City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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POTTSTOWN, Pa. -- The Global Sports Academy’s various international teams made their debut in front of college coaches on the opening night of the Global Sports Showcase, joined by hosts Hill School and fellow prep Peddie School (N.J.) and a few select others.

The gyms at Hill were sweltering in the summer heat, but that didn’t stop coaches from the Pac-12, Atlantic 10, MAAC and more from checking out the action.

Here’s a notebook from the opening night:

Asbjorn Midtgaard (2017/Global Squad Denmark)
Like the vast majority of the players here with the various Global Squad teams, Midtgaard is here to get exposure to American college basketball coaches.

He said it’s difficult to get seen in his native Denmark -- and he would know.

After all, if a 7-foot-1, 270-pound 18-year-old can’t get noticed, who can?

For the last four years, Midtgaard has played with the Horsholm 79ers of the Danish League, the top league in his homeland. This past season, he averaged 4.6 ppg and 4.1 rpg as a reserve big man for the 79ers, who finished fifth in the eight-team league.

The son of a handball player -- his mother excelled at the sport, which is big in the Nordic country -- it took Midtgaard some time to find his perfect fit.

“I played the big sport in Denmark, handball, I played that for a few years,” he said. “But then I was like 6-10 and (so) why not start to play basketball? Then I grew to 7-1, and it’s great.”

If Wednesday night was any indication, Midtgaard won’t have a long time to go before college coaches are beating down his door.

In a win over the host Hill School, he also poured in 14 points, showing great hands and footwork as well as some nice passing ability to boot. Though he got the majority of his points right around the rim, Midtgaard said he’d been working on his jump-shooting ability as well.

More than just a big body, he displayed surprising mobility, plunging the lane to block several shots and running the floor very well; in general, he was communicative on defense and kept active on that end of the floor.

“I would say I’m a defensive anchor for the team, I like to talk a lot, I try to contest every shot I can,” he said. “I think of myself as a physical player, I like getting in there, getting some bruises, it’s great.”

With his recruitment still at its ground level, Midtgaard said he doesn’t have any particulars in mind when it comes to schools.

“I’m hoping for anything, I’m hoping for everything,” he said, though he added “we all have our preferences.” -- Josh Verlin

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Bruce Edwards (2017/Peddie School)
Edwards hasn’t taken long to adjust to his new life on the east coast at Peddie School. A 2016 graduate of La Jolla Country Day School in San Diego, Caifornia, Edwards decided a prep year at Peddie would heighten his chances of reaching his ultimate goal of playing college basketball.

A 6-4 guard, Edwards averaged 14.7 ppg along with 6.7 rpg as a junior, and followed that up with 14.4 and 5.7 as a senior.

Edwards’ decision to prep came after not getting the interest he was looking for during his career in San Diego, but he is optimistic about the opportunities Peddie will offer him.

“I don’t there’s one thing I can improve on or have a list,” said Edwards. “Just all around. Growing as a young man, growing as a leader, working on my outside game more consistently and handling the ball. Moving without the ball is going to be a big thing I’m going to work on instead of having the ball in my hand. Working off screens instead of having the ball in my hand and this is a great program and a great system to do that in.”

Edwards’ improvement this season, along with success on the Adidas Gauntlet in Las Vegas with the San Diego All-Stars, which is where he will be playing when he goes back home after a stop at Albright College for the Hoop Group Team Camp, should help him garner the interest he has been waiting for.

As of now, he is hearing from Princeton University and Emerson College, but looks to expand that list to include more academically-focused institutions.

“Anywhere with a good business school or good economics program. I want to be a finance major or business management major,” Edwards said.

One problem Edwards has experienced with going prep is that he didn’t have the opportunity to let coaches know of his decision before the time came to travel east.

“Most schools don’t really know I’m going prep so hopefully I can get on and send some emails and send my video and let them know.”

If Edwards continues to play like he did did Wednesday night at the Adidas Summer Championships later on this month, he will have no problem reaching his final goal of playing at the collegiate level. -- Will Slover

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Tyler Jones (2017/Peddie School)
This summer, Jones wants to show college coaches that he’s got the ability to score whenever he wants but still keep his teammates involved.

So consider his 15-point effort in a big win over Global Squad Sweden a tone-setter, as the 5-11 point guard also did a good job of finding his teammates for open looks, especially in fast-break situations off Peddie’s patented press defense.

“Lot of coaches want to know if I can score the ball and dish it pretty well,” he said. “Scoring and leadership, talking on the court more, being more involved.

Jones is looking for his first Division I offer, with Lafayette, Holy Cross, Bucknell and Mt. St. Mary’s currently keeping in touch along with several high-academic Division III schools like TCNJ, Dickinson and NYU.

He’ll have a busy few weeks ahead of him, playing this weekend with Peddie in the Hoop Group’s Team Camp, plus in the Hoop Group’s Elite Camp and then in two AAU tournaments with the NJ Shoreshots on the following two weekends.

Last year, Jones made the decision to transfer from the Pennington School (N.J.) over to Peddie, one of eight new players on the Falcons’ roster, and reclassify from a 2016 graduation into the class of 2017.

What has he spent the extra year focusing on?

“I’d say my jumper,” he said. “I was able to hit, in that game, three 3s. So my jumper, stepping out a little further from the 3-point line, making myself more of a threat.” -- Josh Verlin

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Jon Bodin (2016/Global Squad Sweden)
Three years ago, Bodin got a taste of what American basketball was like, taking a trip with a friend to Houston.

There, he got to train with the Houston Defenders AAU program and went to the famed John Lucas camp, spending a total of three weeks in the Lone Star State. It was an eye-opening experience for the teenager, who only discovered hoops at 12 years of age.

“It was much tougher, much quicker, you have to bring everything you’ve got every second you’re on the floor,” he said. “It’s a basketball country -- everything’s basketball...some people like it, some people get afraid of it, but I liked the experience.”

Now a strong 6-foot-2 guard, Bodin and his brother Jacob have become two of the top young ballplayers in their country. While Jon spends his July with Global Sports, Jacob is in Portugal with the country’s U18 team, preparing for the European Championships.

Last year, playing with that same U18 squad, Jon helped the team to the European Division “B” championship, earning the country a spot in this year’s Division “A” championship. But his dream of playing college ball in the United States meant he’d have to give that up for a different opportunity.

“We won over Israel [last year], and nothing really happened, I didn’t get offers or anything,” he said. “I thought this is my last year, I just graduated from high school so I feel like if I have to get out of here I have to go to this camp instead of playing with the national team.”

Now that he’s exhausted his high school eligibility, Bodin is looking to land at a prep school or junior college right away with hopes of getting a Division I scholarship for 2017-18. He certainly has the requisite size, athleticism and scoring ability, with three weeks to show it.

“I really want to get my handles going, I want to be able to control myself under pressure and being explosive going to the rim,” he said. “I feel like most of the things, I can do it, but I’ve got to be confident to do it when pressure comes. Playing the ‘1’ spot, the point guard spot, a lot better, that’s what I want to do.” -- Josh Verlin

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Kasper Christiansen (2017/Spire Academy, Ohio/Denmark)
Unlike most players from his team in the 2016 Global Squad International Showcase, Christiansen is no rookie to playing basketball in America.

“I went to this camp two years ago, and then I went back home to Denmark for a year,” said the 6-11 forward. “Then I played at Elev8 (Sports Institute) in Florida and then I transferred to Spire Academy in Ohio.”

Christensen, a 6-11 stretch forward who posses the ability to shoot the ball from the outside and also handle the ball, has a skillset that is very rare for a player his size and colleges have begun to take notice.

In the stands to see him Wednesday night was Arizona State, and he has also been hearing from Valparaiso, Seton Hall, and the University of Maryland.

Christensen, who averaged 5.6 ppg as a sophomore at Alexander Basketball Academy in 2014, decided that coming to play in America would help his chances of playing in college, which is why he has tried to play in America every chance he gets.

“I’m looking to get tougher and stronger,” he said. “I haven’t been playing many minutes this year in my league so I’m looking to develop my American game. The European style and American style is a lot different so I think this will help me.”

With the American game taking on a greater focus on shooting and “Stretch 4’s”, Christensen’s skill-set, along with the exposure he will get from his prep year at Spire Academy should find him back in the States for his college career for the 2017-2018 season. -- Will Slover

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Colton Lawrence (2017/Hill School)
The best player in Eastern Lebanon County (ElCo) history, Colton Lawrence wasn’t quite satisfied with his collegiate options at the end of his senior year.

With several Division I coaches telling him that he could benefit from an additional year of development, Lawrence made the decision to attend prep school. And after a few weeks, he found the Hill School, making it official mid-June.

“I really liked the coaching staff, they welcomed me real fast, like I was family, like the rest of the team,” he said. “The guys were real nice, had a team camp at Towson a couple of weeks ago, I liked the way they played.”

An athletic 6-3 guard, Lawrence showed off a scorer’s mindset on Wednesday night, hitting some tough shots off the bounce, including several 3-pointers and a few driving layups.

Lawrence said the reclassification provided something of a “restart” to his college recruitment, which had slowed to a crawl as most schools closed out their 2016 classes. VMI had been the only D-I to offer him as a 2016, but Lawrence wasn’t sold on the idea of joining the military and wanted to see what else was out there.

“Past week or two, Princeton, UMBC, Cornell (have reached out),” he said. “A couple more, I can’t think of them.”

Though Lawrence led the Raiders to a 22-win season as a senior and the school’s first PIAA Class AAA berth, they were unfortunately matched up with defending state champion Neumann-Goretti in the first round and fell to the Saints by 21 points.

At Hill, he won’t have the opportunity to play for a PIAA state title -- Hill School does compete for the PAISAA championships in February -- but the overall level of competition will be a few steps up from what he was used to.

“I really am excited for an opportunity, especially here as a boarding school, there’s not much to do besides study and play basketball,” he said. “Just get in (the gym) for hours upon hours a day and work on whatever I can. I only really decided on making basketball my main sport in junior year of high school, a couple of years ago, so since then I haven’t had time to focus on certain parts of my game but I’m looking forward to do doing that this coming year.” -- Josh Verlin

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