Cali Live 26′: Central Cali’s Standout Guards (Pt. 1)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rocklin, CA - Last weekend, Friday, June 26th through Sunday, June 28th, Northern California played host to the 4th annual California Scholastic Live Tournament, which gives D1 college coaches a chance to sit court side and watch some of the top players on the West, if not nationally. The event featured 170+ teams that played the first two games in pool play, with Sunday serving as championship day, as the event paired the winners of competitively equivalent teams against each other. There were 44 pools in total, and the top 14 pools featured the top teams in the event. This article takes a look at 6 standout guards from the Central Section of California, which is part one of a two-part series that looks at top guards from the same Section. After that, I will cover the other standout players in the event by grad class and position. In this article you will find the following information: players name, height, position, school, stats from the event, and a breakdown of their skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and we begin with [player_tooltip player_id='3566347' first='Von' last='Bibioff'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='3566347' first='Von' last='Bibioff'] (2027 | CG) - Clovis West (Fresno)&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-1 combo guard is a skilled and athletic player that can score from 3-levels, looks to push the pace of play, and has range on the deep ball to open up the court. Bibioff has been adapting nicely to his new team, acting as more of a true point guard at times, but also being used to create scoring opportunities, which is the strength of his game. Bibioff has solid handles, keeps it on a string to survey the defense, has the moves to create off the dribble, using the crossover, toss-cross, wrap-behind, hesitation, and between-cross to get his defender off balance, is accurate with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the dribble, and has good body control when using the step-back and fade-away jump shots. Bibioff moves well off the ball, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch, with range from deep, has a great burst of speed off the bounce, is a creative scorer around the basket, using the euro-step, reverse, and up-and-under lay-ups to evade shot blockers, has the court vision to make quality reads off the drive and kick pass, out of the pick and roll action, or up the court to open teammates ahead in transition. Tough on-ball defender, with active hands and good lateral quickness, and will be relied upon to contribute on the scoreboard as one of the few veteran players on the young Clovis West roster.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Luke DeManby (2028 | CG) - Buchanan (Clovis)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-3 combo guard has good bounce and athleticism, can impact the game playing on or off the ball, and can score in volume from beyond the arc. For the two games of stats recorded at Cali Live, DeManby averaged 14.5 points per game, with a high of 17 points, connecting on 3 threes, in the close out game against Folsom. DeManby has solid handles, the moves to attack from the perimeter, using the wrap-behind, hesitation, crossover, and spin-move to create space from his defender, moves fluidly off the ball to get to his shot spots, and is accurate with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line, off the bounce or the catch. DeManby is a good positional rebounder, sees the floor well in transition to find open teammates up the court, as well as the court vision to find open teammates off the drive and kick pass or the drop off pass to players in the dunker spot, and is a crafty scorer around the basket, using the reverse or up-and-under lay-ups, along with the body control to score through contact down the lane.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>TJ Dixon (2028 | WG) - Bullard (Fresno)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-3 slashing guard is athletic and skilled, is a versatile defender, and is adding to his arsenal to be more of a go-to scoring option. Dixon had a solid showing in the afternoon session of Day 1 at Cali LIve against Clayton Valley Charter, displaying his ability to impact both ends of the court. Dixon is a versatile defender with quick hands, quick foot speed, and good instincts to alter shots in the perimeter, as well as the quick leaping ability to block shots around the basket, the lateral movement to stay in front of his opponent, gets into their dribbling space, looks to poke the ball out, jump passing lanes, or deflect passes, turning defense to offense routinely. Dixon uses the crossover, the spin-move, the hesitation, and the behind-cross to get his defender off balance, a good burst of speed off the dribble with craftiness on finishes around the basket, as well as body control on the middy off the bounce, and can space the floor with the 3-ball.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Damon Jackson Jr. (2027 | CG) - Clovis&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-4 combo guard has one of the smoothest jumpers in the Central Section, can space the floor from beyond the arc, and can score in volume playing on or off the ball. Jackson has been on a tear this Summer with Clutch Elite on the NXTPRO Circuit and with Clovis in the month of June, and he continued that high level of play at Cali Live, averaging nearly 18 points per game and connecting on 8 threes over the 4 games, with a high of 20 points in the Cougars opening game against Sanda Day O'Connor of Arizona. Jackson has tight handles, keeps the dribble alive to probe the defense for openings, uses the crossover, toss-cross, wrap-behind, between-cross, hesitation, and fade-away moves to create space from his defender, moves fluidly off the ball to get to his shot spots, and is highly efficient with the jumper from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce or the catch, with great body control to contort his body in the air but still square up his shoulders. Jackson has quick bounce off the ground to make him a good positional rebounder that looks to push the pace of play, make reads up the court, as well as off the drive and kick pass, and has active hands and good instincts to jump passing lanes, deflect passes, or poke the ball out to generate steals. Jackson is at his best when hunting the jumper, where he can catch fire and put up points quickly.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2956487' first='Jaedyn' last='Johnson'] (2029 | CG) - San Joaquin Memorial (Fresno)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-2 combo guard is a high-level perimeter defender, excels in the open court of play, and is improving as a scorer to complement the top 3 scorers for the Panthers. Johnson had a strong outing against Moreau Catholic to close out play on Day 2 at Cali Live. Johnson has active hands, great lateral foot speed, relentless energy, and great athleticism to get into his opponents dribbling space, forcing the opposition to make poor decisions with the ball, and the timing and instincts to deflect passes, jump passing lanes, or poke the ball out, turning defense to offense, and the bounce to get chase down blocks in the open court, as well as altering shots in the perimeter on close outs. Johnson has solid handles, a good burst off the bounce to get into the paint, the creativity to score among height in the paint, using the reverse, up-and-under, and the euro-step to score at the basket, moves freely off the ball, gets to his shot spots, and is effective with the 3-ball off the catch.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jahlil Montgomery (2027 | WG) - Clovis North (Fresno)</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-2 slashing guard has a physical and athletic build, impacts both ends of the court, and has shown he is ready to take the next step as a primary scorer for the Broncos. Montgomery had a strong showing against Chaminade of West Hills in its 3rd game of the event, as he would score 13 points connecting on a pair of threes. Montgomery has a strong handle on the ball, keeps the dribble alive to survey the floor, uses the crossover, behind-cross, hesitation, and toss-cross to get by his initial defender, has a good burst off the dribble to get into the paint, is a creative score in the paint with the floater, up-and-under, reverse, and euro-step moves to evade shot blockers around the basket, or has the strength to score through contact driving down the lane. Montgomery is an elite positional rebounder, has active hands, great foot speed, and relentless energy to stay locked-in on his opponent, has the timing and instincts to jump passing lanes, deflect passes, or alter/block shots on the perimeter to get out in the open court and get transition buckets.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Omar Muhammad (2030 | CG) - Clovis West (Fresno) - featured in picture </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 6-foot-2 lead guard has dynamic handles, the moves to shake his defender, the court awareness to find open teammates, and keeps constant pressure on the defense. One of the nation's most known rising freshmen, Muhammad has joined the varsity ranks and shown he has the skill set and scoring arsenal to be a major contributor for the Golden Eagles this coming season, as he would average 12 points per game at Cali Live with a high of 16 points against Liberty of NorCal. Muhammad keeps the ball on a string to weave through the defense, makes great use of the hesitation and change of direction, keeping his defender guessing, with the crossover, spin-move, behind-cross, toss-cross, and between-cross moves to create space from his defender, has good body control on step-back and fade-away jumpers, with accuracy from the mid-range to the 3-point line off the bounce. After back to back weekends of watching the incoming freshman against varsity level talent, the most impressive aspect of his game has been his court vision and decision making when on the attack, making pin point passes cross court or off the drive and kick, some dazzling dimes off the drop off or slip pass to his bigs when the defense collapses on him driving to the cup, and some great reads on time out of the pick and roll action. The up-side for Omar is high, but his skill level is already ahead of most.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->