KABC: Mike's Sunday Standouts

The KABC Bluegrass Shootout brought out dozens of Division I head coaches to the greater Lexington area over the weekend. In this article we'll break down the standouts I caught on Sunday.    Ballard played a tough back and forth game with Ben Davis that went down to the wire with Ballard taking the lead with 30 seconds left, Ben Davis took the lead with ten seconds left before Gilvin took it coast to coast at the buzzer to win the game. Gilvin is a connector piece from the wing guard position who makes toughness plays and doesn't let the ball stick to his hands. While Gilvin holds a pair of offers, I expect his recruitment to take a spike before July ends as he should be a top priority recruit for regional Division II and NAIA programs.     One of the top shot makers with positional size in the state, Gregg shot the ball with confidence from beyond the arc and looks so comfortable playing in North Oldham's offensive scheme that relies on cutting, ball movement and floor spacing. It honestly makes Gregg's life easy as he doesn't have to force the issue and never is rushed into taking a bad shot. Gregg also rebounds and is able to defend opposing teams forwards or wings depending on the match-up. With the way North Oldham shoots it and takes care of the basketball, they can beat anybody in the state on the right day.     Talk about a prospect who shot the lights out this weekend, Howard seemed to barely miss an open shot in the two games I saw of his on Sunday. An elite shooter from the corners, Howard gave his ball handlers plenty of space to operate and shot the ball with extreme confidence. For a team that has a balanced offense like North Oldham, they need their role guys to step up and score the basketball when they are set up, and Howard certainly wasn't shy on Sunday.     The hosts of the event got battle tested by some of the top teams in Kentucky and had a nice weekend with a bunch of college coaches watching them during each time slot. The game I caught of Pflunger's was impressive as he was physical on the interior and scoring efficiently in the paint. Pflunger had a slam dunk from the dunker spot off two feet as he has the length and explosiveness to play above the rim without needing a running start. I also thought Pflunger set strong screens that he scored as a roll man to the rim off. A multi-sport athlete, Pflunger holds a couple of FCS football offers but would also be a valuable small college basketball player if he so desired.     One of the top prospects in Kentucky, Mitchell had a monster performance on Sunday to help lead Louisville Male to a win over the defending state champs in George Rogers Clark. A natural scorer, Mitchell does such a nice job playing on balance on drives and pull-up jumpers as he uses his strength and frame well off two feet. Mitchell also has the explosiveness to play above the rim when given a runway and made some of the best passes I've seen from him over the weekend with multiple impressive swing passes off live dribbles. Expect to hear a lot about Male this winter, especially once star forward [player_tooltip player_id='2360949' first='Trey' last='Hillerich'] returns as that duo should draw a ton of attention this winter.     Making the move to region rival George Rogers Clark from Montgomery County, Terry wasted no time getting involved for his new team this weekend. I loved that Terry wanted to dunk on players heads in the paint, as he almost caught multiple bodies this weekend and usually drew a foul on these plays. Terry also scored off nice sets that got him moving towards the rim off the catch and he's so tough to stop when his momentum is taking him downhill to the rim. I expect Terry to make a big difference this season for George Rogers Clark, who are reloading in an effort to win another state championship.

The KABC Bluegrass Shootout brought out dozens of Division I head coaches to the greater Lexington area over the weekend. In this article we'll break down the standouts I caught on Sunday.