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AAU Nationals

Orlando, FL- Tournament play is underway at the 17U AAU Nationals and HoopsReport.com is there to bring you the action.  On Monday we were able to watch a number of the top players in the country strut their stuff and Delvon Roe (pictured) may have had the best performance of them all.

Roe’s King of the Court squad was tied with Inner Strength at 56-all with just seconds remaining in the game.  The winner would advance to the quarterfinals.  Roe’s teammates got him the ball near the elbow and he quickly spun toward the goal and layed the ball in off the glass for the 58-56 win.  The future Michigan State Spartan finished with 26 points to go along with what had to have been double figures in rebounds. 

Georgia commit Dustin Ware, a 6’0 point guard, had a terrific game for Inner Strength and finished with 29 points.

Other AAU Nationals Notes

Boo Williams, last year’s tournament runner-up, are already playing in the consolation bracket after losing to the D1 Greyhounds early in the tournament.  We caught up with the team today and recent North Carolina-commit Ed Davis was playing inspired ball.  He was a force on the boards, blocked a number of shots, and scored 24 points in an afternoon consolation game.  It was nice to see Davis on top of his game again after having a sub-par summer…

…The D1 Greyhounds (defending champs) and Westchester Hawks each survived close games in the 3rd round.  The Greyhounds pulled away late to beat the Suffolk Blazers, 65-62, while the Hawks needed a last second breakaway layup from Alberto Estwick to win their game.  After their hard-fought 3rd round wins the Greyhounds and Hawks met in the sweet 16. 

The Westchester Hawks led by as much as 14 points in the second half before the D1 Greyhounds’ Will Buford (Ohio State) took over.  Buford scored 19 points in the final quarter to get his team within two points and with 10 seconds left they had possession and a chance to win the game.  When they finally passed the ball to Buford, though, he slipped and was unable to get a shot off as time expired.  The Westchester Hawks won the game, 65-63, and advanced to the quarterfinals. 

Will Buford didn’t shoot the ball well for much of the day, and when his shots aren’t falling, he tends to blend-in.  We’d like to see him improve his ability to create points by getting to the hole and finishing, and there is room for him to work on his ball handling skills.  Having said that, he was simply amazing in the fourth quarter of that game and he likely would have hit the game-winner, too, if he had not slipped.  Buford scored 26 points for the game.

The Westchester Hawks were led by 6’6 Mookie Jones’ 23 points while the other Jones (Kevin) chipped in with 16.  Both players were outstanding and they were the best forwards on the court (on this day) despite playing against the Greyhounds’ top-25 prospect Darius Miller.

Speaking of Miller, he played solid but unspectacular ball in the two games we watched.  He never ceases to impress us, however, with his uncanny ability to finish acrobatic shots near the basket.

Kentucky coach Billy Gillispie was front-and-center tonight watching Miller despite the fact that JaMychal Green was playing in a game that went into overtime on the next court over (Gillispie did, of course, peak at Green’s game from time-to-time)…

…On to JaMychal Green and the Alabama Challenge: in their 3rd round game, Green scored 21 points, but it was his rising-sophomore teammate, 6’4 Ralston Turner, that stole the show.  Turner scored 25 points and hit 7-9 threes to help his team advance to the Sweet 16 where they met Martin Bros Select.

That game against Martin Bros Select was a dandy.  The Alabama Challenge trailed by four points late in the contest when Andrew Steele (younger brother to Alabama’s Ronald) hit a 3-pointer.  Later, with 15 seconds left and The Challenge down by three, Nick Williams (Marquette-commit) nailed a trifecta to tie the game and send it into overtime.  The Bama Challenge would go on to win the game 76-73.

JaMychal Green scored 23 points to lead the winners while Steele and Williams combined for 28. 

Martin Bros Select was led by Grant Gibbs (Gonzaga), Matt Gatens (Iowa), and Leonard Pomlee, who combined for nearly 60 of their teams’ 73 points…

…The Georgia Stars had a number of noteworthy performers on this day, including Matthew Brabham, Al-Farouq Aminu, and Travis Leslie.

We introduced you to Matthew Brabham a couple weeks ago as a player that could be one of the best point guards in the ‘10 class.  The Georgia Stars coaching staff must agree, as they’ve moved him up to 17’s (he was playing for their 16U team) and he’s now their starting point guard.  Brabham looked sensational today as he scored 14 first-half points without missing a shot.  He left the game midway through the second-half with a sprained ankle.  Brabham isn’t expected to miss any more action because of the ankle and he’s the player we’re most excited about watching tomorrow.

Travis Leslie literally had me out of my seat yelling with excitement from the dunks he threw down today- and I haven’t done that in a while considering how many dunks I’ve seen this summer.  The 6’4 wing has springs in his legs and can easily get eye-level with the rim.  We’re happy we have him on our latest top 100 list.

In today’s game, Al-Farouq Aminu (Wake Forest) looked every bit the elite prospect that he’s considered to be.  He was an absolute force on the boards and had numerous put-backs, and he even had a number of drives that resulted in one-handed-dunks that had NBA written all over them…

…Team Breakdown won in a blowout in their 3rd round game.  Kenny Boynton scored an easy 20 points, while 2010 phenom Brandon Knight finished with 14.

…Although we missed the game, we heard that the Georgia Ballers’ Rashad Dantzler had a nice performance against Team Florida.  Dantzler, a player that South Dade (FL) coach John Herron told us about back in January, finished with 22 points…

Quarterfinals Schedule

Georgia Stars vs. G.E.S.U.S. Basketball Tuesday @ 9:30 a.m.
Team Breakdown vs. Georgia Blazers 10:30
Ambassadors vs. King of the Court 12:00
Westchester Hawks vs. Alabama Challenge 1:30

Coach Gives Buford A Pair of Nicknames

An SEC coach that was watching Will Buford’s unconscious fourth quarter performance against the Westchester Hawks offered a couple of nicknames for the sharpshooter:

“His name is Burger King.  Cause he’s having it his way.”

A pair of 3-pointer later and the coach had changed his mind:

“His name is hot-chocolate.  Just add water and stir- he’s automatic.”

You can reach Nathan McCauley at Nathan@HoopsReport.com