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Live in AC: July 22 Notebook

07/22/2016, 7:15pm EDT
By Stephen Pianovich

Stephen Pianovich (@SPianovich)
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The Live in AC event wrapped up Friday at Stockton University. Here's what stood out:

Keleaf Tate (2017/Team Takeover)
Keleaf Tate came into July wanting to show colleges a few things.

“I am an all-around player and not just a 3-point specialist or someone who just looks to score the ball,” the 6-2 2017 guard said Friday.

During July, Tate showed just that. The DC native scored in bunches, dropping 20 or more points in nearly every game of the Live in AC event, including 20 in Team Takeover’s final game, a Friday afternoon win over Positive Image.

Tate was hitting threes all week, and he got in the lane. But he also was unselfish with the ball and showed he was not afraid to get on the floor after loose balls. The solid event was an appropriate way for Tate to end a standout July.

“Basically I’ve been trying to get my shot together, and it’s been falling all week,” he said. “That gives me another layer to my game to go inside and outside. I like to keep mixing it up and keep getting my teammates involved.”

Tate currently sits with two D-I offers, from Campbell and Quinnipiac, which had a coach in attendance on Friday. He also has small college offers from Virginia Union and West Virginia Wesleyan and has been in talks with D-I program’s like Xavier, JMU, Delaware and Delaware State among others.

The Cesar Chavez high school student was profiled in February by the Washington Post. The article showed the hardships Tate has already endued, including the murder of his father. At the time of the article, Tate was hoping for a D-I look, and after his July, he might have a few more coming his way.

“I got a lot of comments about the story, and that’s been nice,” he said. “And basically all the college coaches know about my background.”

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Reggie Gardner (2016/DC Blue Devils)
At a program like DeMatha, it’s easy to get a little lost on the basketball court.

Reggie Gardner spent much of his high school career playing alongside Markelle Fultz, a McDonald’s All-American who was ranked 7th in the 2016 class by ESPN and is on his way to Washington. So Gardner never received as much attention or quite as many looks from D-I schools as he had hoped.

That’s why the 2016 guard spent the last two weeks of July with the DC Blue Devils.

Gardner, who graduated from DeMatha this year, started playing on the AAU circuit this year at last week’s Under Armor Association event in Atlanta. He was back this week hoping to catch the eyes of some coaches.

“I didn’t have many options, so I came out here to get some opportunities, get some looks and see how things work out,” said the 6-4 guard.

The first thing that stands out about Gardner is his jump shot. He was one of the best 3-point shooters on the floor Friday, and he hit seven treys on DeMatha’s senior night. But he said he wanted to showcase he’s a more all-around player, and he had a pretty large role to do so.

“I feel like at DeMatha I got an opportunity to show what I’m capable of doing,” Gardner said. "But here, I’m in a different role, a bigger role. I can control the ball a little more instead of being in that backcourt with so many high-level guards.”

For right now, a prep year could very well be in Gardner’s future. But he said he has had conversations with D-I Southern Utah lately, and he’s waiting to see if anything else plays out in the next couple of weeks.

“I’m still hoping for some things,” he said. “Prep school could be an option, or maybe some schools will reach out late. You never know how things might open up.”

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Quick Hits
-- 2019 guard Isaiah Wong led WeR1 to the 16U title over Team Final with a 19-point performance in the championship game. Wong, a 6-2 guard, had a breakout summer and should become a well-known name over the AAU circuit over the next two years. Wong already has a Saint Joseph’s offer which came last month. His teammate, Eric Dixon, also had 19 points in the title game win.


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