Minutemen Varsity Summer Shootout: Day 2 Standout Guards (Part 1)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bakersfield, CA - This past Sunday, I attended Day 2 of the inaugural Minutement Varsity Summer Shootout hosted by Liberty of Bakersfield High School. The event featured teams from various areas in the Central Section, as well as Weston Ranch of Stockton, with teams playing in a showcase game format. I was in attendance for the second day of the event, which featured the reigning Division 1 Section Champs in St. Joseph of Santa Maria and the D2 SoCal Regional Champs in Bakersfield Christian, both rosters loaded with talent. This article takes a look at 6 standout guards from the 2027 and 2028 classes, which will be followed by a Part 2 looking at 5 more standout guards, as well as a look at the top wings and forwards from the event. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, their skill sets, and stats that I accumulated. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with Bruce Francisco. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2028 Bruce Francisco (5'9 | SG) - Centennial (Bakersfield CA)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 5-foot-9 shooting guard is scrappy on the defensive end with active hands and quick footspeed to get into his opponents dribbling space, moves fluidly off the ball to get open looks from beyond the arc with accuracy on the 3-ball, and has shifty moves and handles to attack the open lanes when his defender overpursues on the closeout, and has good touch on the floater to score over taller players in the paint. Francisco had 12 points, connecting on a pair of threes, in Centennial's win over Liberty-Madera and will be relied upon to step up his scoring role going into next season, specifically as a floor spacer to open up the court for teammates to attack.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2028 BJ Guyton (6'1 | SG) - Liberty (Bakersfield CA)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-1 shooting guard has the wingspan and length to impact the defensive end, can space the floor from beyond the arc, and has shown growth in his play making abilities since the end of this past season. Guyton has solid handles, has the moves to create off the bounce to get by his defender, using the crossover, between-cross, hesitation, and behind-cross, is a creative scorer around the basket with use of the Euro-step and reverse layups to score over taller players, moves fluidly off the ball to get open looks, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the bounce or the catch. Guyton has active hands and instincts to deflect passes, jump passing lanes, or poke the ball out, turning defense to offense, and has the court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass or up the court off the rebound. With the departure of rising senior Bryce Hanson, who is transferring to Garces Memorial, Guyton will be called upon to step his scoring up and operate at the help to run the offense.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2027 Cameron Hernandez (6' | SG) - South Bakersfield (CA)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot combo guard can space the floor from beyond the arc, has the court awareness to find open teammates with the ball in his hands, and is active on the glass to help initiate the offense. Hernandez had a strong showing in his team's win over Weston Ranch of Stockton, scoring 14 points and connecting on a pair of threes in the second half to help the Spartans hold its lead to the end. Hernandez has solid handles, shifty moves to shake his defender, using the crossover, toss-cross, hesitation, and wrap-behind to create space from his defender, is a creative scorer at the basket with the Euro-step or reverse lay-ups, as well as the floater to evade rim protectors, and is accurate with the mid-range jumper off the bounce. Hernandez moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots, squares his body up, is efficient with the 3-ball off the catch, has good court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass or up the court off the glass, as he is a good positional rebounder, He has active hands, good timing, and instincts to jump passing lanes, poke the ball out, or deflect passes to get out in transition. Hernandez will be relied upon to step his scoring up this Summer and next season, given the Spartans graduated its top 3 scorers from last season's SYML title squad.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2028 [player_tooltip player_id='3069019' first='Drake' last='Jimenez'] (6' | PG) - Centennial (Bakersfield CA)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot lead guard and reigning SYRL co-MVP plays with relentless effort and energy, has great court awareness and poise with the ball, and makes some spectacular plays with the ball in his hands. Jimenez picked up from where he left off this past season, pushing the tempo for the G-Hawks, getting others involved, and turning defense to offense, playing at a fast but controlled pace to finish with 14 points and 5 assists to help lead his team to a win over Liberty of Madera. Jimenez keeps the ball on a string to survey the defense, finds cracks in the defense to exploit, has the court vision and accuracy to make some pin-point passes into tight windows for assists, is a great positional rebounder, which allows him to grab and push the ball up the floor, uses the crossover, spin-move, between-cross and the hesitation to get his defender off balance, has a quick burst off the dribble to get by his opponent, is a creative scorer at the basket, using the Euro-step, reverse, or up-and-under lay-ups to evade shot-blockers, and gets good lift on the jumper to connect on the mid-range or 3-ball off the catch or the dribble. Big junior season is coming up for the dual sport athlete, but he will be the leader of the new look G-Hawks.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2028 Keith Labunog (5'8 | SG) - Weston Ranch (Stockton CA)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 5-foot-8 shooting guard had his smooth shooting from beyond the arc on display, showing his ability to space the floor, the options it opens up, and he is a tough perimeter defender. Labunog scored 11 points, with 8 of those in the 2nd half push for the Cougars, followed by 11 points in a loss to St. Joes of Santa Maria, connecting on 6 threes over those two games. Labunog moves fluid and with purpose off the ball, consistently moves to keep his defender on alert, can score in volume from beyond the arc with accuracy on the jumper, has good lift on the pull-up middy, and is a crafty scorer over height in the paint, making good use of the floater. Labunog has quick feet, stays in front of his opponent, and held his own against some of the top guards in the State this past Sunday.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>2027 Malcom Price (6'1 | CG) - St. Joseph (Santa Maria CA)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-1 combo guard had his elite shot making, high-level perimeter defense, and top 100 nationally ranked rising senior skill set on display, with games of 15 points and 25 points as his team split its games. Price has been one of the top prospects in the Central Section since his sophomore season and took a big leap this past season in his scoring and tough shot making, earning D1 Section Championship Player of the Game, followed by a great showing for Team Sweden's U18 National team, averaging over 20 points per game. Price has a tight handle on the ball, keeps his dribble alive to prove the defense, has a good burst off the bounce, has the physical build to absorb contact when on the attack, has an array of moves to create space from his defender, using the crossover, spin-move, toss-cross, wrap-behind, between-cross, and hesitation moves to shake his opponent, gets great lift on the jumper with accuracy from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the dribble. Price has great footwork, the body control to connect on the step-back, fadeaway, and spin-move jumpers with regularity, the court vision to find teammates off the drive and kick pass, out of the pick and roll action, or up the court off the glass, as he is a great positional rebounder. Price will be tasked to lead the Knights in scoring, but will also be called to be a play-maker when defenses over pursue.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->