Fayetteville Hoopfest: What We Learned
With this being the final AAU tournament of the summer, we got the opportunity to see some of the growth of players and teams over the last few months. Not only have they learned more but we also learned more…
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Continue ReadingWith this being the final AAU tournament of the summer, we got the opportunity to see some of the growth of players and teams over the last few months. Not only have they learned more but we also learned more about them, so with that being said, let’s jump right into some of the things we learned at the Fayetteville Hoopfest this weekend.
The 7th grade Sandhills Machine squad coached by Cash Sutton was dominant throughout the weekend, they feature quite a few players in the 7th grade that you will want to keep an eye on over the next few years. Not only were we impressed with the way they played team basketball but they got after it on the defensive end, which led to them dominating the 7th grade division.
Robeson County represented well as the Robeson United squad took home the championship in the 8th grade division. The played solid defense, forcing their opposition into turnovers which helped to lead into their offense, which was also impressive. As the tournament when on, it seemed as if they got better and would go on to win the championship in the 8thgrade division.
Fayetteville Academy will be young but talented this season, losing basically their entire starting lineup, the Eagles have some new transfers coming in that have plenty of talent and upside. This was our first time getting to see them play together and it looked as if they are already grasping some concepts defensively and seem to share the ball well.
Fayetteville Flash finished out the summer in an impressive fashion with teams in the 9th and 10th grade division reaching the championship. Their up-tempo style of offense for both grade levels fit the way that their roster likes to play which led to them being able to win even when the games came down to the wire. We saw some players from both age groups step and turn the corner somewhat as far as playing with more intensity and confidence, so it should be interesting to see how all that plays out over the next few month with those prospect in particular.
Skills Eyeview Ballers 6th and 7thgraders Jacuez Foster & Ziyon Zegler were impressive and displayed their potential, both are players that we will be keeping an eye on as time goes on over the next few years. What we liked about these two players and their team overall is that they are learning to continue to compete even when they were down late in games. One game in particular was their matchup with LBA Thunder, they were down big in the 2nd half but would force some turnovers and get out into transition to get some buckets cutting the lead down before time expired.
Bell’s Warriors 2023 Khyelle Ingram may have put together one of the better scoring performances with his 32 point performance in the first round of bracket play. He was dominate in numerous aspects of the game and was able to help lead his team to the semi-final round.