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Hoop Group Summer Jam Fest: July 17 Notebook

07/18/2016, 12:15am EDT
By Josh Verlin & Ari Rosenfeld

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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MANHEIM, Pa. -- The Hoop Group’s massive Summer Jam Fest took over Spooky Nook Sports this weekend, with hundreds of teams from 14U up to 17U taking to the more than two dozen courts between Friday night and Sunday afternoon.

Here’s a notebook from the final day of competition:


Bryan Knapp (above) impressed with 22 points in the 17U Championship game at Spooky Nook. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Bryan Knapp (Jewish Day School, Md./Team Legacy)
Division I coaches -- including a few high-major programs -- flocked to the 17U championship to watch the Jersey Shore Warriors and star guard Eli Brooks.

Instead, what they got was a show put on by Knapp and Team Legacy, which took home the title with a 49-33 win.

“When we were at the Pitt Jam Fest, a couple of months ago (in April), the Jersey Shore Warriors actually won it,” Knapp said. “We were at the game, we were on the sideline, watching, and that was tough, that was really tough for us. And so now, to come back and beat them...it’s amazing.”

Knapp, a 6-foot-1, 175-pound guard, poured in a game-high 22 points in the championship win. A good deal of his production came from the pull-up jumper, a weapon he’s become known for on the circuit.

It’s a trait he’s been working hard on over the last months, especially to be able to do so from long-distance. Against Jersey Shore, though most of his shots were of the mid-range variety, he also knocked down two 3-pointers.

“Towards the end of the [high school] season, I just couldn’t shoot 3s, it was just something I couldn’t do,” he said. “I have a trainer, Brad Pinchback, we work out all the time...we’re trying to step back the range, that’s something we’ve been doing this past week, move back beyond the line a little bit. Because especially at the next level, if you’re a shooter like myself they’re not going to give you that space, so that’s something I’ve been working on a lot.”

Also impressing in the final was point guard Lincoln Yeutter (2018/Bullis School, Md.), who had 14 points.

Knapp already holds one Division I offer in hand, from San Diego, which he picked up in April after playing in an Adidas tournament with Team Belief. Lafayette, Colgate and Cornell have also been in touch, and he admitted “I would be a happy man” if he got a Patriot or Ivy League opportunity.

Though the team has one tournament left, at the Adidas championships next week in Las Vegas, the Summer Jam Fest championship is the culmination of a long road on the AAU circuit. Knapp, Yeutter, Cooper Macklin (2017/Fields School) and Abass Sallah (2017/Sidwell Friends) were the original members of a team that first began when the kids were all 8 and 9 years of age, with the majority of the roster joining them within the three years after that.

“We’ve been together forever, man,” Knapp said. “We were actually reminiscing about it before this game. It was in Kentucky, the nationals tournament in Kentucky. There’s a funny picture of us with our oversized jerseys in Kentucky, 4-foot-5. And we’ve always been a small team, but now we’ve kind of grown into our bodies, and this is awesome.”

~~~

Tavon Jones (2018/Linden HS, N.J./NJ Playaz)
If the storied New Jersey Playaz program is known for one thing in its illustrious history, it’s guard play, and this year’s 16U outfit is no different.

There’s Jalen Carey, a consensus top-50 recruit in 2018 with a slew of high-major offers to his name. Then there’s Markquis Nowell, another high-major lock who averaged over 18 points a game in leading his Bishop Loughlin squad to the New York CHSAA finals. Not to be outdone, Ja’Quaye James is already a 1,000 point scorer in his two seasons at Teaneck.

Perhaps the least-known commodity of the group is Linden rising junior Tavon Jones. However, throughout the first two weeks of the live periods, Jones has done everything in his power to position himself firmly on the high-major radar himself.

“I think I’ve played very well,” he said after a blowout quarterfinal victory playing up in the 17U bracket. “The live periods, a lot of people they try to work on their offensive game, do things that they they’re not capable of doing. I’m just sticking within the offense and playing lots of defense.”

College coaches have begun to take notice of Jones’ game, as he holds offers from St. Peter’s, Seton Hall, and St. Joseph’s. Interest has begun to come in from Stanford, Rutgers, Marquette, and Virginia since schools could begin directly contacting 2018 recruits last month.

With so many other talented guards on his team, Jones doesn’t have the ball in his hands too often in the half-court. Instead, he makes his mark both in transition and by being one of the smarter cutters around.

When he does have the rock, though, he uses his muscular 6-foot-2 frame to finish around the rim through contact and is also a willing and capable passer, hitting his bigs for easy finishes after he gets into the lane.

Jones has grown comfortable with his role as part of a highly successful unit, knowing his teammates recognize all that he brings to the table.

“We’ve been playing with each other for quite a while so we all know that we’re talented, we all know that we can score,” he said. “But I think the reason we’ve been so successful is that we know that we need each other and everybody on this team to win.”

~~~


Andrew Funk (above) is up to 6-foot-4 and gaining in confidence as he prepares for his junior season. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Andrew Funk (2018/Archbishop Wood, Pa./Jersey Shore Warriors)
Lately, Funk has been pulling double-duty for the Warriors, starting for the 16U squad while also chipping in as a reserve guard on the 17U team.

It’s a fitting summer for Funk to get a taste of the top level, as the 6-foot-4 guard will move from a reserve role to a starting one for Wood this fall.

“I think that’s just playing exactly into what I’m going to have to do next year for high school,” he said. “It’s just been good getting that experience so far.”

The younger brother of ‘16 Wood grad Tommy Funk, who’s headed to West Point to play for Army, Andrew already has a significant size advantage on his brother, who only grew to about 6-1.

Andrew’s constantly-growing frame makes him a point guard with excellent size, and he’s now tall enough to play off the ball when necessary and still rise up above defenders to knock down shots.

“I’ve just been going up 2-3 inches every year, so hopefully I don’t stop,” he said. “I haven’t stopped yet.”

Though he’s now playing in front of plenty of Division I coaches while getting minutes with the Warriors’ oldest squad, Funk isn’t taking his recruiting too seriously at the moment. Though Delaware, Lafayette and Princeton have have all reached out sporadically over the one month that coaches have been able to contact rising juniors, Funk knows that he just needs to be patient.

After all, his older brother had to wait until April of his final AAU season to get his only offer.

“I learned a lot from him,” Andrew said of Tommy. “I had no idea what the recruiting experience was like before him, so learning from -- him not only his game, but the whole recruiting experience -- has been huge for me.”

~~~

Laquill Hardnett (2018/Perry Hall, Md./Crusader Nation)
Hardnett’s life changed quite a bit between eighth and ninth grades.

In eighth grade, he was living in his hometown of Philadelphia, where he was a 6-foot-tall point guard at one of the Mastery Charter schools. A year later, he was down in Baltimore, where he grew to 6-5 by the end of his freshman season.

Now 6-6, Hardnett is an impressive, physical wing with a handle that belies his point guard past. He slashed his way towards a 20-point effort in a win over the Jersey Shore Warriors’ 16Us in the semifinals; Crusader Nation ultimately took home the tournament championship.

That caps off a busy two weeks for Hardnett.

“Last week, just last week we went to Indy and then as soon as we came back, i went to the Hoop Group Elite Session 2, and after that I came straight here,” he said. “We traveled a lot of places, played a lot of comp. It’s been good for me.”

Hardnett picked up his first two Division I offers last month, when Towson and East Carolina both extended scholarships on June 15, the first day D-I schools were allowed to contact rising juniors.

“I can’t explain it. I was so happy,” he said. “I was expecting Towson, not as much East Carolina. Towson came to a lot of my high school games.”

In the semifinal win at Spooky Nook, Hardnett showed off a tantalizing upside. A tenacious rebounder who can easily bring the ball upcourt, he was constantly in attack mode; most notable was his ability to go either way and score with both hands with ease, as well as pull up and knock down mid-range jumpers.

Hardnett had a successful sophomore campaign, helping Perry Hall to the state 4A semifinals and a trip to Maryland’s XFinity Center. Playing largely in the frontcourt, Hardnett averaged nearly 15 ppg and 12 rpg, as the Gators went 21-4, a 13-win improvement from the previous season.

“We beat some pretty good teams that we weren’t expected to beat,” Hardnett said. “Poly (and) Dre Perry...he’s pretty good. I held him to (nine), I had 20 points.”

~~~


Cormac Ryan (above) was one of the top draws at the Summer Jam Fest this week. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Cormac Ryan (2018/Milton Academy, Mass./Middlesex Magic)
A year ago, Ryan was just getting his first taste of 17U action at the Summer Jam Fest, still somewhat of an unknown to the general public.

This time around, he was one of the tournament’s biggest draws.

The 6-foot-5 guard has started reeling in offers of late, with nine scholarships to date: Boston College, Rice, DePaul, St. John’s, Penn, Duquesne, Davidson and Tulane. Plenty more high-majors are in touch as well.

“I’ve been in contact with the Michigan guys a lot, they’ve shown some interest,” he said. “I’ve talked to a bunch of schools, it’s pretty steady since the June 15 deadline. Not really sure who’s been talking the most, but basically I’m just trying to handle it as it comes to me.”

Watching Ryan drop 21 points in a consolation win over Global Squad Sweden, it’s easy to see why schools at the highest levels of Division I hoops are getting more and more interested.

At 6-5, he’s got excellent size at the point guard position -- and make no mistake, though he’s a drop-dead shooter, he’s fully capable of running an offense. Never getting out of tempo, Ryan is a terrific passer who sees the whole court and makes both the simple passes as well as the difficult ones, including a behind-the-back feed for a layup as well as an over-the-shoulder pass in the lane.

“I’m trying to play point guard in college,” he said. “I think with my size, my length, I can be a difference-maker at the point guard spot, it’s not very common to have a taller guard, so yeah, i like playing point for these guys, playing point for my high school. Trying to work on my ball-handling and my passing as much as I can.”

As only a rising junior, Ryan isn’t worried yet about visiting too many campuses, though he did say he’ll be up for a one-day camp at Michigan in August and will visit while he’s there.

If he continues to improve and build on his existing skill set, when Ryan’s recruitment reaches some of the top programs in the country is not a matter of if, but when. And those programs don’t seem concerned about where he’ll be next fall.

“It’s less of the specifics, more of the building the relationship kind of thing,” Ryan said about what he’d need to improve on to get those offers. “Obviously just staying aggressive, continuing to play the way I play, the brand of basketball, just continuing to have a feel for the game, getting my teammates involved. They’re just want to build a relationship, continue to watch me grow as a player.”


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