skip navigation

Elevate Hoops Summer Showdown: Day 2 Notebook (July 22)

07/23/2017, 12:45am EDT
By Josh Verlin & Tyler Sandora

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) &
Tyler Sandora (@Tyler_Sandora)
--

PHILADELPHIA — The newly-renamed Jefferson University hosted teams from around the Northeast and into the Great White North this week for the Elevate Hoops Showdown, with 16U and 17U action taking place in the Gallagher Center’s four courts.

Here’s a notebook from throughout the day:

~~~


Sam Sessoms (above) picked up his first Division I offer, from Binghamton, on Thursday night. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Shipley’s Sessoms scores first Division I offer

After a strong game at the Hoop Group’s Elite II camp on Thursday evening, Sam Sessoms said, a number of people walked up to him after the game to tell him to “get ready.”

Whether they were just being optimistic or had the ability to see the future was uncertain — but they were right.

As the Shipley School rising senior sat in his dorm room with local products Justin Steers (Friends’ Central), Justin Anderson (Carroll) and Rodney Carson (Cheltenham), his phone rang. On the other end was an assistant from Binghamton University; Sessoms put the call on speaker.

And all four got to hear the words Sessoms has been waiting for for quite some time: we’d like to offer you a scholarship.

“After he said that, we all were just getting loud for like three minutes,” Sessoms said. “It was a blessing, you know. It was like a weight off (my) shoulders.”

The shifty, 5-10 point guard had a standout junior season for the Gators, leading his team into the Friends’ Schools League championship game, where they fell to powerhouse Westtown School. But despite that, as well as his play with Nike-backed Team Final on the EYBL circuit, Sessoms had yet to find a school to extend a scholarship, despite numerous low-to-mid-major programs keeping track.

Sessoms acknowledged that continuing to play with Team Final, alongside blue-chippers Cameron Reddish (Westtown School) and Louis King (Hudson Catholic), didn’t allow him to play with the ball in his hands as much as needs to be effective, but he wasn’t regretting his choice of summer squad.

“I realize that I’m getting an opportunity to play with hopefully two All-Americans and if I’m able to play with them and keep up and not look completely lost, then college coaches should know just from that that I’m able to play on the Division I level,” he said. “That was my thinking process and I figured playing with them couldn’t do anything but help my stock.”

Sessoms is hearing from a few other programs, including Florida Gulf Coast, George Washington and Drexel. Knowing that his role is different with Shipley than with Final, he’s not averse to playing into his senior season to show off what he can do for a college team a year later.

Though the first offer is likely to be only the first of a few more, it’s still the only one he needs. It’s vindication enough.

“No matter if I get another one or not, I still got one and I’m able to go to college for free, and that was the goal all along,” Sessoms said. “I wasn’t worried about it, surprisingly; I don’t know why, I’m just not that kind of dude.”

~~~


Adrien Nunez (above) picked up his first five offers, including two A-10 programs, in a three-day span. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

New York guard Nunez’s recruiting dam bursts

Coming into July, no college coaches were recruiting Adrien Nunez. Nobody was telling him they were going to come to his games, despite the fact that the Bishop Loughlin (N.Y.) grad had decided to do a post-grad year at St. Thomas More (Conn.).

Very quickly, he’s become one of the most popular names in the Northeast.

“It’s ridiculous,” he said. “It’s like a total change in my life. It’s crazy.”

Following a strong performance at the Hoop Group Elite Camp this week, Nunez picked up his first offer, from Bowling Green. Soon followed one from Wagner. Then Fordham, Robert Morris, and La Salle, all joining in the fray over a three-day span.

“Tt’s the best July I’ve ever had,” he said. “My phone’s blowing up.

“I wake up sometimes and I forget and it’s like oh (damn),” he added. “It’s a blessing.”

On Saturday afternoon in an opening-round win over Team Final Red, Nunez showed just why he’s caught the attention of coaches and media alike over the last 10 days. A 6-6 guard with range, Nunez has the requisite length and athleticism to be a non-doubt Division I athlete -- and then he starts dropping 3-pointers like they’re nothing, hitting three while scoring 14 points in a 24-point win.

He also created off the bounce, finding his teammates while driving the lane and finishing a few flushes. Big guards who can dribble, pass and shoot with consistency are a popular commodity, indeed.

“At Loughlin I was always shooting, I wasn’t getting the ball much but i was always a shooter,” he said. “Now I’m showing my ball-handling, my ability to bring the ball up the court and dunk a little bit, so yeah. That’s pretty much what (changed).”

It’s a quick switch in mentality indeed for Nunez: from wondering if he was good enough to wondering just how good he could be.

He said he plans on visiting all the schools he’s offered him so far in the fall. But with how things have changed from last week to this one, it’s possible that by the end of July his list will include quite a few more options.

“The fact that I’ve grown so much in such a short period of time, who knows how big I could go,” he said, “so I’m just going to keep working as hard as I can and see what I get.”

~~~


Tyree Pickron (above) is planning official visits to Stony Brook and Quinnipiac this fall. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

Quick Hits
-- Quinnipiac and Stony Brook will both be officially visited by Archbishop Wood’s Tyree Pickron after the July live period. Pickron has already checked out the campuses of both schools, and enjoyed meeting with both of the staffs, something that will be very important to him when making a college decision. Robert Morris, St. Francis Pa., and NC A&T also have all offered the 6-3 guard. With the departure of guards Collin Gillespie and Matt Cerutti, Pickron will take on an elevated role this season for the Vikings, hoping to repeat for a state title. “It’ll definitely help me prepare for college,” he said. “I’m going to have to take on a bigger role, take better shots, and then Andrew (Funk) will help me.”

-- Stony Brook and Howard are two schools chasing after 2018 G Ray Bethea. Bethea has unofficially visited Howard, his sister’s alma mater, and plans on officially visiting in October. One of Bethea’s good friends growing up, RJ Cole, is a rising sophomore at Howard. The two guards got to know each other on the AAU scene when they were younger. As for Stony Brook, the Seawolves have made Bethea their number one priority in the class, and have been texting and calling the rising senior at Atlantic City High School. Bethea went up to Long Island for the Stony Brook team camp last June, and picked up an offer while he was there. “When I went to their camp, that’s when I got the offer and everything, and here and there they just keep telling me, sending me stuff about the school and everything, and telling me I’m their number one guy,” he said.

-- Making the transition from an undersized forward to a true wing guard, Camden (N.J.) rising senior Myles Thompson showed off a nice perimeter game with South Jersey Select, knocking down a 3-pointer, getting into the midrange and finishing a smooth Eurostep in the half-court against District BBall Club (D.C.) albeit in a losing effort. Thompson, who only turns 17 next month, says he will be taking a prep year after his senior season and join the Class of 2019 from a recruiting standpoint. The 6-5, 225-pound wing holds an offer from St. Francis (Pa.), which he picked up last summer, but mentioned he’d also been hearing from St. Joe’s, Boston U and FDU this month. “I’m feeling comfortable, I’ve been in the gym a whole lot with the ball in my hands and more stuff like that,” he said. “If I was still a 4 or 5 on the blocks, schools wouldn’t be coming to talk to me; playing outside on the wing, more schools are coming.”

-- After being sidelined with three torn ligaments in his right ankle, Julian McGowan is back to full strength, and his game is better than ever. The high-flying athlete went up for a slam at the Villanova camp in June, and came down wrong on his foot. Now that he’s back on the floor, he couldn’t be happier.

“It’s been good,” he said. “It sucked because I had to sit for two weeks, and I’m a hooper and hate sitting on the bench. I wanted to play so bad, and now I’m back and I can finally go at it.”

A 6-5 rising sophomore at Notre Dame (NJ), McGowan already has great athleticism for a kid his age. McGowan thrives in transition, when he can throw down on the break. McGowan describes himself as an athlete, and his coaches wouldn’t disagree. Once his jump shot develops, McGowan will be one of the most sought-after recruits in South Jersey’s class of 2020.

-- While he’s definitely going to be an impact player wherever he goes to college, Matt Cotton still isn’t sure what level of college basketball he’ll end up at. A very talented player on the court, Cotton is being tracked by the likes of Seton Hall, Virginia Tech, and St. Joe’s, among others. Also a very talented student, Cotton is also considering the high-academic level, Yale, Columbia, and Penn have all been speaking with the Voorhees native recently. As Cotton noted, the high-major level will provide him with the best competition in the country, while the high-academic level will suit him better once his basketball career is over. Cotton plans on visiting VaTech, Seton Hall, St. Joe’s, Yale, and Penn, a campus he is very familiar with. In addition to making a college decision, he also needs to decide which high school he will attend for his senior year. Cotton spend his junior year at St. Benedict’s (NJ), and will transfer for his senior season. While he doesn’t have any schools in mind, Cotton will “probably” pick a school closer to the Philadelphia area.

-- Though he played for Jersey Force’s main squad, Ridgewood (N.J.) 2018 PF Michael Schretter saw a better opportunity on its secondary team, so he requested a change and was granted it. A 6-8, 220-pound forward, Schretter is sitting on the borderline between high-academic D-III and high-academic D-I; he’s being pursued heavily by NESCAC schools like Amherst plus Hamilton and Colby, but also has D-I looks from Columbia, Colgate, Holy Cross, Bucknell, Dartmouth and others. Schretter, who plans on a career in finance, said his ability to get a Division I scholarship fringes on his ability to step out and make shots; in a win over Team Yellowjackets, he displayed great catch-and-finish abilities on the move and knows how to use his size inside. “I’m a guy who gets down in the paint and scores, I rebound well, I defend well,” he said, “but being able to stretch the floor a little bit more, that’s what coaches want to see.”

-- After neglecting to play AAU last year in favor of training with his father, a 13-year NBA veteran, Jameer Nelson Jr. showed the hard work has payed off, as he led the 17u Jersey Shore Warriors Blue over Team Final 2019; though he normally plays with Jersey Shore’s main team, Nelson got the call-up due to a need for depth. Since Nelson only stands 6-0, he uses his elusiveness on the wing to get by defenders and finish at the rim. While no colleges have showed serious interest in the rising junior at The Haverford School, Nelson has listened to some key lessons he’s learned from his father. “He’s told me to wait for my turn,” he said. “Colleges will see me. Keep playing hard until somebody notices me, because eventually somebody will.”

-- One other breakout prospect from this week’s Hoop Group Elite II camp, Chris Mann showed why he’s suddenly buzzing among high-academic types for Team Final Red. The Phillipsburg HS (N.J.) rising senior, a 6-6 lefty, has a smooth outside stroke and did well attacking the rim, finishing through traffic and making good decisions with the ball. He’s got two Division I offers thus far, from Army and Navy, plus D-IIs Millersville, Jefferson U (formerly Philly U) and Merrimack; Ivy/Patriot schools are starting to check in as well. Though Mann was grateful for the Division I offers, which came in the last two months, he’s not quite sold on the idea of going to one of the service academies: “I’m not totally against it, it’s a really great opportunity,” he said, “but I just don’t know about the service and stuff afterwards.”

-- After leading Woodbury to the South Jersey Group 1 championship last year, Jazere Noel is doing a post-grad year at Olympus Prep (N.J.) this fall, hoping to get some colleges on his trail with a strong finish to the summer. He dropped 30 points to start the day, leading HoopDreamz Blue to an impressive 17U win over Team Final’s EYBL squad, including five-star wings Cameron Reddish and Louis King. Noel got quite a bit of that on mid-range jumpers, helped out by strong point guard play from Lincoln (Pa.)’s Khalif Mears, who had 16 points in his own right.


HS Coverage:

Recruiting News:

Tag(s): Home  Old HS  Recruiting  Josh Verlin  Tyler Sandora