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Boo Williams EYBL: Night 2 Notebook

04/11/2015, 11:45pm EDT

By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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HAMPTON, Va.—Day 2 of the Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL)’s first stop featured 17U and 16U action on the eight courts at Boo Williams Sportsplex, with games going from 8 AM until well after dark.

Here’s a notebook from the later portion of the action on Saturday, April 11:

‘Nova commit Spellman impresses in win over Playaz
At 6-foot-9 and 255 pounds, Omari Spellman (2016/Macduffie) isn’t quite like anybody Villanova has on its current roster.

But he—fairly accurately, to boot—managed to describe his game using a combination of current Wildcats.

“I think if you put JayVaughn Pinkston, Kris Jenkins and Daniel Ochefu—minus the shot blocking—all in the same player, that’s me,” the ‘Nova commit said after his PSA Cardinals beat the NJ Playaz. “I feel like I’m a more polished version of a big than they’ve had in a long time.”

Spellman committed to Villanova in February, still fairly early in the recruiting cycle for rising seniors, especially those at Spellman’s level. But his reason was simple.

“Jay Wright is amazing,” he said. “He’s just a great guy, and he pushes guys in position to be successful and play to their strengths. They just have a family-like atmosphere that’s amazing.”

A consensus top-20 player in his class, Spellman showed why he’s going to be an impact player right away in the Big East, which Wright and company will certainly need with the impending graduation of Ochefu, who’s going into his third year as the Wildcats’ starting center in 2015-16. He has a very well-developed offensive game, with the ability to face up and knock down 3-point shots combined with a few good post moves, great hands and good footwork to boot.

He finished the win over the Playaz with 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and two blocks.

The biggest change in his game has been the 26 pounds he’s lost in the last year, which allows him to run the floor and play at a high level for long stretches.

“I run the floor a lot better, like a lot better,” he said. “I’ve gotten some easy baskets off if it and coach told me in this league you’ve got to learn how to get easy baskets. Running the floor is one way to get easy baskets, so that’s what I do.”

Spellman is the first commit that Jay Wright and his staff brought in for 2016, and they’ve got quite a few more to work with. Unless they bring someone else on in 2015, they’ll only have 10 scholarship players on the roster this upcoming season, and with two scholarships opening up thanks to the graduation of Ochefu and point guard Ryan Arcidiacono, Wright could have as many as five players in that 2016 class.

However, that doesn’t mean they’ll bring in another center to play alongside Spellman up front.

“We’ve talked about it, but I’m not sure that’s in the works right now,” he said.

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Smith ready to take over at Stevenson
Adlai E. Stevenson (Ill.) won the IHSA Class 4A boys basketball state championship this year thanks in large part to the play of two Division I-bound seniors, point guard Jalen Brunson (Villanova) and shooting guard Connor Cashaw.

Now it’s time for the next big prospect to take his turn as the star player for the Patriots. Justin Smith is a 6-6, 200-pound member of the Class of 2017, and if he plays like he did against Team Final in a losing effort on Saturday night, he’ll be getting high-major offers of his own before long. He’s long and athletic, showcasing a great catch-and-shoot ability from the perimeter as well as an emphatic put-back dunk.

He learned from Brunson, a McDonald’s All-American and the nation’s top point guard recruit in 2015, what it takes to be a high-level prospect and attract the nation’s top schools.

“Just always keep playing hard, keep playing hard,” he said. “Coaches are always going to look for if you continue to play hard during adversity and when you’re losing and winning. Just keep playing hard and be ready for the ball.”

Smith’s only current college offer is from Rice, with further interest from Northwestern, Virginia, Illinois and “a couple of others.”

If he can continue to work on his ball handling to the point where he can create off the dribble and attack the basket, the sky’s the limit for Smith. A strong summer on the EYBL circuit would go a long way towards boosting his confidence that he can be the man for Stevenson this year.

“Just trying to get out here and show my stuff and do my thing and just be able to impact the game,” he said.

2017 PG Aaron Thompson adjusting to 17U action
Playing on the 17U EYBL circuit is a little different than playing with the 15Us, as Paul VI (Va.)’s Aaron Thompson is finding out. The 2017 point guard played with his classmates last season with Team Takeover but has moved up an age group this year, going up against many of the top guards in the country as a backup on the older squad this year.

“It’s difficult [playing up], trying to get adjusted to the speed of the game, everybody’s bigger and stronger, you’re not going to be able to dominate as much,” he said. “So you’ve got to go with the flow of the game, try to get your shots when you can. And you’re not going to be the best player on the court all the time, when you’re playing up with all these stronger dudes.

“It’s a turning point in my game, makes me realize I’ve got to work a little bit harder.”

This time last year, Thompson held only an offer from Holy Cross; now two inches taller (he’s 6-2, 170 pounds), he’s added offers from Penn State and Rice during his sophomore year and is hearing from Maryland, VCU, Villanova, Virginia and Temple to boot.

Penn State has a former Paul VI guard coming on this year in Josh Reaves, who played this past year at Oak Hill Academy (Va.); Thompson has gotten a chance to visit the Big 10 school.

“It’s a big school, kind of spread out,” he said. “Good basketball program, i think it’s going to be on the rise, they’ve got some good players coming in…I think they’re going to be a good program in the next few years.”

Currently, Thompson said he’s working on “being vocal, being an extension of the coach on the court, my defense, and my jump shot. Get my confidence in it and just get it going a little bit better.”

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Quick Hits
—Team Final’s 17Us moved to 3-0 to start EYBL play with a 81-65 win over Mac Irvin Fire (Ill.), their third double-digit win in the last 24 hours at Boo Williams. They’ll have an opportunity to finish the first of four EYBL regular-season stops with a clean slate tomorrow at 11 AM with a game against host Boo Williams (Va.). Plenty of coaches have been following the group of Philly-area prospects around this weekend, and the offers are starting to roll in.

Xavier certainly liked what they saw out of Tony Carr, Lamar Stevens and Dylan Painter, as the Big East school offered the point guard, attacking wing and power forward later in the evening. Carr, a 6-3 point guard from Roman Catholic, also added an offer from Indiana, who’d offered Stevens last summer. Xavier coach Chris Mack and an assistant and Indiana head coach Tom Crean and an assistant were both seen courtside at Team Final’s games during the day. All five Philly schools in attendance (Villanova, Temple, Drexel, La Salle, Saint Joseph’s) had coaches at both games, along with coaches from a variety of mid-to-high-major schools.

—The last time I spoke to Travis Atson (2016/South Kent), it was right before he reclassified and transferred up to the Connecticut prep school last summer. The athletic 6-5 wing guard, who played at Christ the King (N.Y.) before his reclassification, took the extra year to work on his perimeter game, though he’s still adjusting to the level of the EYBL after playing with Sports U/Team IZOD last summer.

“The competition is crazy,” he said. “I’ve never played EYBL so I didn’t know what to expect. It’s like the NEPSAC, you get really hard competition. But we’re 2-1 right now, so we’re doing really well.”

Aston already had a variety of schools that were on his trail prior to his recruitment, and he said he’s added offers from DePaul and Duquesne, with interest from St. Joseph’s, Xavier and Clemson. He plans on taking all five official visits after the AAU season, saying he “might” take two to DePaul and UC-Santa Barbara.

—Friends School (Md.) 2017 wing Myles Douglas is considered one of the top players in his class out of the DMV area, and it’s easy to see why. At nearly 6-8, he’s got great size for the perimeter, though he really plays something of a combo forward role as he can score inside and out. After missing his freshman season of high school basketball with a knee injury, he was able to play the full year as a sophomore, and is looking forward to a big summer on the AAU circuit as his stock hits high-major.

Athletic and blessed with a great frame, Douglas could be a matchup nightmare at the next level if he continues to refine his perimeter game and his defensive abilities, considering he could guard almost all five positions by the time he gets to school. He mentioned specific areas of focus as “ball handling, shooting, being a better leader, getting to the basket, finishing in contact and making plays with each other. Most importantly defense, have to be able to defend at the next level.”

So far, he’s got offers from Maryland, Southern Cal, Miami (Fl.), Richmond and Hofstra, with interest from West Virginia, Virginia, Louisville, Syracuse, Xavier and “a few others,” but hasn’t yet thought about where he could visit.

He said he’s looking for “a coach that’s going to push me to my limits, get me better every day; championship contender, everybody’s there to work for one goal, and a friendly environment.”