Electric Point Guards

New readers: Use code Proia30     I attended a few games in PG County this week, making sure to watch the JV games for 2 of the matchups to see the next wave of talent at their respective schools. The modern game of basketball is predicated on great guard play, with an added emphasis on point guards. Let's break down some of the best point guards that I saw this week!    16p 4r 3a 2b 6s vs O'Connell (JV)   -The Ohio transplant played well for a very deep DM guard room in a win over O'Connell. Brannigan has a nice handle for his size and position, uses his pivot really well in the paint to adjust on the fly in transition to score in the paint, and was a willing and unselfish passer throughout the game. His ability to be disruptive with active hands both on and off the ball makes him valuable to his team, coming away with 3 steals in the 1Q alone that all led to made baskets or FTs for the Stags. Brannigan continued his hot play in the 2H with a C+S top of the key off the crackback screen, beautiful drive from the wing to draw 2 and find a teammate for the and1 lay just before the 3Q buzzer, and had a run-out 2-handed dunk to drive the nail in the coffin at the end of the game.     23p 5r 1a 3s vs Bowie   -Tenacious downhill driving guard that put constant pressure on the rim, utilizing ball screens to get bigs switched onto him before going to work. Mahdi scored off a gut drive from wing for the hanging double clutch lay to start things off, curled around a pair of elbow screens to catch the drop off and lay it off the window for 2 points. His ability to draw fouls at the rim was crucial for Laurel to claw their way back into the game, with the closest margin coming off a made floater from Madhi off the window to tie it with 1 min left. His assertive and aggressive play really sets the tone for this Laurel team.     11p 3a 2r 1s vs O'Connell (JV)   -The straw that stirs the drink for the JV Stags, DeBose generates a ton of paint touches for this DeMatha team that forces the defense to converge in the paint. DeBose got it going early with a hop step lay off glass then hit his defender with a pump fake at the 3 point line before ducking under to hit the 1-dribble pull-up midrange jumper. Want to see the handle sharpen to take advantage of the burst and long strides that he takes OTB, but there is a really nice skilbase to work with here. Think he projects well as a 2-way point guard that can disrupt opponent game flow by guarding multiple possessions and using his strength to gain leverage when switched onto bigger players.     10p 4a 4r 2s vs Laurel   -Thought that his cerebral play at both ends of the floor was really important to Bowie picking up a big road victory in Laurel. Parker started it off with a drive and pocket pass to rolling big, banked in a deep 3 at the end of the 1Q, executed a beautiful 1-handed dot with some zip on it to a shooter off the BLOB, threw a 1-more pass to a corner shooter for 3 to put them back up 5 late in the game. But his best stretch of play came down the home stretch of the game as he ducked under a closeout by using a pump fake before hitting a running 1 dribble floater, playing pesky POA defense down the stretch, and hitting 3/4 FTs on his team's last two possessions to seal the 7-point win.       5p vs Whitman   -Malhotra started the game off well to show how well he handles ball pressure, flying past his matchup or double teams to consistently create advantage situations for his teams before he went down with an injury. Still, in the time that I saw him he showed that he can run a team, throw live dribble passes with either hand, and score around the rim through contact. His best play came on a great double cross into the 1-handed dime to a cutting big a the rim for the and1- layup.

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