BCHS's Meet in the Middle Mania: Standout Guards (Pt. 1)

This past weekend, Bakersfield Christian hosted the inaugural Meet in the Middle Mania Showcase, featuring 3 teams from Northern California (Destiny Christian Lions of Sacramento, Vanden Vikings of Fairfield, and Weston Ranch Cougars of Stockton) and 3 teams from Southern California (Pacifica Christian Tritons of Newport Beach, Legacy Christian Lions of Valencia, and host team Bakersfield Christian) in a round robin format so that each team played a team from the opposing region. The event started Thursday and wrapped up on Saturday. Along with the quality teams, the event hosted some high-level prospects, which will be covered in this 4-part series of player evaluations. In this article, I look at six guards that had standout performances in the first two days that I was at the showcase. This article includes the following information: player's information, my own personal recorded statistics, and a brief description of each player's skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and there will be a following article looking at 6 more standout guards from the event, as well as top wing/slashers, and top forwards. We begin this article with junior guard [player_tooltip player_id='2137370' first='Nick' last='Andreotti'] Jr.    The 6-foot-2 shooting guard moves fluidly off the ball, gets to his shot spots with shoulders squared, is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch to open up the court, has the handles to create space from his defender, with use of the crossover and the hesitation, has nice touch on the floater, and is a creative finisher around the basket with the Euro-step and reverse lay-ups to evade height in the paint. Andreotti moves the ball quickly in the half-court setting, moves constantly off ball screens, has the court vision to make timely reads to teammates cutting off the ball, as well as accurate passes out of the pick and roll action, is able to draw fouls through contact when attacking the basket, and plays with good pace and feel for the flow of the game. Andreotti is a solid on-ball defender, has good lateral footspeed to stay in front of his opponent, and has good timing and bounce to alter/block shots coming from the weakside or on the perimeter, as was evident with his 2 blocks against Legacy Christian of Valencia. Andreotti had games of 11 points and 10 points in the two games I watched him play live, both wins over Legacy Christian and host team Bakersfield Christian and will be relied upon to be a floor spacer for the Lions, who lack multiple knock down shooters from beyond the arc.     The 6-foot point guard plays with good pace, controls the tempo of the Lions offense, is a good positional rebounder, which allows him to push the pace of play in transition, is a tough perimeter defender that gets into his opponents dribbling space. Blue had two impressive showings at the lead guard position, as he would go for 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists in the win over Legacy Christian of Valencia, followed by an impressive stat line against Bakersfield Christian, going for 7 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block. Blue has dynamic handles, keeps the ball on a string to survey the floor, uses the behind cross, between cross, wide crossover, and the toss-cross to get his defender off balance, a great burst of speed to get by his initial defender, has nice touch on the floater down the lane, as well as the ability to score around height at the basket with the reverse or up-and-under lay-ups to evade shot blockers. Blue's court vision and decision making with the ball in his hands was what impressed me the most. Blue weaves through the defense, finds open teammates off the drive and kick pass, or the use of the reverse pivot to find open players on the opposite side of the court, and makes timely reads in the pick and roll action finding teammates in stride to the basket. True point guard that looks to make plays and sticks to his strengths as a lead guard.     The 6-foot-1 combo guard is a solid perimeter defender with the ability to create steals and deflections defending on or off the ball, displayed the ability to score the ball from 3-levels, and can make plays for others when the ball is in his hands. Burton was a player I knew little about coming into this event, but his level of play the first two days showed he is a sophomore guard to keep an eye on in SoCal, as he would score 17 points and snag a couple of steals in the opening game loss to Destiny Christian, followed by 11 points and 2 blocks in a loss to Vanden of Fairfield on the second day of the event. Burton has solid handles, uses the crossover, between cross, and the hesitation to create space from his defender, has a solid burst off the bounce, looks to get into the paint and attack his defender routinely, and looks to initiate contact with the body control and creativity to score with regularity around the basket. Burton moves well off the ball to get to his shot spots, is accurate with the 3-ball off the dribble or the catch, and gets great lift with separation off the hesitation to connect on the mid-range jumper with efficiency. The poise and control as a sophomore were impressive, as well as his ability to play solid on-ball defense, and the bounce to deflect/block shots on the perimeter with good timing on the closeouts.     The 6-foot-3 combo guard has a physical frame, keeps relentless pressure on the defense when attacking the basket, can space the floor from beyond the arc, and impacts various aspects of the game on both ends of the court. The Cougars were short-handed at the Meet in the Middle Showcase, and Cobb stepped up big and had two stellar showings in the two games I was in person for, going for 23 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds in a two-point loss to event hosts Bakersfield Christian, followed by 27 points, 4 assists, and 2 steals to make a push against Pacifica Christian of Newport, who were up by 23 points going into the 4th quarter. Cobb would score 16 of his game-high 27, making some incredible shots with high degrees of difficulty. Cobb has a strong handle on the ball, keeps the dribble alive to probe the defense, uses the crossover, between cross, and behind cross to get his defender off balance, gets pain touches routinely using his strong build to bully his way past his initial defender, the court vision to make quality reads off the drive and kick pass, and the frame to absorb and finish through contact around the basket, earning him trips to the line on the regular. Cobb is accurate on the stop-and-pop jumper, gets good lift to shoot over taller defenders, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the bounce or the catch. Cobb is able to get his jumper off in tight windows, which leads to him drawing fouls from the 3-point line, which happened several times over the two days I watched the Cougars play. Cobb has the physical build to hold up against bigger players on switches, is solid on the glass to get putbacks or push the pace of play, and has active hands defending on the ball.     The 6-foot-1 lead guard makes good reads with the ball in his hands, is one of the top perimeter defenders in the Section, and continues to improve as a perimeter shooting threat, with the middy being his most consistent shot. Jackson keeps the ball on a string to survey the defense, uses the between cross, the crossover, behind cross, and the hesitation moves to shake his defender, has a good burst of speed off the dribble, can score at the basket with the reverse or Euro-step lay-ups, has touch on the floater, and gets good lift with body control on the mid-range jumper. Jackson is a good positional rebounder, looks to push the pace off the glass and advance the ball up the court, makes good reads off the drive and kick pass, as well as out of the pick and roll action, especially with fellow juniors [player_tooltip player_id='2646533' first='Taiwo' last='Daramola'] and [player_tooltip player_id='2194700' first='Jeremias' last='Killebrew'] on the other end for the lob dunks. Jackson has great footspeed, the lateral quickness to stay in line with his opponent, quick hands to poke the ball out, as well as the timing to jump passing lanes and turn defense to offense. Jackson has improved his accuracy with the 3-ball off the catch, and as he continues to make strides in that part of his game, that will open up more scoring opportunities for him.     The 6-foot-4 combo guard has the moves and accuracy to score the ball from 3-levels, the court vision to make plays in the half court setting, as well as the open court, and has the length to alter shots from the weakside in the paint or on the perimeter with timely closeouts. Fountaine is a player I have seen several times and was part of the Team Lillard 16u squad that won the 3SSB 16s Championship, and a key contributor. Fountaine would start slowly in Vanden's opening game against the sharp shooting and high tempo Pacifica Christian Tritons, but would get going in the second half to finish with 13 points, 10 of those after halftime. Foutaine wasted no time in the Viking's second game, as he would drop 20 points to lead his team in scoring, connecting on 3 threes in the process, along with 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a block, and a steal. Fountaine has solid handles, keeps the dribble alive to survey the defense, uses the wide crossover, the between cross, and hesitation to get his defender off balance, he uses his long strides and burst off the bounce to get by his initial defender, has the body control to score through contact down the lane with creativity on the finish with the reverse or Euro-step lay-ups to score in tight windows. Fountaine gets good lift on the mid-range jumper off the dribble, is effective with the spin-fade middy on the baseline or off the wing, moves fluidly off the ball to get to his shot spots, and is accurate with the 3-ball off the catch or the bounce. Foutaine is a good positional rebounder, looks to push the pace of play up the court, and has the court vision to find open teammates ahead in transition or cutting off the ball in the half court setting. Controlled style of play with the ability to connect on tough shots and one of the better long term prospects at the event.

This past weekend, Bakersfield Christian hosted the inaugural Meet in the Middle Mania Showcase, featuring 3 teams from Northern California (Destiny Christian Lions of Sacramento, Vanden Vikings of Fairfield, and Weston Ranch Cougars of Stockton) and 3 teams from Southern California (Pacifica Christian Tritons of Newport Beach, Legacy Christian Lions of Valencia, and host team Bakersfield Christian) in a round robin format so that each team played a team from the opposing region. The event started Thursday and wrapped up on Saturday. Along with the quality teams, the event hosted some high-level prospects, which will be covered in this 4-part series of player evaluations. In this article, I look at six guards that had standout performances in the first two days that I was at the showcase. This article includes the following information: player's information, my own personal recorded statistics, and a brief description of each player's skill sets. The players are listed in alphabetical order, not ranked order, and there will be a following article looking at 6 more standout guards from the event, as well as top wing/slashers, and top forwards. We begin this article with junior guard Nick Andreotti Nick Andreotti 6'2" | SG Destiny Christian | 2027 State CA-N Jr.