City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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BROOKLYN -- The first Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) session wrapped up on Sunday, as every team in the 40-team league played one game over six sets of action.

Here’s one half of our notebook on Sunday’s EYBL action; Ari Rosenfeld's notebook can be found here:

Brandon McCoy (2017/California Supreme)

There’s a lot to be impressed about when it comes to this prospect from San Diego’s Cathedral Catholic HS, who’s currently ranked No. 9 in the ESPN 60 for the Class of 2017.

There’s his 7-foot frame and even bigger wingspan, his ability to change shots around the rim and work well as a frontcourt duo with 7-1 DeAndre Ayton, the top rising senior prospect in the country. McCoy can step out and knock down a 3-point jumper, put the ball on the floor and is a good post passer as well.

It’s certainly tough to find many 7-footers as talented. But certainly few are as well-rounded as McCoy, who’s up to a lot more than just basketball, and is looking for a school that can help him in those pursuits as well.

“I want to be a marine biologist or a pharmacologist,” he said. “And I also play five instruments, I play the piano, guitar, marimba, trombone. I want to do something in music as well, so if they offer that, then I’m willing to go there.

“I learned how to play the guitar in the 8th grade from a teacher, and from there I fell in love with music, I taught myself how to play the piano and the trombone,” he added. “Once you learn one instrument, it’s kind of easy to start learning the other instruments. Now I’m working on trombone and trying to work on that, and once I’m good at that I’ll be better at piano.”

For now, he’s got basically his pick of schools. The entire Pac-12 has offered, and he said that Arizona, Cal and USC were among those working hardest for his services, along with Nevada, San Diego State, Illinois and Michigan State.

While he’s clearly not complaining about his current list of choices, there’s a trio of schools that McCoy is hoping to hear from with an impressive summer.

“I didn’t get an offer from Kentucky yet, or Duke, or North Carolina,” he said. “If that happened, it would be like ‘man I got an offer from Kentucky or Duke,’ I can tell somebody. Not saying that if I get an offer from them I’m going to just cut everybody off, just to say that I was good enough to get an offer from one of those programs.”

He certainly didn't hurt himself in that quest this weekend.

McCoy averaged 15.0 ppg and 7.3 rpg for the weekend, coming up with 17 and six in a nationally-televised game on Saturday against the PSA Cardinals, which was shown on ESPN-U.

“It was crazy, it was so, so so fun, I just feel like a certain burst of energy,” he said. “(John) Calipari and Tom Izzo, just all the Hall-of-Famer coaches just sitting there watching me play, it was an honor and I felt like I had to prove that I was supposed to be on this court and I deserved to be on this court.”

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Nelly Cummings (2017/All Ohio Red)

One of the top players in the WPIAL, Lincoln Park’s rising senior guard doesn’t often get to play against guards of his caliber during the high school regular season. That’s not a problem on the EYBL, where every team is stocked full of Division I talent.

So for the 5-11 guard is using his first 17U experience as a measuring stick, and though All-Ohio went 0-3 on the weekend, Cummings emerged with some more confidence.

“I learn that I can actually play,” he said. “When I play in the WPIAL league, it’s not a lot of competition, but when I come out here and I’m doing the same types of things, I know my hard work is really paying off.”

A lightning-quick point guard, Cummings averaged 11.0 ppg and 3.3 apg to begin the EYBL, scoring just four points in his first game but then pouring in 29 over the last two, making half of his shots in that pair. He excels in transition where he can take advantage of his speed, but he’s learning to slow down and work the half-court game as well.

“Been working on increasing my range a lot, working on making the right decision when I get to the hoop,” he said. “Instead of always driving, sometimes floaters, things like that.”

So far, he’s got six offers: Bowling Green, High Point, Mt. St. Mary’s, Robert Morris, St. Francis (Pa.) and Cornell--all of whom, he said, are still actively recruiting him.

He’s also been hearing from high-majors: Indiana, Pitt and West Virginia have all been in touch, but need to see him prove himself against other guards who will play in the Big Ten, ACC and Big 12.

That’s why Cummings makes the 3-hour drive out to practices twice a week with his father.

“They just want to see me play in a competitive league,” he said. “They see me in the WPIAL but they want to see me play competitively.”

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Andrew Platek (2017/Albany City Rocks)

Last year, playing up on the 17U circuit, Platek developed a reputation as a 3-point shooter, despite the fact that he only made 30.8 percent of his 185 long-range attempts on the circuit.

But the 6-foot-4 guard still proved that he was a high-level guard with his overall play, growing his offer list up to 15 schools over the last 12 months, including a few high-major programs.

“Butler, Davidson, (George Washington), Yale, Rutgers and Miami are kind of the main ones pursuing me right now,” he said. “I know I’m leaving a few out, but those are the main few.”

This year, now an inch taller and ready for the 17U circuit, Platek has rewarded the schools who offered last summer even when his shot wasn’t falling with regularity. Though the first weekend of EYBL play, he was 10-for-16 (62.5 percent) from 3-point range, a big reason he averaged 14.7 ppg.

His shooting ability has attracted one of the blue-bloods of college basketball, as North Carolina has started showing interest over the last few months.

“It’s a blessing for sure, I honestly never in a million years thought it would come,” he said. “To be pursued by one of the best teams in the country is a little humbling.”

To get that offer, he’ll need to prove he’s capable of playing in the ACC--which means proving he’s more than just a gunner.

“I kind of had been labeled as a shooter growing up and that’s what got me to the level I’m at now, but I know if I want to play further I need to expand my game,” he said. “So I worked on just driving to the hole, working on my ball-handling so I can play either guard spot, those kinds of things.”

Recently, he took a visit up to Butler, the last of the 15 schools to offer him.

“It was a great visit, love the coaches, their campus, facility, and it has a historic feel that you can’t get anywhere else,” he said, adding that he had no other visits scheduled. Expect him to take his official visits in the fall -- he didn’t have any schools that were guaranteed to get visits -- and he’s “hoping” to make a decision by November.

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Quick Hits

--Hamidou Diallo (2017/New York Rens) is one of the most ferocious dunkers in the country right now, though the 6-4 wing guard is much, much more than that. Right now, the Putnam Science Academy product has the top spot in the recruiting rankings in his vision, especially the way he’s been playing of late. Diallo led the Rens with 18.4 ppg on the weekend, making 47.6 percent of his shots and throwing down some some nasty jams along the way along with four of his 10 3-pointers.

“(The No. 1 ranking) is something that I feel like is within reach,” he said. “Just (working on) being consistent in shooting, ball-handling and strength.”

A smooth, athletic wing, Diallo almost defines the term “attacker” with his downhill style and ability to create his own shot from anywhere on the court. He was reluctant to get into much detail about his recruitment, not mentioning any specific schools that were recruiting him harder than any others. He did say that most schools were recruiting him as a combo guard.

--Chyree Walker (2017/Team Takeover) has a number of Philadelphia schools involved in his recruitment: Penn and Saint Joseph’s have both offered the 6-5, 195-pound wing out of The Bullis School (Md.), joining a group that also includes George Washington, Georgia Tech, Towson, Old Dominion and more. But it’s another Big 5 institution that Walker said has been in touch most often: “Temple. They haven’t extended an offer, heavy interest.”

Playing on a loaded Takeover group that includes no fewer than five future mid-to-high-major wings, Walker had his best offensive output of the weekend on Sunday with eight points against Mac Irvin Fire, hitting a nifty pull-up baseline jumper and connecting on all four of his foul shots. He admitted his shot was “developing” and named that as one of two things he was focusing on this summer, along with his ball-handling.