UAA Finals: Saturday 17 U Standouts

The UAA Finals brought competitive action to Louisville, Kentucky and I attended the event last weekend, in this article I'll break down my 17 U standouts from Saturday's action.    Arguably the most productive player on the UAA circuit, Davis had a monster semifinal performance where he took over the final three quarters in Team Thrill's win over the Utah Mountain Stars. Davis has to play more of a scoring role on this Team Thrill team and he found a way to get into the paint at will, working well off ball screens and playing at his own pace off the dribble to throw off the defense. Obviously, Davis will bring toughness and passing every game he plays and once he got into a scoring rhythm, his teammates quickly followed. In the championship game Davis made back-to-back 3-pointers with under a minute to go and had a shot with ten seconds left that would've tied the game rim out. A tremendous competitor, Davis is going to help a high major program win a lot of basketball games during his college career.     Ohio Champion had a monster first three sessions as their program had the best overall record on the UA Rise circuit among all age groups combined. Elwer contributed to keeping that record alive with a half-court buzzer-beater to steal a win on Saturday afternoon. The wing guard is a state champion during the high school season and I'm a little surprised at the lack of offers and interest Elwer has received from Division II and NAIA programs. Before the buzzer-beater Elwer was getting busy inside the arc with tough buckets inside the paint by using pivots to create space to score. With his older brother Cameron off to Furman, Andrew is now going to be the leader and primary decision maker for a Delphos St John's team that should keep their state title aspirations.     A monster wing shooter, Griffiths came out the gates on fire with five 3-pointers in the first quarter against KC Run GMC. The opposition did a better job the rest of the way with making sure Griffiths didn't get clean looks at the rim but the damage was already done by Griffiths for the game. On a Middlesex Magic team that spreads the ball around well, Griffiths is a talented scorer off the catch who gets a lot of clean looks with his feet set. Northwestern, Boston College, Butler and more have already offered Griffiths who has a easy fit at the next level with his positional size, shooting and basketball IQ.     I really enjoyed watching Okoduwa compete as he lived above the rim with a handful of two hand jams for Middlesex Magic. A rim running big, Okoduwa set strong screens and rolled hard to the rim with a purpose. Getting dunks from the dunker spot, off offensive rebounds and slipping a screen that led to a dunk, Okoduwa showed an advanced understanding of the game for a big man without much perimeter skill. I'd expect Okoduwa to play a major role for St Thomas More this season as he's a nice addition in the paint.     The Indiana Hoosier commit is one of the top shooters in the country and I got to see him light up the scoreboard from downtown on Saturday. Branham has a quick release, range that extends well beyond the 3-point line, sudden off-ball movement and a high release point. That combination of skills makes him a nightmare to track off the ball and you can see the vision for what Darian DeVries has for him at the college level. I'm excited to see Branham with La Lumiere this winter as he easily replaces Jacob Webber, a top wing shooter nationally who is now at Branham's college rival Purdue.     WeR1 pulled off the upset in the 17 U championship game and I had to show Worthy some love as a talented defender and interior presence. WeR1 won the game off their toughness, rebounding and defensive unity and Worthy contributed in all three of those phases of the game. Limiting a 17 U team to 10 points in a half is insane and Worthy guarded multiple positions and made an impact both on and off the ball. Taking a post grad year at Bridgeport Prep, Worthy could continue to expand his offensive skill level as that will be where his biggest improvements could come. After being a multi-sport athlete with offers for football and basketball out of Holy Innocents High School, Worthy will get the opportunity to focus solely on basketball as a post grad prospect.

The UAA Finals brought competitive action to Louisville, Kentucky and I attended the event last weekend, in this article I'll break down my 17 U standouts from Saturday's action.