Get In Get Out Showcase: Those Who Got In And Got Noticed

With the month of September mostly behind us, fall preseason basketball is in full swing and that means with preseason action ramping up, weekends are becoming increasingly packed with showcases across the area. Returning for another year, this time around hosted at the Hackensack Recreation Center in Hackensack, NJ, New Jersey Legacy Basketball held its annual Get In Get Out Showcase— a one day event providing an early opportunity to evaluate prospects and get a sense of the roles they're preparing to take on heading into the high school season while also watch several intriguing matchups featuring some of the state's top programs. With plenty of talent on display, let's take another look at those who stood out during Saturday's action.    Amid some late offseason roster changes, increased opportunities and augmented on ball volume projects to be on the horizon for [player_tooltip player_id='2884517' first='Dallas' last='Baldwin']'s workload entering his sophomore season, and looked extremely comfortable filling that void and replacing a lot of the lost scoring production. Highlighted by an efficient blend of rim pressure and mid range area shot making, Baldwin was impressive in picking his spots— using creative ball handling to manipulate defenders and create separation for smooth mid range pull ups and turn around jumpers, capitalizing on defensive lapses in transition and leveraging his quickness for easy at the rim finishes, instinctively moving well without the ball and finding open space for backdoor cuts, and even attacking closeouts to get downhill in the half court when the defensive was forced into rotations.     With a high volume role on the ball awaiting him as St. Rose's lead guard with the high school season approaching, freshman [player_tooltip player_id='3571369' first='Rian' last='Bennett Jr.'] showed several encouraging signs of what that responsibility could yield this winter. Bennett Jr. was aggressive in looking to score— demonstrating good pace off the bounce, consistently getting to his spots without allowing ball pressure to speed him up, creating mid range pull ups and rising up over late contests paired with quick finishes at the rim when exploiting driving angles. The mid range area for tough pull ups stood out, seeming to be an area where Bennett Jr. excels at and it'll be interesting to monitor how that shot profile develops throughout his freshman season.     Perhaps part of a crop of some of the bigger breakout performers on the day was Teaneck's new shooting weapon, [player_tooltip player_id='3774482' first='Vincent' last='Gentile']. Gentile boasts an extremely polished shooting stroke coupled with deft outside touch and an exceptionally quick release, allowing him to consistently capitalize on perimeter opportunities. Being the cornerstone of his offensive value, Gentile has demonstrated comfort shooting both off movement and from stationary catch and shoot situations, showcasing the versatility necessary to remain effective in different actions. That shooting gravity projects to give him meaningful value as a floor spacer and should continue to force opposing defenses to account for him well beyond the arc.     A returning fixture in Hudson Catholic's backcourt group amidst plenty of roster shakeup under first year head coach Kevin Grimes, [player_tooltip player_id='2201955' first='Noreaga' last='James'] operated as a legitimate spark plug for this group offensively, particularly in the ways he played with an aggressive attacking mindset while staying within the flow of the offense— confidently stepping into open threes, finding pockets of space for smooth mid range pull ups, and finishing through contact when getting deep into the paint.     The flashes of an increasingly more confident and progressively more aggressive [player_tooltip player_id='3759309' first='Dylan' last='Brunson'] were glaringly evident across both contests early Saturday, putting together moments of the type of assertiveness that could translate to a larger role. Taking full advantage of the minutes he was given, Brunson consistently found ways to keep himself on the floor— demonstrating crucial ball security and a tighter handler with poise when operating against opposing ball pressure coupled with encouraging versatility as a perimeter shot maker, as he showed the ability to generate efficient offense across multiple outside shot profiles while shooting with confidence.     An area where he consistently leads the way, [player_tooltip player_id='3718400' first='Caleb' last='Marchan']'s defensive presence has always been instrumental in setting the tone for this Newark Tech group. Defensively, he hangs his hat on bringing consistent intensity, effort, and energy— applying relentless ball pressure the length of the floor against opposing ball handlers, playing with active hands in the passing lanes, disruption against opposing offensive actions blowing up ball screens and being in the right positioning to play effective help side defense. His motor and versatility allowed him to serve as a valuable glue guy and connective piece amongst this rotation.     After undergoing a little bit of roster turnover, Newark Tech now welcomes one of the city's most rapidly improving combo guards in [player_tooltip player_id='3573219' first='Emmanuel' last='Yirenkui'], where his increased confidence and improved feel for the game remained evident, appearing more comfortable reading the floor. Throughout both contests, Newark Tech consistently looked to push the pace in the open floor, creating scoring opportunities early in possessions and Yirenkui's fingerprints were all over Tech's transition offense— getting out in the open floor for easy finishes at the rim before the defense could recover, turning defensive stops into explosive above the rim plays, and sprinting the lanes for vertical lob finishes.

With the month of September mostly behind us, fall preseason basketball is in full swing and that means with preseason action ramping up, weekends are becoming increasingly packed with showcases across the area. Returning for another year, this time around hosted at the Hackensack Recreation Center in Hackensack, NJ, New Jersey Legacy Basketball held its annual Get In Get Out Showcase— a one day event providing an early opportunity to evaluate prospects and get a sense of the roles they're preparing to take on heading into the high school season while also watch several intriguing matchups featuring some of the state's top programs. With plenty of talent on display, let's take another look at those who stood out during Saturday's action.