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HG Pitt Jam Fest Notebook (April 28-29 Pt. 1)

04/29/2017, 11:30pm EDT
By CoBL Staff

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The April live recruiting periods hit the Steel City this weekend, as the Hoop Group’s Pitt Jam Fest took place at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center overlooking the magnificent Allegheny River.

Here’s a notebook from Friday night and Saturday’s action:

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Zach Crisler (above) travels quite a ways from Philly to his New York Rens practices. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Promising Philly forward fitting in well with Big Apple program

When Zach Crisler showed up to his first practice with the New York Rens, he drew a few curious glances.

After all, the rest of the NYC-based AAU program’s players hail from that city’s greater metropolitan area, and thus were familiar with each other growing up over the years. This lanky tall kid walking in the gym in March was unknown territory.

“Stepping into practice, kids were kind of looking at me the first day like ‘who’s this kid, never seen him before,’” the La Salle College HS sophomore said. “I had to prove myself.”

Crisler said it didn’t take long for his teammates to welcome him to the program -- not surprising, considering the 6-foot-8, 205-pound forward has one of the highest ceilings of any 2019 prospect around.

Columbia, Old Dominion and Iona have already offered; he’s otherwise hearing from a list of schools that includes Penn State, West Virginia, Richmond, Drexel, Temple, Delaware, Stanford, Notre Dame, Penn and Lafayette.

That high ceiling showed on Saturday, as Crisler and the Rens’ 16U team took down Hidden Gems (Ohio) in a consolation game from the 17U bracket, where the Rens were playing up an age level this weekend. Crisler scored 12 points in the win, displaying his versatility with a 3-pointer from the wing in the second half but doing most of his work around the rim, grabbing several boards on both ends of the floor; he also can put the ball on the floor to start the break and made good decisions with his passing.

As a sophomore at La Salle, his first seeing a bulk of the varsity minutes, he averaged just over 10 ppg on an Explorers squad that finished 11-12, including 5-8 in the tough Philadelphia Catholic League.

Typically, the Rens are on the Nike EYBL circuit, though there was no 16U event this weekend; last weekend, they went 2-2 in Boo Williams (Va.).

“That was a really good event, really really good competition,” he said. “Lost our final game to Team CP3, very good team, some of the top kids in the nation...it was a good weekend though, really tough competition out there.”

Even though he’s still got another year-plus before it really starts getting down to college decision time -- rising juniors can’t even communicate directly with college coaches before June 15 of this year -- Crisler admitted that recruiting is starting to weigh on his mind, though he’s still focused primarily on general improvement as a basketball player.

Most important is adding weight to his frame: currently at 205 pounds, Crisler said he wants to be at 230 by the time he finishes his senior year.

“Focusing on definitely the weight room, have a few finishes where I get pushed off balance and my feet get a little close,” he said. “Probably [working on] that and my ball-handling so I’ll be able to take kids to the rack from the perimeter more.”

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Youngest Jack brother continuing family legacy

The Jack family has long been the definition of a basketball family.

Donna Jack played the sport at Manhattan for the Lady Jaspers, while Curt Jack spent his college career at Muhlenberg. It came as no surprise that their three boys -- Donovon, Connor and Casey -- took up the sport.

The older brothers -- 6-foot-9 Donovon, who eventually played four years at Penn State, and 6-7 Connor -- made life on the court a little difficult for their younger brother, simply by just taking advantage of their size differences.

“I was nervous playing them before, when I was younger,” said Casey, who’s a solidly-built but shorter 6-3.

As a result, the Berks Catholic sophomore has had to develop other aspects of his game over the years in order to defeat his brothers. While he does not possess the shot-blocking or rebounding ability of his brothers, he believes his perimeter skill is better than theirs.

“I have good court vision, so that helps me down the stretch of the game,” he said.

“They didn’t have that. So I used that against them all the time,” he continued, smiling.

His improvement helped earn him All-Berks honors this past season, and has put him on the radar of college coaches. Though he has yet to pick up a scholarship offer, he has received interest from D-I schools UMBC, UMass-Lowell and Mount St. Mary’s.

Donovon played his college ball at Penn State, where he averaged 4.5 ppg in 117 career games. Connor is at D-II Flagler College (Fl.), where he played in seven games last year and took a redshirt this season.

After seeing his brothers go through the college process, Casey isn’t too worried about what the next two years will hold.

“[They said] stay really patient, let it come to you, because that’s all you can do,” he said.

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Judah Jordan (above) is a tenacious on-ball defender who can run an offense at a high level as well. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Maryland guard Jordan aiming to re-kick-start recruitment

One of the bigger name players in the event, Jordan came into Pittsburgh looking to add to his offer sheet, which already includes Penn State, Towson and Hampton.

Though he didn’t play point guard last year as a member of Team Durant, the rising junior from Capitol Christian (Md.) looked terrific having the ball in his hands for most of the time for Team Melo. He continued to showcase his trademark smoothness alongside several other potential high-major prospects.

He is well adept at scoring the ball at the rim, but he knows that he probably has to be the lead guard for his recruiting to hit its highest level.

“This year they’re putting the ball in my hands, so they want me to make plays,” he said. “Playing in the EYBL, getting my name out there, I think that’s really going to help me become a solid point guard.”

With a solid 6-foot-2 frame, a shifty handle, and elite quickness, Jordan is at his best breaking his man down off the dribble and getting into the lane, though he’s got a strong enough pull-up jumper to keep defenses honest. Where he really separates himself is on the defensive end, where he relishes the challenge of hounding opposing ball-handlers as soon as they step across half court.

A high-upside lead guard prospect, Jordan made clear he is just waiting to see how many offers come in this summer, though he noted he hasn’t forgotten about the schools that have already offered.

“[Penn State] was my first offer,” he said. “I got it in June at the Penn State camp last June. Penn State is probably the biggest, but Towson is home. Towson’s been at my high school game, I’ve seen Hampton. I’m just looking to blow up this summer and next summer.”

He’s heard from a host of high-major schools, including Maryland, Georgetown, Kansas State, Cincinnati, Miami and Xavier, among others, who have yet to offer.

He’s enjoyed playing basketball the past two weeks, as well as the exposure playing in the EYBL brings, though he maintains he hasn’t even played his best basketball yet.

“I’m going to pick it up,” he said. “Last live period it went well, I played well in front of a lot of coaches. I showed I could play defense 94 feet, score, so it went pretty well, but I think I could play a lot better.”

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St. Benedict’s big man a true world product

Musa Jeng doesn’t just have one country he can call home.

At minimum, he’s got two: Sweden, where he was born and raised, and Gambia, where his parents are from. Now, he’s making himself comfortable in the United States, in his first summer on the AAU circuit.

The Stockholm native picked up the game in his European homeland, which has a solid hoops following of its own.

“It’s pretty competitive, actually,” Jeng said. “There’s a lot of people that have heritage from other countries, so there’s a lot of people playing basketball.”

Of course, playing in Sweden and then playing in the United States was quite a change for Jeng, a 6-8, 220-pound wing forward. Most difficult to adjust to? The physicality, and general size, over on this side of the Atlantic.

After all, in going to St. Benedict’s (N.J.), Jeng jumped right into one of the toughest high school hoops programs in the country, one which has continually churned out high-major talent year after year under head coach Mark Taylor.

“In Sweden, I’m 6-8, and I’m basically one of the biggest guys you can find out there,” Jeng said. “But here, I’m just one of many. So it was hard adjusting at the beginning, but now it’s alright.”

Jeng and fellow St. Ben’s product Ebrima Dibba, a 6-5 wing guard, form a formidable duo for the NJ Shoreshots 17’s on the Hoop Group circuit, with their combination of size and athleticism. Jeng tends to do most of his damage within 12 feet of the hoop, though he can step out and knock down the ‘3’, which he showed to cap off a 17-point outing in a loss to the Michigan Warriors in a 17U third-round game.

He’s working on his ball skills and shot to continue transitioning out the wing, but it’s a move he’s very confident he’ll make by the next level. UMBC and several other low-major Division I schools have already started showing interest after strong live period showings the last two weekends.

“I am very versatile -- if you need me to play inside, I can play inside,” he said. “I would say that I’m a ‘3’ who could defend all positions.”

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Quick Hits

-- Terrific outing in general from the WrightWay Skills Academy’s 17s in a monster 87-46 win over a SJ Hoops Elite program that’s much better than the score indicated. It was one of those games for WrightWay, which had several players stand out as they advanced to the quarterfinals in the top 17U bracket. Tayler Mattos (2018/Kearsarge Regional), the New Hampshire Division III Player of the Year after leading his Cougars to their first-ever state championship, had nine points and quite a few rebounds, as the 6-10 post player with an offer from New Hampshire and interest from Stony Brook/Boston U showed off an excellent motor and ability to face up and knock down a mid-range jumper.

Also very impressive for WrightWay Skills was 2018 guard Ghared (pronounced “Jared”) Boyce, a fearless 6-0 guard from Everett (Mass.) who had all but three of his game-high 25 points in the second half, including five 3-pointers. The state’s leading scorer each of the last two years and a 1600-point scorer already, Boyce averaged 28.2 ppg as a junior, though Everett fell two wins shy of the state title. So far, Boyce is without his first Division I offer.

-- SJ Hoops Elite does deserve one mention from that game -- Connor Deveney (2019/Shawnee HS, N.J.) went off in the second half on his own right, knocking down six 3-pointers in the closing 16 minutes alone; one of those, a quick-trigger shot from the corner, also drew him a four-point play opportunity, though he missed his easiest shot of the half. Deveney barely played varsity as a sophomore for a very good Shawnee program, and might not break much into the rotation as a junior, but the 6-2 guard is certainly a college-level prospect for that shooting ability alone.

-- Ray Somervile (2019/Shipley School, Pa.) continues to progress towards being at least a mid-major big man. The reclassified post -- he was originally on the young end of the 2018 class -- has made great strides since the winter, and is really figuring out how to use his 6-foot-9, 240-pound frame to consistently make an impact around the rim. His Team Final group has taken some lumps this weekend playing up in the 17U division, but Sommerville has been a consistent bright spot, constantly altering shots and deterring drivers on the defensive end and crashing the offensive glass for easy buckets.

Also deserving of mention from Team Final’s 16U squad is KVonn Cramer (2019/Mount Pleasant, Del.). The 6-foot-5 wing forward, like Sommerville, has been able to make a consistent impact without necessarily scoring the basketball. A freaky athlete with a nearly 7-foot wingspan, Cramer uses his high-level length and bounce to create offensive rebound opportunities and get into the passing lanes.


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