5th Annual CVBT March Madness Event: Standout Upperclassmen

Fresno, CA - This past Saturday, I attended the 5th Annual CVBT March Madness event, which featured teams in youth to high school divisions and was held at Hoover High School in Fresno. I was there to watch the HS Gold division only, but caught a few other games in the HS Silver division. This article takes a look at 6 standout upperclassmen from the tournament and includes the following information: players name, height, grad class, position, relevant statistics that I kept, how they played in the game, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Keyvon Burcher.   2026 Keyvon Burcher |5'10| PG McLane/Fresno CA)   Burcher is a true lead guard that controls the pace of play, gets into the paint to force the hand of the defense, and is a solid on-ball defender. The 5'10 point guard had a strong showing this past Saturday at the CVBT March Madness tournament, as he was relentlessly on the attack each time he had the ball, and got to where he wanted to finish the game with a high of 15 points. Burcher has a strong handle on the ball, surveys the floor to find openings in the defense, does a great job of probing the potential driving lanes, uses the crossover, behind-cross, toss-cross, and the hesitation moves to get his defender off balance, has a great burst of speed off the bounce, and uses his strength to score through contact at the basket, as well as the moves to evade shot blockers around the basket, with the Euro-step and reverse lay-ups. Burcher has good court vision, the decision making to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass, or out of the pick and roll action, is active on the boards, with the ability to find players up the court in stride for transition buckets. Burcher has active hands, good lateral foot-speed, and the tenacity to get into his opponents dribbling space to generate steals.   2026 Lydell Farmer |6'5| WF (Clovis East/CA)   Farmer is a lengthy player that impacts the game in several ways, can defend multiple potions, and can play on or off the ball effectively. The 6'5 wing/forward showcased his ability to bring the ball up and set up the offense, played in the high-post when running a zone offense, where he made reads to teammates cutting off the ball or connect on the face-up jumper, and displayed the skill and timing needed to alter/block shots in the interior, as well as the strides and quick closeouts to alter shots on the perimeter. Farmer has solid handles, uses the crossover, between-cross, the spin-move, and fade-away to create space from his defender, is effective with the jumper from the mid-post, moves well off the ball to get open looks on the perimeter, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch. Farmer uses his long strides to get by his initial defender, and is a crafty scorer around the basket, with the use of the Euro-step, reverse, or up-and-under lay-ups to score over height.   2027 Jacob Lee |6'5| WF (Central East/Fresno)   Lee is a physical player that has great touch around the basket, finds the openings in the defense opposite the primary ball-handler to get open for easy scoring opportunities, and is active on the glass to get easy put-back shots. The 6'5 forward had a strong showing in the one game his team played on Saturday, scoring a team-high 15 points, and continuously found the openings in the defense to make himself available for catch and score shots at the basket. Lee uses his strength to box out his opponent, corrals the ball and gets it out to his guards, and runs the floor well in the open court to get ahead of the defense in transition. Lee keeps his eyes on his guards, finds the opposite dunker spot when his guards attack the paint, and has soft hands to receive some fancy dimes and good touch on shots within 15 feet of the basket.    2027 Jayden Najera |5'10| PG (Golden West/Visalia CA)   Najera is a shifty and skilled player that controls the flow of the game with the ball in his hands, is able to make plays for others, as well as his own offense, and can space the floor from beyond the arc. The 5'10 lead guard was in his bag this past Saturday in the two games I watched him play, as he kept relentless pressure on the defense, got into the paint routinely, and made some great reads when the defense collapsed on him, or scored the ball in one-on-one scenarios. Najera has a strong handle on the ball, keeps the ball on a string to survey the floor, has a good burst off speed off the dribble, uses the crossover, between-cross, hesitation, and spin-move to create space from his defender, has good body control with the strength to score through contact at the basket, and the creativity to evade shot blockers in the post, with the use of the reverse or Euro-step lay-ups. Najera showed he can score in volume when the defense lets him get to his shot spots, moves well off the ball to get open looks, and is effective with the 3-ball off the bounce or the catch. Impressive court vision, good decisions making with the ball in his hands, and makes quality reads to open teammates off the drive and kick pass, finding the rollers out of the pick and roll action, and makes accurate cross-court passes when the defense over-pursues on one side of the floor.    2027 AJ Pedro |5'8| SG (Clovis/CA)   Pedro is a sharp-shooter from the perimeter that gets to his shot spots, is accurate from beyond the arc, has shifty moves to attack off the perimeter, and is tough to defend in the open court with his ability to space the floor or attack the basket. The 5'8 shooting guard was letting it fly on Saturday in the final game I watched before I headed home, and he helped his team keep its lead and earn the win, scoring 8 points, connecting on a pair of threes. Pedro has smooth handles, shifty moves to create space from his defender, uses the crossover, between-cross, and hesitation moves to get open, moves fluidly and constantly to get to his shot spots, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch. Pedro uses the pump-fake to get his defender off the ground, attacks the open lanes off the dribble, and has touch on the floater or mid-range jumper. Great energy and impacts the game when he is firing from deep.    2027 Inpong Phakonekham |5'9| SG (Clovis/CA)   Inpong is an athletic and high energy player that can fill it up from beyond the arc, can lock-up on the perimeter, and makes the right plays to find open teammates when the defense collapses on him. The 5'9 shooting guard hit some big shots in his team's win in the final game of the Gold division this past Saturday, to go along with his tenacious on-ball defense. Inpong has active hands, has quick lateral movement, and stays in front of his opponent and gets into his dribbling space, leading to him poking out the ball or jumping the passing lanes to generate steals and transition buckets. Inpong moves smoothly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, as was evident with his 3 threes in the game, and a total of 11 points.

Fresno, CA - This past Saturday, I attended the 5th Annual CVBT March Madness event, which featured teams in youth to high school divisions and was held at Hoover High School in Fresno. I was there to watch the HS Gold division only, but caught a few other games in the HS Silver division. This article takes a look at 6 standout upperclassmen from the tournament and includes the following information: players name, height, grad class, position, relevant statistics that I kept, how they played in the game, and their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Keyvon Burcher.