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Team Final Scrimmage Standouts

04/16/2017, 11:15am EDT
By CoBL Staff

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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The sixth annual Team Final scrimmages brought a lot of talent to Peak Skills Basketball on Saturday, as several Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) programs and a few friends got ready for next week's live recruiting periods.

Here are the CoBL staff’s standouts from the day’s action:

R.J. Blakeney (2019/Team Melo)
Team Melo's 16s had a strong day, and one big reason for that was the play of this 6-5 wing guard. A high-motor athlete, Blakeney made his presence felt most on the defensive end, coming up with more than a handful of blocks on the evening; those came on a variety of plays, from a chase-dunk block to a flat-out rejection of a 3-point shot and a few others in between. Offensively he did a good job of staying in control, hitting one tough turnaround baseline jumper but otherwise getting most of his points right at the bucket. If his jump shot can reliably get out to the 3-point line and he can improve his handles, he's got the body to be a high-major '2', but as it stands right now he's looking like a high-ceiling mid-major '3.' St. Bonaventure and Towson have already offered.


Hunter Dickinson (above) has an impressive 7-foot frame for a high school freshman. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Hunter Dickinson (2020/Team Takeover)
Purely based on physical appearance, there was no more impressive prospect in the gym than Dickinson, a true 7-footer with a solid frame of around 220 pounds. And then you realize that despite playing on Takeover’s 16U squad, Dickinson was just finishing up his freshman year of high school. Most bigs at that age are still very much growing into their bodies and adjusting to it, and while Dickinson is far from a finished product, he’s very much ahead of the curve in that regard; he’s got a solid lower foundation and doesn’t move awkwardly at all, with good hands as well. The left-hander didn’t flash much of a right hand just yet, but he’s a good passer out of the post who’s active on the boards, displaying the ability to grab a rebound and deposit it back off the glass in one smooth motion. Notre Dame has already offered, many more will follow.

Lynn Greer III (2020/Team Final)
Watching the younger Greer hoop on Saturday was like a refreshing trip back in time to the late 90's/early 2000s. While many remember Lynn Greer Jr.’s 47-point barrage against Wisconsin, the way he led Temple to the Elite 8, and how he remains the second-leading scorer in program history, it seems like the younger Greer is all set to write his own book in the family basketball legacy. Greer III has court vision, athleticism, and takes it to the rack with serious authority. His handle is silky smooth, and just like his dad, Greer III never misses his free throws. Not one to be scared of contact, Greer III plays both ends of the court. If he's not busy picking your pocket on D, he's knocking down jumpers on the other end of the court. It's a little too early to tell what the future holds for Greer III, but this much we know for sure; Greer 3.0 is the real deal, already. And that's a scary thought.

Andre Jackson (2020/Albany City Rocks)
Another under-the-radar prospect from central New York, Jackson has sprouted nearly four inches since last summer -- he now stands nearly 6-6 -- and looks every bit like a high-major wing prospect down the line. With his increased size, he now plays somewhat of a point forward role for his undersized City Rocks squad, and is able to see over opposing defenders in order to facilitate for his teammates. A high-level athlete who consistently plays above the rim, look for Jackson to break out this summer and take that right into his high school season at Albany Academy, where he played consistent bench minutes as a freshman on a state championship team.


Archbishop Wood junior Andrew Funk (above) is one of the featured players on the Jersey Shore Warriors' 17Us. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Andrew Funk (2018/Jersey Shore Warriors)
There isn’t much that Funk does that really wows you, but watching him for long enough, it becomes easier to appreciate what he brings to the court. A 6-3, 170-pound combo guard with range, Funk doesn’t take forced shots; he’ll knock them down from distance when he’s got some daylight and he can attack the hoop in transition, but even in the AAU setting he won’t try to do anything too flashy, keeping the ball moving in the flow of the offense. The Archbishop Wood junior is certainly an underrated defender who can guard all three perimeter positions, with long arms and a good understanding of where to slide his feet and how to use his hands to bother opponents without fouling. As his assertiveness grows, his stock could rise quite a bit this summer.

Demetrius Mims (2018/Team Melo)
As part of a somewhat crowded Team Melo backcourt, Mims is comfortable doing all of the dirty work in order to remain on the floor. At 6-foot-5 with long arms and explosive athleticism, he’s quick to make his mark as a lockdown defender on the perimeter and a high-level rebounder from the guard spot. Not to be overlooked offensively though, Mims is at his best with the ball in his hands in the open court, where he uses his athleticism and a deceptive handle to get all the way to the rim. If his jumper continues to come along--he knocked down multiple corner ‘3’s today--he should become a priority east coast recruit this summer on the EYBL circuit.

Wynston Tabbs (2018/Team Takeover)
The St. Mary’s Ryken (Md.) guard showed the crowd why his offers include a bevy of different D-1 programs from several different conferences such as Penn State, George Washington, LaSalle, St. Joseph's, Towson, James Madison, and Rutgers among others. Tabbs runs the floors well with and without the ball in his hands. He sets up his teammates with ease, yet has no problem when he needs to score to keep his team close; although Tabbs did most of his damage on Saturday with his mid and long-range jumper, his ability to find the open man in transition keeps the defense constantly guessing what his next move is going to be. Defensively he locks you down on and off the ball, and rebounds at a very high rate for a combo guard his size. He likes to mix things up down low, and has the upper body strength to do just that.

Symir Torrence (2019/Albany City Rocks)
A 1,000-point scorer already at Syracuse Academy of Science (N.Y.), the 6-foot-3 floor general was quick to make a splash in his team's first event of the spring. Torrence has very few discernible holes in his game, as he scores it from all three levels but also plays above his years when it comes to running a team and doing the little things on defense and on the glass. Flying under the radar at the moment, he only lists interest from George Washington and the hometown Orange, but has a chance to quickly establish himself as a national-level point guard recruit when he gets out in front of coaches in the next several months.

Jalen Willis (2019/Team Melo)
Willis was relentless in both of Team Melo's games, attacking the basket without abandon and making good thins happen when he did. The 6-1, 190-pound guard with wide shoulders looks like he's built to play downhill, and he does just that with a strong handle and ability to get into the lane and either score, get to the foul line or finding teammates even while double-teamed in the lane; on one occasion, he made a terrific left-hand pass to a plunging big with three defenders on him. He also knocked down a smoother corner 3-pointer, something he said he's been working on to open up the lane. So far, no schools have offered the Joppatown (Md.) prospect, but that won't last long if he plays like that on the EYBL 16U circuit next week.

Tre Wood (2018/Team Takeover)
The St. John's College (D.C) guard impressed at only 6-0 with his lightning-quick first step more and more every game on Saturday. He's a blur on the court that can get past any defender at anytime. Despite his frame, he finds ways to get to the rim almost at all while using his cat-like quickness. If he commits himself over the summer and works on his ability to stroke the 3, he could be a very dangerous prospect, and a nightmare for any defense in the country once he joins the D-1 ranks in the years to come. 

Ryan Young (2019/Jersey Shore Warriors)
Fresh off his first offer, from Lafayette just last month, Young had an impressive showing in two games today. The 6-foot-9 post understands his role, crashing the glass relentlessly on both ends and facilitating the offense a bit from the low and mid post. Young has been to Lafayette and Lehigh on multiple occasions, and also visited American recently. A late-bloomer out in the middle part of the state, Young has also begun hearing from mid-majors Davidson, Drexel, and William & Mary, and could see his recruitment hit that level in the coming weeks.

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Also worth mentioning: Jack Clark (2018/Philly Pride), KVonn Cramer (2019/Team Final), Eddie “EJ” Evans (2020/Team Final), Jack Forrest (2019/Jersey Shore Warriors), AJ Hoggard (2020/Team Final), Keldon Johnson (2018/Boo Willliams), Noah Locke (2018/Team Melo), August Mahoney (2019/Albany City Rocks), Casey Morsell (2019/Team Takeover), Jake Nelson (2019/Jersey Shore Warriors), Cameron Reddish (2018/Team Final), Jeremy Roach (2020/Team Takeover), Andrew Sims (2018/Jersey Shore Warriors), Jalen Smith (2018/Team Takeover), Will Thomas (2019/Team Melo), Jeenathan Williams (2018/Albany City Rocks)


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