Great Lakes Finals: Teddy's Saturday Afternoon Notebook

The next 400 starts with this. Here's my Saturday afternoon notebook from the Great Lakes Finals.     Flight 16u Downs M14 from a Full Team Effort     I opened the afternoon covering Flight 16u vs M14, where it was a steady and stable liftoff throughout the matchup for Flight. Standing out early were a trio of guards in [player_tooltip player_id='2949600' first='Marlon' last='Williams'], [player_tooltip player_id='2532021' first='Mason' last='Williams'], and [player_tooltip player_id='2837670' first='MJ' last='Johnson']. All three creating buckets driving to the paint and knocking down triples. That includes two from [player_tooltip player_id='2532021' first='Mason' last='Williams']. The interior presence of [player_tooltip player_id='2797229' first='Jaeden' last='Sanders'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2821675' first='Jahari' last='Sanders'] started to impress me later on. Each finding their groove with a few tight inside scores apiece. Zach Miner had a strong performance defensively. He was crucial to holding M14 to just 11 first half points. I also saw tons of defensive aggression from Marcus Gordon, a more physical combo-guard that does all the dirty work. As well as [player_tooltip player_id='2842584' first='Sincere' last='Williams']. In the later stages, [player_tooltip player_id='2831908' first='Jayden' last='Fabian'] created some buckets off the dribble, too. It was an awesome game all-around for Flight. In fact, only Fabian and [player_tooltip player_id='2532021' first='Mason' last='Williams'] reached double figures, and eight players scored at least five points.     Flight 15u also impressed     Later that afternoon, I got to watch the Flight 15u squad face off against Michigan's Hopps High squad. From the jump, the intensity this group played with was superb. It didn't take long for them to get off to a 14-3 start. Much thanks to [player_tooltip player_id='3336939' first='Jeremy' last='Thornton'] who had three strong drives to the rim early on. Solid play from [player_tooltip player_id='2829811' first='Gregory' last='Griffin IV'] also kept them ahead. He also plays with a high motor and can finish inside with both hands. Similar with the 16's, everyone was getting involved and had scored by halftime. Holding a 39-17 lead going into the second half, where we saw Griffin and Thornton continue to dominate attacking the rim. Thornton's rebounding was  also noticeable as the game went on. Capping off a stellar performance with a fast-break slam. Flight's 15u squad held on for a dominant 67-43 win.      [program_tooltip program_id='2078376' first='Illinois' last='Attack'] has Promising Talent     [program_tooltip program_id='2078376' first='Illinois' last='Attack'] 15U UA Rise played a gritty contest vs ABC Young Lions Saturday afternoon. Exchanging leads in the opening phases. For [program_tooltip program_id='2078376' first='Illinois' last='Attack'], guards [player_tooltip player_id='2906817' first='Kaidan' last='Mporokoso'] (Kris's younger brother) and [player_tooltip player_id='2797258' first='Luke' last='Baumann'] stood out with their guard play. For Baumann, it was his playmaking abilities off the dribble mixed in with crisp passes. For Mporokoso, it was his two-way aggression and knocking down difficult shots. Later on, we saw [player_tooltip player_id='2369872' first='Cody' last='Rader'] take over. Converting a pair of contested drives followed by a pull-up jumper. A 3-pointer would eventually stretch the lead to double figures as they went on a dominant 15-3 run at one point. Also contributed heavily by F Gavin Stokes. Stokes did a great job of stretching the floor. Knocking down 2/2 three pointers and added another cutting finish later on. He excelled at boxing out, too. Young lions would fight back and make it a competitive contest. But it wouldn't be enough as attack won 59-54. Stay tuned for my 15u evaluations later this week to see more analysis from these players     Greater Purpose 16u impress playing up     The 16u greater purpose squad is a group that should not be overlooked this circuit. They stepped in at the last moment for their 17u team today and did not disappoint. They have a creative bucket-getter in [player_tooltip player_id='2836516' first='Antonio' last='Archer'], who just won a 1A championship with Chicago Marshall this spring. Finding his groove with a pair of tough buckets early on. But a name to really catch my eye was a kid playing up three years. His name is Elijah McKennie and he'll he attending Kenwood next year. He's a smooth lefty guard that's already very lengthy at 6'2". If he continues to grow, he could be an elite player in that class. But it's still too early to tell if he'll be more of a point guard, combo, or shooting guard. Knocked down two 3-pointers and a tough inside bucket in this game. Then hit a third to cut the deficit to two points in the games final minutes. One they needed. Really impressed with the performance despite a close loss.     16U [program_tooltip program_id='2076459' first='Breakaway' last=''], Academy Guards Have Back-and-Forth Affair       I ended the evening covering [program_tooltip program_id='2076459' first='Breakaway' last='']'s 16u Gold Squad against The Academy UA Rise. This matchup was almost like a 1v1 battle between two guys. For [program_tooltip program_id='2076459' first='Breakaway' last=''], it was Stevenson's [player_tooltip player_id='2403357' first='Andrey' last='Markov'], who displayed tons of explosiveness attacking the rim, including a pair of dunks. For The Academy, it was Gian Dula-ogon, who found his own shot quite a bit in various spaces on the floor. Smooth lefty shooter showed confidence pulling up anywhere on the floor. It didn't take long for either of them to reach double figures, as the lead was exchanged quite a bit in this matchup between the teams. GDO would bury a three-pointer, then Markov would answer right away. Both had 20+ points by the early stages of the second half. DGO eventually tied the game with a contested 3-pointer with a minute left. His 31st point of the game. Then scored his 33rd of the game on a go-ahead layup. The Academy won 74-72. Gian Dula-ogon scored 33 points. [player_tooltip player_id='2403357' first='Andrey' last='Markov'] with 28.

The next 400 starts with this. Here's my Saturday afternoon notebook from the Great Lakes Finals.