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City of Palms: Day 1

City of Palms
Ft. Myers, FL
The first day of one of the biggest tournaments of the entire year featured a boatload of big performances from mid-major kids and a blowout victory for Mater Dei and their star-studded team (Mater Dei's soph David Wear pictured).

Game #1: P.K. Yonge vs. Port St. Lucie

P.K. Yonge mounted a 44-20 lead by halftime and never looked back as they won the game 89-56.  The highlight of the game was Yonge’s 8th graders (Trey Griseck and Devin Wilson), who checked into the game in the final minute.  With the entire bench and crowd cheering them on, Wilson got the ball with time winding down in transition and hit a contested pull-up 3-pointer at the buzzer that cleared their bench and had the crowd cheering like it was a game winning shot.

Player Evaluations:

Willie Powers 6-2 Sr. SG P.K. Young (Georgia Southern)
Had numerous drives to the basket and used a nice floater to finish most of them.  Hit some outside shots and passed the ball well when his shot wasn’t there.  9-12 from the field for 23 points to go with 4 assists.

Myk Brown 6-4 Sr. GF P.K. Young (VCU)
Strong shooting guard can also dominate at small forward at this level with his well-built frame.  Hit several 3-pointers in the second half.  Had a nice give-and-go in transition late in the game that resulted in him being on the recieving end of an alley-oop.  Will be an impact player on the mid-major level.  Finished with 25 points on 10-18 shooting.

Larry Sanders 6-10 Sr. PF Port St. Lucie (VCU)
Skinny and long.  Hangs out on the perimeter where he has a decent handle for his size and hits some jumpers.  Doesn’t impact the game inside the way a 6-10 kid should.  Has potential, but needs to add weight and some inside game to be an impact player on the next level.  Finished with 17 points on 7-11 shooting and 2 blocks.

Game #2: Bishop Verot vs. Dr. Krop

A pair of 3-pointers from Max Groebe helped Dr. Krop take control early and build a 13-6 lead.  By the end of the first quarter Bishop Verot had played well enough to close that gap to 13-10.  Groebe just got hotter and hit his 6th 3-pointer to give his team a 30-16 lead late in the 1st half. 
The teams traded baskets before Javi Gonzalez hit a running shot from nearly half-court at the buzzer of the 3rd quarter to give Krop a 45-31 lead.  Gonzalez picked up his 4th foul midway through the final period and Bishop Verot started a run that had the home crowd out of their seats.  Verot’s Kurt Kosek hit a 3-pointer to get them within 47-45.  The teams continued to trade baskets in the closing minutes and with Verot down 2 points they had a chance to win the game in the closing seconds, but a 3-point attempt rimmed out.  Dr. Krop won the game 54-50.

Player Evaluations:

Max Groebe 6-5 Sr. SF Dr. Krop (UMASS)
Groebe can take his man off the dribble, but isn’t overly quick or athletic which makes him most effective hitting outside shots.  He was money in the first half when his stroke looked near-perfect and he hit 6 3-pointers.  In the second half, his form seemed to change and he wasn’t using his legs on his shot as he missed 4-5 of his outside attempts.  We were impressed with his aggressiveness on the boards.  Scored 23 points and grabbed 5 rebounds.

Javi Gonzalez 5-11 Sr. PG Dr. Krop
Gonzalez had an on-off game and ended up fouling out in the final minute.  He is a pin-point passer that rarely leaves his passes in a bad spot.  He is most effective when attacking the basket and he knows how to finish and penetrate and dish.  We’d say he is a capable shooter although that isn’t his strength.  One of the top mid-major point guard prospects still on the board.  Scored 13 points on 4-10 shooting to go along with 3 assists.

Game #3: Mater Dei vs. Golden Gate

While watching the earlier games, a fan that we were chatting with warned us that this game could be a blowout, and his prediction was on the money as Golden Gate was helplessly overmatched and lost 89-48 with the clock running continuously in the 4th quarter.

David Wear 6-9 So. SF Mater Dei
David has seemed to embrace his potential and is now the most skilled 6-9 kid in the 2009 class.  He can shoot lights-out, dribbles like a guard, finishes inside, and had the nastiest block of the day (that was unfairly called a foul) when he pinned a shot on the backboard.  When we saw him play over the summer, you could say his play was timid.  Not anymore.  Aggressive is more fitting and that takes him from a top-25 caliber player in the sophomore class to a kid that could compete for the top spot.  Think Kyle Singler.  David finished with an efficient 17 points on 7-8 shooting.

Travis Wear 6-9 So. SF Mater Dei
The other half of the Wear twins is Travis.  Very little separates him from his brother skill-wise.  He doesn’t seem to play with the swagger that David has recently started playing with and in this game he was in foul trouble and that kept him from having any chance to match his brother’s performance.  He was at his best in this game when he was left in with the reserves late in the game and he looked to take a leadership roll on the court.  Sky is the limit.

Taylor King 6-8 GF Sr. GF Mater Dei (DUKE)
King was being taunted hard by some P.K. Yonge kids that were sitting behind the basket he was lighting up in the first half, and after hitting a deep-deep 3-pointer he pointed at his hecklers (which only seemed to fire them up even more).  As the taunting got worse, he just got better and hit 7 3-pointers for the game while talking a little smack to the kids after each made shot.  It was fun to watch for everyone close enough to see it happening.  King finished with 33 points on 10-19 shooting and 11 rebounds.

Top 10 Performers on Day #1