Sleepy Thompson '25 + '26 Standouts

The 68th Annual Sleepy Thompson tournament at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes Upper School was a great place to get an early season look at some local DMV teams as well as a few teams from the 757. We watched games from both the winners' and consolation brackets and came away with several new standouts as well as players that we are already familiar with performing at a high level. Let's take a more in-depth look at our standouts from the junior and senior classes!    16p 7r 4b 3s vs St. Mary's Ryken   -The best all-around performance I've seen from the Navy commit as a big prospect that can impact the game on both ends of the floor. Pollock's lateral movement and vert have made pretty dramatic leaps over the summer to make him both a dynamic rebounder and better defender. His defensive positioning and the timing on his rotations have improved to give him some shot-blocking upside as a helper. A skilled passer from the perimeter, Pollock can put it on the deck and finish at the room after utilizing a spin move to get past his matchup. Pollock knocked down C+S jumpers but didn't settle on the perimeter, scoring through contact at the rim twice for the And-1 layup. His pairing with Jacobs in the frontcourt should make the Saints a formidable team in the IAC.     12p 2a 1 charge drawn vs Pallotti   -Hankins did a great job of attacking closeouts from the perimeter, making plays for himself and others OTB in traffic. Hankins didn't settle for jumpshots or take bad off-balance interior shots near the rim, instead finding cutters and kicking out to perimeter shooters. Hankins competed defensively and continued to play hard down the stretch despite the deficit, even drawing a charge late in the game on a great rotation from the weakside block to draw a foul on the slashing opponent. His best attempt came on a spinning layup off glass through the contact, converting the ensuing free throw.     16p 3a 1r 1s vs St. Mary's Ryken   -Burgdolf is really coming along as a pure point guard that is finding the right spots to also score the basketball at a pretty efficient clip. The son of a coach, Burgdolf is efficient with his dribble, takes care of the ball, always is scanning the floor looking for passing options, and is taking and making more stepbacks and pull-ups from the perimeter. After growing a few inches this summer, he takes the reins as the full time starter and engine for the Saints at both ends as a floor general that controls the pace of the game. Burgdolf hit a baseline reverse through contact , scored with nice touch on a floater in the key, and hit a tough hesi off the catch to get him to a pull-up 18 footer that splashed through the net. If he continues to add more explosiveness OTB and can put on more weight to dish out contact as a POA defender and as a ballhandler-- he can raise his profile as a PG to watch in 2026.     15p 4r 3s 1a vs St. John's Catholic Prep   -Probably my favorite find of the tournament as a dynamic guard that is adept at slashing to the rim with the ball in his hands and timing his cuts for easy backdoor bunnies off the ball. Dankyi impressed throughout the evening as a physical defender that works as an effective trapper that pokes away steals without fouling as a helper. He read the passer well and blitzed into the lane to snag a steal and lay it up at the other end, chased down his own miss from 18 feet and hit the scooping lay in the paint, and maintained his aggressive play while also displaying the feel to bring the ball back up top if he didn't have numbers in transition. His wide-ranging skillset should be crucial to the Panthers success this season.     18p 7r 5a 2s 1b vs St. John's Catholic Prep   -One of the more dynamic slashers in the area with the ball in his hands, Taylor LIVED in the paint but also showed an improved bag of finishing moves around the basket. His new go-to move is the stride step or euro step in the paint to efficiently navigate through traffic before scoring around the basket. Taylor's attention to detail defensively shown through when he picked a pocket and laid it through the contact at the other end for the 3-point play. I like that he's staying home more often defensively on the ball, forcing more TOs and staying out of foul trouble by using his athleticism to cut off his opponent's path to the rim to force dribble pickups. Taylor showed off a smoother handle by hitting the double cross to get his defender off balance and get to the middle of the key for an easy pull-up two. If Taylor can continue to execute on the simple passing reads to take advantage of the paint touches and scoring gravity, he will only elevate himself in the eyes of college coaches.       19p 4a 1s 1 charge drawn vs Episcopal   -Bailey can really fill it up from the perimeter and continues to impress as a tough shot taker and a tough shot maker OTB. The handle has sharpened to get into pull-ups from beyond the 3 point line, with the added aspect of the game making it more difficult to cut off his driving lines to the paint. Bailey hit a C+S wing and corner 3, stepback 3, scored off the bump and floater through the contact in the key, and got the step coming off a wing ball screen to get into a clean pull-up two in front of the rim. As Bailey continues to mature as a combo guard that locates his shooters and drives to create easy kickout looks to them from beyond the arc, his 1 on 1 scoring skills will only be accentuated by improved spacing.       3a 2r vs SSSA   -Didn't play a ton off the bench but came in midway through the 2H to bring a spark off the bench as a play-making guard that sees the floor well and can execute passes through tight windows in the defense. I came away impressed by his pace coming off of ball screens. Blackwell showed an aptitude and understanding of the microskills that are pivotal to creating much-needed space for a shorter PG to get a step on the defender and that all-important extra second to pass one of his teammates open as he breaks into the open floor.       17p 4r 1a 1s vs St. John's Catholic Prep   -Byam always seemed to be in the right place at the right time, moving instinctually to spaces in the defense to make a quick catch in traffic before finishing around the basket. Byam's patience and IQ to either go right up with the dump-off/offensive putback or pump fake to shift the defense to draw the foul stood out throughout the evening. Byam got himself into a rhythm with a perfectly-timed backdoor cut from the corner to receive the pocket pass for an easy floater off the window. Really interested to see how his game develops over the next year, want to see what his perimeter jumper and creation ability from the high post looks like as the season progresses.       22p 7r 4a vs St. Michael   -Brown kept hammering away at the defense, relentlessly bullying his way to the rim in waves to create easy finishes or put himself in position to score off of putbacks around the rim. The physical wing knows how to initiate contact to bump his defender out of the way without being whistled for the offensive foul. The strategy paid off as he went 9/13 from the line while adding in several dimes for easy scores OTB in the paint. I came away impressed with the shooting touch throughout the day as Brown used the glass effectively to score on floaters from tough angles at the midpost or when he splashed a no-dip 3 from the wing to push the lead back to a 3-possession game.

The 68th Annual Sleepy Thompson tournament at St. Stephen's and St. Agnes Upper School was a great place to get an early season look at some local DMV teams as well as a few teams from the 757. We watched games from both the winners' and consolation brackets and came away with several new standouts as well as players that we are already familiar with performing at a high level. Let's take a more in-depth look at our standouts from the junior and senior classes!