Saturday “Dagger” Sheet: Backcourt Gems From Dec 6-12

We polish off the week of Dec 6-12 with a look at some of the top guard play. [player_tooltip player_id="1020667" first="Griffin" last="Cherry"], 6-0, Senior, PG, North Paulding (pictured above) Continues to go about his business in highly productive fashion as one of the more underrated floor leaders in the ATL-Metro, a skilled ballhandler who gets from A to B much faster than it looks with his head up and mind focused, an absolute deadeye 3-point bomber who makes teams pay for leaving him alone on a regular basis, had a cool 23 points (five 3s) in a road win at Campbell and hardly broke a sweat, strong enough frame to guard either guard spot even at just 6-0, exemplifies the under the radar guy who next-level schools need to take a hard look at, a winning player who makes winning plays. Tremain Davis, 6-5, Junior, CG, North Cobb Christian [caption id="attachment_1103429" align="alignleft" width="225"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201211_201015-rotated.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1103429 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201211_201015-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a> Tremain Davis[/caption] The other half of the highly anticipated matchup with Paulding County’s Yacinthe was Davis, a stoutly built and aggressive mover who came in after posting some gaudy numbers, his skillset didn’t disappoint as he too showed multi-position versatility and handling the point at his size was an awful lot to deal with for PCHS’s smaller backcourt, his strength and ability to create off the dribble means he can move to forward easily making him even more valuable in sliding from spot to spot to affect a game, love the body and wide-ranging abilities as a next-level prospect who has shooting range but can give you points and rebounds inside as well, this is the kind of player that historically might find his way to the public sphere at a Grayson or McEachern and end up on a bunch of highlight reels, so feast your eyeballs instead at NCCS’s social media feeds. [player_tooltip player_id="948585" first="Kervens" last="Yacinthe"], 6-5, Senior, CG, Paulding County Speaking of under the radar, Cherry’s SBT teammate Yacinthe personifies it just as much, it’s puzzling to me that this wildly versatile combo guard hasn’t been scooped up since he wowed me at an SBT-SEBA workout last June, in a tough matchup with a deep and talented North Cobb Christian team Yacinthe showed his variety of skills in tallying up 26 points in the exciting double OT setback, offensively there isn’t a whole lot he can’t do with range out well past the arc, a good first step off the bounce, and plenty of strength to finish in near the basket when he slips into a forward role, he has been since his excellent summer one of North Georgia’s absolute steal prospects. [player_tooltip player_id="869585" first="Sutton" last="Smith"], 5-11, Senior, PG, Denmark [caption id="attachment_1103430" align="alignright" width="225"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201212_100439-rotated.jpg"><img class="wp-image-1103430 size-medium" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201212_100439-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a> [player_tooltip player_id="869585" first="Sutton" last="Smith"][/caption] You get into broken record territory describing all the good things Smith does on the floor, the Alabama-Huntsville commit sliced and diced his way through Creekview last week with another display of PG brilliance getting 27 seemingly easy points, a slew of assists, few to zero turnovers, once again a clinic on how to play the position in the modern game, if you’re out looking for games to watch and like seeing the game played right, first check out Denmark and stellar coach Tyler Whitlock and then focus in on Smith’s play. [player_tooltip player_id="1042849" first="Brandon" last="Rechsteiner"], 6-1, Sophomore, PG, Etowah Quickly establishing himself as one the best sophomore guards in the state, the younger Rechsteiner (brother Brock a senior had a big game from 3 as well against Forsyth Central) continues to show the poise and skill of a much older player, his stroke is pretty and efficient (three 3s), the kind of quick and natural release of a pure scorer, but he can shift in a moment to distributing PG with his advanced handle and superb vision, there’s an easy grace to his game that can add the right amount of flash but also dial it down to be deadly effective in the halfcourt as well, sure to see more collegiate eyeballs on his games as the season heats up. [player_tooltip player_id="873086" first="Jase" last="McCullough"], 6-3, Sophomore, PG, Roswell <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201212_162449-rotated.jpg"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1103431 alignleft" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2020/12/20201212_162449-225x300.jpg" alt="" width="225" height="300" /></a>Speaking of rising 2023 prospects, no conversation of guards to watch in that class can exclude the multitude of talents possessed within McCullough, built like running back that physicality is evident from the jump, he gets downhill with a ferocity that is more than most defenders can handle yet isn’t out of control, his speed with the ball both out in the open floor and dicing through traffic is deceptive and numbing to defenses, loved the shooting range and vision setting up his skilled bigs or deadeye wings but also his own willingness to pull it from mid-range instead of always bulling to the basket, smart, polished, a big-time prospect and must-watch.