Halloween Hoopfest at North HS: Standout Underclassmen

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 8 standout sophomores and freshmen from the event, and the players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. We begin this article with the intriguing freshman prospect, Phillip Fletcher.    Fletcher is a lengthy and high-motor player that impacts the interior, can space the floor from beyond the arc, and runs the floor well in the open court. The 6-foot-4 stretch four is active on the glass, has good touch on shots around the basket, is effective with the mid-post jumper, and has enough handle to attack from the wing with the strength to finish through contact at the basket. Fletcher moves well off the ball, gets to his shot spots, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, as was evident with the 5 threes against the Drillers' 2nd team. Fletcher understands spacing in the open court, runs the lanes well to get ahead of the defense, and finds the dunker spot on offense to get shots off the slip pass.     Jenkins is a physical and high-motor player that plays much bigger than his listed height, impacts the paint on both ends, and is a sneaky scorer around the basket. The 6-foot-4 forward has great touch on shots around the basket, with the build to muscle through contact at the basket, is relentless on the boards on both ends, has good footwork and holds his own on the defensive end against taller players in the paint with the length to frustrate opposing players' shot attempts, and does a good job of boxing out to corral the boards. Jenkins works well in the pick and roll action, has good hands to receive the pass on the dive to the rim, and can connect on the mid-range jumper, and has enough handle to attack from the top of the key. In two tough match-ups, Jenkins went for 12 points and 8 rebounds, followed by 8 points and 6 rebounds to display his ability to score and control the glass.     Niles is an athletic, physical, and bouncy player that is a force in the paint, plays with a relentless motor on both ends, and continues to develop an offensive skill set to go with his tenacious defense. The 6-foot-5 forward gets good positioning with quick bounce off the ground to control the boards, has good second and third leaping ability to get putbacks off the glass, enough handle to create from the top of the key with the strength to score through contact, and uses the drop-step and spin-move in the paint to evade opposing bigs and shot blockers. Niles has enough handle to push the ball up the court, has the wingspan and timing to block/alter shots in the paint, as well as step out and alter shots on the perimeter. Niles has a great motor and plays with great energy, and had 8 points and 8 rebounds in a win over Hanford.     Perez is a shifty and skilled player that controls the flow of the offense, can light it up from beyond the arc, and makes plays to get others involved. The 5-foot-10 lead guard has dynamic handles, keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor, uses the wide crossover, hesitation, and toss-cross to create space from his defender, makes great reads off the drive and kick pass, as well as timely dimes to bigs diving to the basket out of the pick and roll action, and makes accurate passes up the court to teammates ahead of the defense in the open court. Perez plays with good pace and feel for the flow of the game, moves fluidly off the ball to get open looks off the catch, and is accurate with the jumper off the bounce. He has active hands and a good wingspan to deflect passes and jump passing lanes to get out in transition, has touch on the floater down the lane, has good body control on shots around the basket. Perez showed off his shooting ability in a loss to Hanford, as he would score 11 points, connecting on 3 threes, and looks to be at the helm for the Vikings this coming season.     Saenz is a physical and skilled player that can score in the paint, as well as put up points from the perimeter, and is a versatile defender. The 6-foot-3 wing/forward has a solid handle, uses the crossover and hesitation to create off the wing, gets into the paint routinely, has the physical build to score through traffic at the basket, is accurate with the jumper off the bounce from the mid-range to the 3-point line, and has good control through contact on the jumper to draw fouls. Saenz is active on the boards, gets off the ground quickly for tip-ins or putbacks off the glass, and has the handle to push the ball up the court off the rebound. Saenz is a versatile defender that can hold his own in the post against taller players, has the lateral footspeed to stay in front of perimeter players, and is underrated at altering shots in the post and on the perimeter. Saenz had a strong showing in a win against Porterville, going for 25 points and showing he can hit shots from 3-levels and will be part of the Saenz brother duo to lead the Stars this coming season.     Smith is an athletic, rangy, and skilled player that can score the ball from 3-levels, is an underrated perimeter defender, and continues to develop as a premier playmaker. The 6-foot-1 lead guard has elite handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the defense, uses the crossover, the pro-hop, the spin-move, behind-cross, and the hard-pound dribble to get his defender off balance, gets good lift on the stop and pop mid-range jumper with good body control and accuracy, is efficient with the 3-ball off the bounce and the catch, changes pace and direction when on the attack, with use of the Euro-step and reverse lay-ups to evade height at the basket, and has touch on the floater from various angles in the half-court setting. Smith is a good positional rebounder, looks to push the pace of play up the court, makes good finds to teammates ahead of the defense, has active hands and good lateral speed to stay in front of opposing players, with the timing to poke the ball out or jump passing lanes to create steals. Smith had two solid showings with games of 14 points and 2 steals, and 10 points, 5 assists, and 2 steals respectively.     Steinback is a skilled sharp shooter that can score in volume, can play on or off the ball effectively, and is lights out from beyond the arc. The 6-foot-1 combo guard has a good handle on the ball, moves fluidly off the ball to get to his shot spots, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, uses the pump-fake to get his defender off the ground, which opens up lanes for him to attack off the dribble, with good touch on the floater or mid-range pull-up jumper, and uses the Euro-step or reverse lay-ups to score in the paint around height. Steinback has good vision to make reads off the drive and kick pass, is a good positional rebounder to find players up the court ahead of the defense, and makes timely passes out of the pick and roll action. In the Eagles two games, he connected on 5 threes and is the main floor spacer for Bakersfield Christian, but he can do much more than just catch and shoot.     Sweeney is a skilled and sharp shooting player that can light it up from beyond the arc, scores in volume, and impacts the game playing on or off the ball. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard has a tight handle, keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor, swings the ball to keep the offense moving, not wasting dribbles, uses the crossover, hesitation, and between-cross to get his defender off balance, gets good lift on the stop-and-pop mid-range jumper, and is able to score through traffic at the basket, with use of the reverse, up-and-under, and Euro-step lay-ups. Sweeney moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, and is deadly with the 3-ball off the catch or the bounce, with the stepback in his arsenal. Sweeney is relentless on the boards, looks to push the pace of play to initiate the offense, has the vision to make reads up the court, as well as find players cutting off the ball in the half court setting. Sweeney is one of the best pure shooters in the Section, as was evident in Buchanan's loss to Bakersfield Christian, going for 18 points and 5 rebounds, connecting on 3 threes.

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 8 standout sophomores and freshmen from the event, and the players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order. We begin this article with the intriguing freshman prospect, Phillip Fletcher.