin-move, and the in-and-out to create space from his defender, has great lift and gets off the ground quickly on the jumper with accuracy from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce, and moves well off the ball to get open looks off the catch for the 3-ball. Killebrew is active on the glass, has the handle to push the ball up the court, gets putbacks off the rebound routinely, has become a real threat in the pick and roll action with the lob dunk, as well as looking to go at the rim off the dribble from the baseline or the wing. Killebrew uses his length and quick leaping ability to alter shots in the paint, has the long strides and agility to close out and alter perimeter shots, has good timing for weakside blocks, and uses his long wingspan to deflect passes on the perimeter or jump passing lanes to get out in the open court. A lot of upside with his game, as was evident with his strong showing of 23 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block in a win over Hanford.     Saenz is a skilled and crafty player that can spray shots from 3-levels, scores in volume, and plays with poise and control with the ball in his hands. The 5-foot-11 lead guard has elite handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the defense, uses the low crossover, the hard-pound dribble, the toss-cross, and behind-cross to get his defender on skates, has a good burst of speed to get by his opponent and into the paint, and uses the Euro-step and reverse lay-ups to score amongst height in the post. Saenz is accurate with the jumper off the dribble from the mid-range to the 3-point line, plays with good pace and controls the flow of the game, stays even tempered on the court, is an underrated on-ball defender with active hands to poke the ball out and get out in transition, where he can put up points quickly. Saenz is one of the best point guards in the Section and his impact on the game for the Stars is undeniable, as was evident in North Bakersfield's win over Porterville, going for 30 points, connecting on 5 threes in the process.     Ward is a physical, athletic, and skilled player that can score the ball from 3-levels, makes plays for open teammates, and is a solid perimeter defender. The 6-foot-3 combo guard has a tight handle on the ball, uses the crossover and the hesitation to create space from his defender, gets good lift on the jumper with accuracy from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce, and has good body control of shots around the basket through contact. Ward has the court vision to make finds off the drive and kick, as well as finding teammates up the court in transition, and is a good positional rebounder to push the pace of play. Ward has active hands on defense, gets into his opponents dribbling space, and has the footspeed to stay in front of his opponent, and looks to poke the ball out to get easy points in the open court.     Warkentin is an athletic and high-motor player that plays with a fast pace but stays under control, impacts both ends of the court, and can put up points quickly. The 5-foot-10 combo guard has a solid handle, uses the crossover and in-and-out to attack his defender, has a great burst of speed to blow by his initial defender and get into the paint, is able to absorb contact down the lane on shots around the basket, and moves well off the ball to get open looks off the catch. Warkentin gets into his defenders dribbling space, has quick hands to disrupt the dribble, and is a good rebounder for his position. Could be an impact guy for the Vikings this coming season, as Kingsburg looked good this past Saturday and that was without standout senior Jensen Hirschkorn in the line-up.

This past Saturday, I attended a one day basketball showcase held at the spacious North Bakersfield High School gym. The showcase featured teams from Bakersfield, Clovis., Arroyo Grande, Porterville, Delano, Kingsburg, Oxnard, Hanford, and Visalia. The event featured some of the top players in the Section, and a few that have Regional notoriety. I was in attendance for all 18 games, two courts used so a 9-game slate schedule. This article takes a look at 9 standout juniors from the event, and the players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. We begin this article with one of the hottest prospects in the Central Section, Taiwo Daramola Taiwo Daramola 6'7" | C Bakersfield Christian | 2027 State CA-S .