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Memorial Day Classic Update #1

Nashville, TN- The HoopsReport.com staff has been in Nashville today checking out some of the best young talent in the country at one of the summer’s best events.

We hit the gym early and the big story from the 8am games was Frankie Sullivan’s (pictured) 35 points that propelled the Alabama Lasers to an upset over Tyreke Evans’ Team Final squad.  Sullivan, a top-50 rising senior, is an athletic combo-guard that gets to the hole and converts acrobatic finishes.  He is a streaky shooter, but in the morning game his shot was on, and he nailed some clutch outside shots. 

While Sullivan enjoyed the best performance of the morning, Tyreke Evans struggled to just 20 points in the Team Final loss and had two costly turnovers late in the game.  Evans made up for that poor performance, though, when he scored 21 points in an afternoon game to lead Team Final to a 10-point victory over Boo Williams.  In the win over Boo Williams, he was hitting his patented rainbow jumper and using slick dribbling to get inside the lane for easy lay-ins.  Evans is no-doubt one of the elite talents in the country, and he is one of a handful of players that will battle for the top spot in the ‘08 rankings this summer.

Other Noteworthy Performances

Team Texas guard Rotnei Clarke scored 30 points in an overtime win over Memphis YOMCA.  While teammate Willie Warren sat on the bench with five fouls, Clarke took over late in regulation and overtime to help his team to victory.  The 6’0 gunner that has a rep as one of the nation’s top shooters showed that his game is far from one-dimensional as he handled the ball on numerous plays while running time off the clock (and under intense defensive pressure), and also drove to hoop and finished contested and ones with floaters and pull-up jumpers.

Xavier Henry has progressed into one of the very best guards in the country.  The 6’7 shooting guard scored 27 points in Athletes First’s win over the Tennessee Travelers and he got his points in every way possible.  Henry didn’t just impress us with his scoring ability as he blocked a handful of shots and created points for teammates with nice passes.  Look for him to make a jump into the top-10 in the class of 2009 rankings. 

We were anxious to get our first viewing of the summer of Kemba Walker, after hearing about his MVP performance in the Cactus Classic (where he led the NY Gauchos to the championship), and the 6’0 point guard didn’t disappoint.  Walker is a quick and tough New York City point guard with a solid handle, good playmaking instincts and an uncanny ability to finish contested shots at the rim (Walker has a great since of how and when to use rotation on his finishes off the glass).  He scored a combined 31 points in the Gauchos two pool wins today. 

LSU-commit Tommy Mason-Griffin might be smaller than his 5’11 advertised height, but the stocky point guard is still one of the best in the 2009 class.  He has been playing with the older kids for a couple of summers now and he looks like a veteran player even though he just finished his sophomore year of high school.  In Houston Hoops’ first game of the day, Griffin was excellent as he used his superb ball handling to get wherever he wanted to on the court, and he didn’t miss an open teammate the entire game.  He is also a very good finisher for his size and a more-than-capable shooter.  Griffin is in the top-25 to stay.

6’10 Mean Streets big man Michael Dunigan beasted his way to 18 points in a close loss to the Metro Hawks.  Dunigan has one of the best all around games of any big man in the class and he is making a strong case to move into the top-25 of our rankings of the best players in the class of 2008.  He has a big body and uses it to own the paint while snatching rebounds and blocking shots.  His offensive game is more advanced than most of the big men in the top-75 and he is always good for a handful of dunks and nice hook shots.  Dunigan plays with a mean streak and is an intimidating opponent for any big man to face.  His motor seems to run out of gas late in the games, but look for him to put up even bigger numbers as his stamina improves.

Recruiting Notes and More

6’3 2009 stud Terrence Boyd is playing with Athletes First this weekend, but he won’t be back at Oak Hill for his junior season.  Boyd says he will instead be attending his old school, Norman High, where he will join AAU teammate Kyle Hardrick (another 2009 stud).

6’3 Dexter Strickland scored 19 points to help the Metro Hawks to a come-from-behind victory over Mean Streets today and the 6th ranked rising junior told us after the game that the schools he is interested in are Michigan State, Florida, UNC, UConn, and Villanova.

6’0 Jordan Theodore, ½ of the New York Gauchos dynamite backcourt (with Kemba Walker being the other half), put together a pair of solid 12 point efforts in today’s games.  Theodore is very quick, has a slick handle including a crossover going either direction, and is a tough defender.  He gave us a list of schools that includes Memphis, Marquette, Seton Hall, Rutgers, and Indiana.

Mid-majors pay attention:  5’11 Adam Raye is a big-time sleeper.  The sharpshooting point guard that runs the show for the Charlotte Royals scored  19 points in his team’s win over the DC Blue Devils and told us after the game that his list of schools includes East Carolina, Elon, and Highpoint (scholarship offers), and Clemson, Temple, VCU, and St. John’s.

Stay tuned as we will have more updates from the Nike Memorial Day Classic all weekend!