Day 1 of Under Armour’s Elite 24 did not disappoint. It’s rare to have so much talent and athleticism in one gym. Every single one of these high school superstars are special basketball players. However, there were a few that stood out as the best of the pack. Any ranked player with a cocky attitude can easily be mistaken as the best. What truly separates the good from the great is fundamentals and attitude. Some of these extremely talented players couldn’t go through a simple dribbling drill without messing up at least two times. There were other talented players who had the “too cool to go hard” attitude during the drills. The players who displayed both great fundamentals and a great attitude were unsurprisingly the top performers.
Trevon Duval was easily the best point guard in the building. Being that he has two years of high school left, Trevon has scary potential. No matter what defense you throw at him, it seems as if he always has an answer. He plays with high IQ, gets the ball wherever it should be and has great court vision. He is the true definition of a floor general. As long as he stays focused, Trevon can successfully run point guard for any college team in the country. However, that doesn’t mean that his game doesn’t need some polishing. There were a few plays that Trevon couldn’t successfully penetrate and dish without getting a turnover. He will need to perfect the little things in order to be the pro point guard that he can become.
Josh Jackson has superstar potential. It’s easy to see why many scouts consider him the best player in the Class of 2016. He scored the ball more efficiently than anyone else in the building. Josh also had a few great defensive moments. He already has his name up in the 2014 Elite 24 banner, it must be hard for him to stay humble. However, as long as Josh can remain focused and understand that being a high school star will mean nothing at the next level, he can become a household name in a few years.
Rawle Alkins has the potential to be the best player in his class. He has had performances that have led some fans to call him “Baby LeBron”. However, it seemed as if he was trying too hard to prove that he deserves to be ranked at least top 10. Many scouts were talking about the opportunity he finally had to match up with Josh Jackson. It seemed like Rawle was over thinking a couple of times and that caused a few bad plays. When the only thing he’s worried about is his game, he’s scary good. My advice to Rawle would be to let the game come naturally. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who’s in front of him as long as he’s playing his game.
Michael Porter Jr. and TJ Leaf deserve a mention because of how smooth and efficient their games are. The only problem with these “smooth” type of players is that they have the tendency to be too relaxed on the court. Both of them need to be a little more aggressive in order to showcase their worth on a stage like this.
With so much talent in the building, everyone had their moments. There’s something good to say about every single one of these players but there are two more days to stand out. There are some players who have more work to do and others who have to stay at the top. Overall, day 1 was a success, let’s see how the next two pan out.
