UA Association: New Jersey Standouts From Session II

A weekend circled on the grassroots calendar in the May Live Period tipped off this past weekend and certainly did not disappoint— the first opportunity for college coaches to be back in the gym evaluating prospects in person, bringing a plethora of energy in the gym and highly competitive action. Under Armour's second session held in Hamilton, OH showcased a loaded slate of competitive games and standout talent from all across the nation and among those making strong impressions were several intriguing prospects from here in the state of New Jersey. With that in mind, here's a closer look at some of the top performers from the Session II at UAA.    At his absolute best and where the bulk of his value on the court lies is when he's a dangerously rhythmic shot maker from three point territory and Matthew Kennedy did so much of that throughout the course of the weekend to do nothing but reaffirm that notion. Relying on fluid and continuous mechanics that feature an extremely quick and high shooting release and settling into a nice rhythm from deep, Kennedy showcased what his impact looks when he gets hot from three point range, stepping into a number of open looks as a perimeter spot up shooter and knocking down opportunistic shots at a rather efficient clip percentage wise.     A legitimate pass first point guard with impressively nice feel for the game who rarely ever lets ball pressure speed him up when tasked with handling the basketball, [player_tooltip player_id='2504904' first='Izayah' last='Cooper']'s performance over the weekend was without a doubt highlighted by his impressive court vision and tremendous passing feel. A trustworthy decision maker, Cooper made a lot of strong reads with the ball in his hands, ones that support the belief in trusting him to routinely initiate and orchestrate offense— keeping his vision in the open floor finding cutters cutting to the basket and locating open shooters out on the perimeter, hitting rollers when navigating ball screens in PnR action(s). All while shooting the three ball at a fairly efficient clip and showcasing his soft outside shooting touch.     A high IQ floor general with really good feel for the game who's extremely effective at dictating the pace of the game and does a really good job of orchestrating offense from the PG spot, [player_tooltip player_id='2201947' first='Anthony' last='Gonzalez'] demonstrated a lot of the strong qualities you like to see in a primary ball handle that you trust running your offense— pushing the tempo in the open floor for easy and crafty layups from different angles around the basket in traffic, precise decision making navigating ball screens to generate overall offense, keeping his vision when attacking driving angles off the bounce. All while showcasing an important factor critical to his impact at the next level, demonstrating continued improvement from the perimeter as an outside shooter particularly displaying increased confidence and efficiency from three point range.     Easily a collection of his most impressive performances to date and emerging as one of the more overall productive prospects from the weekend's live period at UAA, [player_tooltip player_id='2628235' first='King' last='Josiah Hamilton'] continued to match his potential with production, combining those glaring physical tools with on court production in many different areas— activity on the offensive glass crashing the boards with energy and effort for second chance opportunities, disruption defensively forcing turnovers and impact with switch ability as a defender guarding multiple different positions, cutting to the basket in PnR actions and off dribble penetration from other guards off a number of backdoor cuts, pushing the break in the open floor and showing an improvingly comfortable handle, strides taken as a perimeter shooter off the catch, attacking closeouts with quick decision making and getting to the rim and even scoring in the low post area.     Providing nice size and valuable production in the front court for this talented 16U [program_tooltip program_id='2521004' first='NJ' last='Shoreshots UAA'] group, Marshall Douglas impressed with the constant rate of his interior activity, highlighted by a tremendous level of infectious effort and energy— finishing around the basket with solid touch around the basket, particularly cutting to the basket and off low post entry passes from his teammates while also being extremely active on the boards and generating a handful of second chance opportunities on the glass.

A weekend circled on the grassroots calendar in the May Live Period tipped off this past weekend and certainly did not disappoint— the first opportunity for college coaches to be back in the gym evaluating prospects in person, bringing a plethora of energy in the gym and highly competitive action. Under Armour's second session held in Hamilton, OH showcased a loaded slate of competitive games and standout talent from all across the nation and among those making strong impressions were several intriguing prospects from here in the state of New Jersey. With that in mind, here's a closer look at some of the top performers from the Session II at UAA.