City of Basketball Love

CoBL Staff (@hooplove215)
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MANHEIM — The Select Events Prime East tournament’s high-level, two-day affair concluded on Sunday, with teams from Nike, Under Armour, Adidas, Select Events and the Hoop Group Summer League all battling for titles in action from 17U down on through middle schoolers

CoBL had staff around the facility at Spooky Nook throughout the weekend taking in the action. Here’s Part 1 of our recruiting notebook from the prospects we talked to over the course of the weekend:

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More coverage from Prime East: Day 1 Standouts | Day 2 Standouts / Notebook Pt. 1 | Notebook Pt. 2

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Zeynep Ozel (2024 | Jersey Gemz EYBL 17U)

Three years ago, Ozel came to the United States to play basketball for Blair Academy, which also led her to the Gemz.

Ozel, originally from Istanbul, Turkey, had planned on coming to America to play college basketball. However, her departure to the U.S. happened four years earlier than expected.

As an eighth grader, Ozel was playing basketball in Istanbul. Her gametape, which showcased a balance of scoring, distribution and a smooth three-point shot, was so impressive that former Blair coach Quint Clarke reached out to her in hopes of adding her to his team.

“The coach at Blair saw my videos and he really wanted me to come to Blair,” Ozel said at the Select Event’s Prime East Tournament. “For me it was always college and not really high school. But when coach reached out and wanted me on the team I said ‘why not.”’

Blair Academy is a coeducational boarding school in Blairstown, New Jersey — exactly 5,037.4 miles from her home city of Istanbul. For many kids, that transition would prove challenging. It was no different for her — at first.

“When I came here as a freshman, it was pretty hard the first month,” Ozel said. “I was home sick, but I knew I had to get adjusted to the culture. But after the first month, as I said, Blair is such a nice place, it’s my second home. With the people around me, I felt so nice.”

It’s evident that Ozel will be playing collegiate basketball following her time at Blair and with the Gemz. Playing for both teams has given her a plethora of opportunities to showcase those skills in front of plenty of schools. 

In this past weekend’s tournament, Ozel impressed with her 3-point jumpshot, court vision and passing ability. At times when the Gemz needed points, she was someone they leaned on heavily. What was most intriguing was that Ozel, who is right-handed, predominantly dribbled with her left hand. Each time she drove the lane she favored her left hand, which made it easier to pull off a cross over to her dominant side.

Ozel originally had a D-I offer from Fairleigh Dickinson University; however, the staff that extended the offer to her is now up at Iona. At the moment, she said, there’s been interest from schools in conferences such as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC), Ivy League and Patriot League, but no more scholarship or roster opportunities yet.

For Ozel, getting the opportunity to play and be happy is most important to her.

“I just want to be happy where I am and I just want to get playing time,” Ozel said. — Gavin Riley

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Daniella Matus (2025 | Team Sharp Carolina 17U)

The first thing you notice is the release. It’s as quick as a hummingbird’s wings. The shot is almost instantaneous as the ball touches her hands.

Daniella Matus is a three-ball machine - that is indisputable - but the 5-10 wing can wear out the opposition before she even gets the ball in her hands.

Her off-the-ball movement requires discipline and awareness by the defense as her constant cuts and pop outs to the wing and top of the key are very difficult and tiresome to defend. For a casual observer, it’s like trying to corral a deer in a parking lot as Matus darts and dashes through screens and defenders.

If it’s not disheartening enough chasing her all over the floor, it’s even more deflating if she is able to get the ball. All she needs is a sliver of space and the ball to get her shot off. More often than not, she’s burying it, which she did time and time against the Bay State Jaguars.

She attributes her success to hard work with her dad, Mike Matus, a former collegiate player at Bentley, and her trainer, Eric Myrick.  

“He’s always pushing me to get extra shots up and takes me to the gym every day, so we work out together all the time. And I have a trainer I work with, Eric from EMB basketball, as well. Getting a lot of shots up and a lot of reps is key.”

The pressure she places on a defense is probably a main factor in her garnering the amount of college attention she has to this point.  

“My goal is to play D-I and I have ten offers right now,” said the rising junior.  “Obviously, the goal is to play overseas after college.”

While Matus key weapon is her shooting ability from downtown, she is working on adding a mid-range element to her game.

“Everyone knows I’m a shooter, so they’re going to guard me outside the three, so just being able to get my shot up off the dribble will help me improve.”

Matus, who played for state champion Morris Catholic in New Jersey this past season, will be lacing her sneakers up at St. John Vianney in Holmdel. — Matt Gaffney

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Kennedy Austin (2025 | Team Takeover EYBL 16U)

Austin and Takeover’s 16s are having quite the spring — their loss to Empire State Blue Flames in the semifinals was only their second loss of the grassroots season, their eyes very much on a Nike Tournament of Champions win next month.

“The spring’s been going great, I love this team,” the 5-9 guard from the Maret School (D.C.) said. “I feel like we’re great together, there’s always somebody complementing the other person, we’re always going to pick each other up, if one person’s down we’re always there — and we’re great on defense.”

All of that was clear as Takeover shut down a talented ShoreShots squad in the 16U quarterfinals on Saturday morning, holding a team that had scored 60+ in its first two games to just 24 in a full-game defensive clinic. No ShoreShots player had the ball for more than a split second before being double-teamed, the full-court press forcing too many turnovers for their opponents to get over.

Austin was a major part of that: bouncy and energetic, she was all over the court in Takeover’s win, contributing 10 points, five rebounds (four offensive) and three steals, consistently finding ways to make an impact, even if that meant literally flinging her body around the court for a rebound or a loose ball.

“It’s kind of the only thing that’s come easiest to me,” she said. “When I first started I was terrible, and defense was the only thing I was good at. Now it’s like, if I don’t play defense, I feel like my whole game is off. 

“Defense is what turns things like offense for me, if I’m confident on my defensive side, then offense comes a lot easier.”

This summer, she said she’s working on her ball-handling abilities, knowing she has to make the transition from a wing to a guard for the next level.

Austin’s athleticism, ability and upside have landed her four Division I offers thus far: George Mason, Rhode Island, Towson and Monmouth. She’s hearing from a whole group of others, mentioning Temple and North Carolina A&T as two that came to mind.

She was one of many who had a busy June 1, the first day that college coaches could directly contact members of the Class of 2025 after previously having to go through a parent or coach.

“That was really exciting,” she said. “I woke up around 6-something in the morning and I looked at my phone and I already had three coaches text me — and I was like ‘oh wow, it’s starting right now.’” — Josh Verlin

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Daniella Ranieli  (2025 | NEPA Elite 16U)

Some players defy logic. 

The way they move, their style of play, their ability to create something out of nothing makes them individually unique. Daniela Ranieli is one such player.

Listed at 5-5, which may be a tad generous, the rising junior is an absolute playmaking dynamo on the court, often finding lanes and angles to the basket that didn’t seem to exist moments before.

Ranieli herself seems unable to provide a reasonable explanation for her playmaking ability and moves on the court.

As a sophomore at Pittston Area this past season, she averaged 16.5 points per game, was named Player of the Year in her conference and received All State honors.

If she wasn’t dangerous enough before with her whirling dervish drives and soul-crushing threes, Ranieli is going to be even more challenging next winter because she’s added another weapon g to her arsenal this spring — a mid-range game.

“I’m trying to work on my weaker hand and add mid-range,” said Ranieli. “Last year, I scored mostly on three-pointers or driving to the basket. Now, I’m trying to get more mid-range and floaters if I can. I know I am more of an undersized player, so I try to use my speed to get past bigger players and do one move and go.”

A lot of her success she attributes to her long-time trainer, Darnell Ford, who has helped her develop a game that is hard to defend.

“I’ve been training with him a long time since I was in second grade. That’s pretty much where I’ve gotten everything from. He’s taught me a lot.”

The training as obviously paid off as Ranieli is the epitome of being hard to guard. She is an incredibly creative player with the ability to attack off the dribble, shoot beyond the arc and an improving mid-range game. What’s good news for her AAU club and high school team, is going to be bad news for players who have to defend Ranieli in the future. — Matt Gaffney

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Janeya Grant (2024 | Gauchos 3SSB)
Since arriving at the high school level Janeya Grant has been on the D-I radar.

The 6-foot wing/guard from Putnam Science Acad. (Conn.) said the process has been “overwhelming” at times but she’s trying to continue to enjoy it as it starts to come to an end.

Over the course of the last three-plus years Grant accumulated 17 offers and last week she narrowed that list down to five schools: St. John’s, Seton Hall, Xavier, Memphis and VCU.

Memphis, Seton Hall and Xavier were all very recent to offer her. 

“Their style of play and if it fits the way I play, that’s really what I’m looking for,” Grant said. “And the coaching staff and just the environment of the school.”

She hasn’t been on visits to her top five yet but got started this past week with a trip to New Jersey to get on campus at St. John’s and Seton Hall and has plans to get on campus at Memphis this upcoming week, which would leave Xavier and VCU to check out later this summer.

Grant impressed with the Gauchous during a 3-1 weekend at Spooky Nook, helping her team reach the 17U Platinum quarterfinals. She scored 14 points in a second round win in front of the CoBL Staff, knocking down three 3-point shots in the contest.

Her shooting ability is certainly a standout trait, particularly when paired with her size. She has a quick release too, so she only needs a little bit of space to get off her shot. She gets plenty of good looks playing an uptempo style with the Gauchos, which includes stepping into (and most often burying) transition threes.

“My ability to shot the ball, my size, rebounding, just being aggressive,” Grant said of what stuck out to college coaches during the recruiting process.

Grant got her shooting ability from her father Kareem Grant, who played at Tennessee State before spending about a decade playing professional hoops overseas. He’s an important asset to have as she navigates the recruiting process and works on her game. 

She has her eyes on improving a few aspects in particular as the Gauchos hope to continue to pile up wins before she returns to Putnam for her senior season.

“Being more aggressive on defense and attacking the rim more when I don’t have my shot,” Grant said. — Owen McCue

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Claire McGrath (2025 | NEPA Elite 16U)

Grassroots basketball is a unique type of season in that very often players find themselves playing unfamiliar positions. Centers sometimes stretch 4’s, point guards become shooting guards, power forwards play center. But a high school starting point guard playing down in the post on defense? That’s not typical.

Just ask Clare McGrath. During the winter, the 5-7 McGrath is Scranton Prep’s starting point guard, handling the ball and quarterbacking the offense.

When the travel season comes around, the slender rising junior finds her down low in the paint defending the “bigs.”

“I try to get around them and front them, try and deny the entry pass and then hope for backside help from my teammates,” said McGrath, a gamer if there ever was one.

 While McGrath is probably not a Tom Petty fan, the late rock ‘n roller would appreciate that she won’t back down. 

“I’m the point guard for my high school team but I battle and fight (in AAU),” she said. “It’s what you have to do. Most girls are bigger and stronger than me.”

Her familiarity with her NEPA teammates is helpful. While she has a high school teammate on the team, many of her teammates are local rivals during the high school season.

“It’s fun. We are all friends and I know how they play so that helps.”

McGrath is open to playing college ball, but she has no definite plans at this point.

“I would like to play in college. I love the game, so why wouldn’t I?” — Matt Gaffney

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Quick Hits

— Serenity Lancaster (2025 | Connecticut Basketball Club 17U) impressed on Sunday in a consolation game win over Mid-Atlantic Magic’s 17s, the 6-0 wing forward from New London (Conn.) going for 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, grabbing eight rebounds and blocking two shots. A mid-range specialist, she knocked down numerous 12-foot jumpers with a picture-perfect stroke, and knew how to get herself in position on the block to finish around the rim. Lancaster said she’s got two offers, from Iona and Sacred Heart, but had a laundry list of interest from other schools, from Michigan, Rutgers, FAU and Kentucky down to a host of Northeast mid-majors too plentiful to list here.

— Kylie Torrence (2025 | Elevate Elite 3SSB 16U) had herself quite a busy June 1. The 5-11 wing forward from High Point Christian (N.C.) picked up offers from Syracuse, George Washington and Howard on the first day that college coaches could contact rising juniors directly, growing her offer list to 18 strong, including Georgetown, Pitt, Dayton, Charlotte and more; she also mentioned that Cincinnati has been in contact often the last couple weeks. It was easy to see why as she went for a 15-point, 16-rebound double-double against the NJ Gemz 17s, scoring a ton in the mid-range and grabbing seven offensive boards.

The next goal from a college standpoint is to start to see campuses: Torrence said she’d only seen the schools in her area, like Charlotte, but wants to see more after the grassroots season wraps up in July, though she didn’t have any particular schools yet in mind.

— Caliyah DeVillasee (2025 | Elevate Elite 3SSB 16U) goes by ‘Lil Bit,’ but there’s a whole lotta talent in the 5-7 point guard. The muscular ball-handler from Our Lady of Good Counsel (Md.) has a great change-of-pace and ability to score from all three levels, and she’s an excellent passer and defender. That’s why she’s got 22 Division I scholarship offers, including recent ones from Kentucky and Pitt, not to mention Syracuse, Penn State, Boston College and more. Her first summer visit, later this month, will be to Boston College; she also said she wanted to see Pitt, Virginia, and North Carolina, among others.

“I want that family-type bond,” she said. “I want a coach that’s going to push me on and off the court, and I just want to be there, I want to be successful, I want to make it pro, so I need a coaching staff that will push me to be that person.”

— Mary Bolesky (2024 | Central PA Elite 17U) has academics in mind for her college picks, but right now the colleges are trying to figure out exactly what level she belongs; that’s why she’s heard from D-Is Columbia and American but also D-III NYU, their excellent academics the biggest tie for the trio. A talented 5-4 point guard, Bolesky showed her skills in a 17-point, five-rebound, five-assist outing for Central PA Elite in a loss to Rise National’s 17s on Saturday afternoon, knocking down 3-of-5 from deep, scoring 16 in the first half alone before Rise threw everything it had at her defensively.