KOB: Thursday Stock Risers

The first day of the King of the Bluegrass tournament was a great opportunity to see some under the radar prospects on some of the top teams in Kentucky. In this article we'll break down some stock risers from Thursday's 4 opening round games of the bracket style tournament.    North Oldham has a lot of tall, physical bodies and Bradley was the best of their role players in Thursday's win over Grayson County. Bradley had a putback dunk and a breakaway dunk off a steal, showing his vertical explosiveness. Add in a couple tough rebounds and hard screens set in the pick and roll game and Bradley impacted the game in all the ways you'd want a role player from the forward position to play.     Louisville Trinity has a lot of underclassmen talent and Bartlett really impressed me on both ends of the court. With a good frame for his age, Bartlett could even grow a few more inches in the next couple years. Maybe his most skilled move of the night came on a reverse pivot where he found the space to score about 10 feet from the rim. With a high release on his jump-shot, Bartlett's jumper is tough to block and he knocked down a 3-pointer that looked smooth. Definitely a player to watch develop in the future, I'll be excited to follow Bartlett's progression throughout his upperclassmen seasons.     The last game of the night saw Harris catch fire from long range as his ability to create shots for himself off the dribble was unbelievable to watch. Harris plays at his own pace and has plenty of juice on the ball by changing speeds and making quick dribble moves to create space. Looking extremely comfortable against big city talent, Harris wasn't ever rushed or flustered on the ball and got to his spots to finish the game shooting 60% from the field and 50% from 3-point range on the night. Expect to see a sharp uptick in Harris' recruitment starting this summer when more college programs see him in person.     This was my first chance to watch Burton play in person and I left a huge fan of his game. For starters, Burton has the ultimate confidence as a shooter to take shots from well behind even the college line and he has an extremely quick release after the catch. I also was impressed by his footwork and pre catch shooting habits, allowing him to take and make contested looks over hard closeouts. A sneaky vertical athlete, Burton had a couple blocked shots at the rim. I also thought Burton showed some secondary playmaking ability with some nice passes off a live dribble. Very impressed with Madison Central as a team and Burton has fit in perfectly with a senior laden group.     St Xavier continues to impress early in the season and Klein has established himself as a valuable 6th man for the Tigers this season. Showing clear improvement from where he was this summer, Klein can make shots off the catch, attack closeouts to score at the rim or make a live dribble pass and handles defensive pressure well. A role player the team can trust to make the right play with the ball in his hands, St Xavier will need guys like Klein if they want to win a state championship in March.

The first day of the King of the Bluegrass tournament was a great opportunity to see some under the radar prospects on some of the top teams in Kentucky. In this article we'll break down some stock risers from Thursday's 4 opening round games of the bracket style tournament.