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Elevate Hoops Icebreaker Recruiting Notebook: Wednesday, July 8

07/09/2015, 1:30am EDT
By Ari Rosenfeld

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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The famed July Live Periods started off with a bang at Philadelphia University, as the first night of the Elevate Hoops Summer Icebreaker featured six showcase games at the 17U level.

College coaches began to pour in as soon as 5 p.m. struck and the first of three live periods officially began. A number of mid-major programs were represented, along with multiple schools in the CoBL coverage range--Temple and Drexel both had assistants in the building, while Lehigh and Lafayette’s respective head coaches were both in attendance.

The recruiting notebook from the event features three 2016 prospects, each of whom is at a slightly different point in his recruitment.

Play will continue tomorrow morning as the tournament portion of the 17U level begins, and the 16U and 15U teams get the chance to play in front of college coaches for the first time this summer.

Devon Goodman (2016/Team Philly/Germantown Academy, Pa.)

While most high-major coaches were scattered around the country at shoe company-sponsored events, a number of mid-major coaches flocked to Philly U for the first night of the live period, especially those from schools considered to be high-academic institutions.

Those coaches most definitely walked away impressed with Devon Goodman’s play; many of them were already recruiting him prior to tonight’s performance, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see some of them extend scholarship offers with one or two more games like he had tonight.

Goodman played a tremendous overall floor game, scoring at least 14 points (most likely more, as the totals in the book don’t add up correctly), dishing out a number of assists, and hounding the Jersey Shore Warriors’ point guards all game on the defensive end.

He already holds offers from Penn, Yale, and Lafayette, but Goodman is hoping to use his play to convince some of the long list of schools that have already expressed interest to follow suit and offer.

“[The live period] is my last chance to show coaches what I have and pick up the last offers I can,” he said. “I’m just trying to go out, play hard, and show what I can do on the court.”

While he said most of the Patriot and Ivy League schools have expressed varying degrees of interest, he specifically mentioned Bucknell, NJIT, and Brown as those that have been the most aggressive in their pursuits.

For now, though, Goodman is content with the offer list that he presently has. He’s already visited all three schools, and as an elite student in the classroom--he’s at the top of his class at Germantown Academy--came away very impressed with the blend of academics and basketball that each school offered.

“Education is one thing I’m looking at, and all three of those schools have great basketball teams and great education,” he said. “I loved all three of them. It’s gonna be a hard choice when I make my decision.”

As a slightly undersized, high-academic point guard, the Patriot and Ivy Leagues would seem to be a strong fit for Goodman. However, while he said he would be happy at that level, he wouldn’t mind seeing some higher profile programs come calling by the end of the month.

“Pick up more offers,” he said when asked of his goals for July. “I think I can play even at a higher level than the Patriot or Ivy, so if those schools recruit me then that would be good.”

Grant Golden (2016/Virginia Elite/St. James School, Md.)

If one were to take just a glance at the section designated for college coaches at Philly U, it would be impossible not to notice the contingent of Patriot League coaches in attendance.

Not only was every one of the league’s 10 teams represented, but a number of head coaches--including Lehigh’s Brett Reed and Lafayette’s Fran O’Hanlon--were in attendance themselves.

While many of the players on the court tonight could conceivably project to that level, it’s no secret that Grant Golden was one of the main draws for said coaches.

Of the 12 schools that have already offered the 6-foot-10 forward, exactly half of them (Boston U, Loyola (Md.), Lehigh, Lafayette, Holy Cross, and American) hail from the Patriot League. They join fellow mid-majors like James Madison and High Point as schools in pursuit of Golden and his versatile game.

While he’s yet to cut his list down, he mentioned Boston U, James Madison, and American as the schools recruiting him hardest right now; he’s visited both JMU and American, along with Furman and High Point.

“There are some that are recruiting harder than others, but I don’t really have a top five or anything. I’m just gonna see how July goes,” he said. “I thought [the visits] were all pretty nice. They all had their own things that stood out to me, but like I said I’m just gonna wait July out and see how it goes and I’ll make my decision then.”

Golden said he’s targeting a decision before the start of his high school season. Before then, however, he’s waiting to see what happens with a few schools that have been in contact with him but have yet to offer. Among those schools are George Washington, Penn State, and Richmond, all of which represent a higher level of college basketball than the programs that have offered thus far.

Heading into the live periods, he knows what he’ll need to do to get those schools to pull the trigger on him.

“They just want to see me play hard and make sure I rebound, because that’s what I’ve got to do at 6-10, so those are the main two things,” he said. “I think if I come out and play as hard as I can, hit the boards as hard as I can, I think they’ll see that I have the ability to play at their level.”

At his height, Golden’s versatility is almost impossible to ignore. He’s got a bevy of moves in the low and high post, as well as a solid mid-range jumper. And on the defensive end, he’s able to protect the rim with his length but also has the foot speed to chase smaller players.

That well-rounded skillset certainly projects well to the next level, as it will allow coaches to play Golden in a number of different spots on the floor.

“Sort of like a stretch ‘4’,” he said of the position at which he thinks he fits best. “[Coaches] like the fact that I can go inside but I can go out a little bit and handle the ball, so they see me as a stretch ‘4’. Depending on what they have, they might put me on the wing or maybe in the post depending on who is in the game”

Keith Braxton (2016/East Coast Cyclones/Lawrenceville Prep, N.J.)

One of the better kept secrets in the area over the last year, Keith Braxton quietly amassed impressive averages of 22 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 5.4 assists last season while leading his Delsea (N.J.) squad to the South Jersey Group 3 sectional final.

When the season concluded, he had a number of opportunities to play college basketball at the Division II and Division III levels. However, instead of pursuing such opportunities, Braxton decided to take a postgraduate year and attend Lawrenceville Prep this fall in hopes of earning a D-I scholarship.

“No knock against D-II and D-III’s, but I just felt that it’s been my dream to be a D-I player so I’ve just been chasing that,” he said. “A lot of people had been telling that a post-grad year would be smart, including my AAU coach, so I just went with that route.”

Since making that decision, Braxton has been in contact with Loyola (Md.), Brown, Penn, Princeton, and American. While they’ve yet to offer him a chance to make his dream a reality, he’s working hard on the part of his game that he feels is holding them back from doing so.

“They just want to see me develop my jump shot,” he said. “That’s the number one thing I’ve been working on because I know it’s a part of the game that you need to have if you’re a point guard. I’m good at slashing and attacking the rim, but if I can add the jump shot to my game then it’ll be a big help for the next level.”

Braxton didn’t take many jumpers in the Cyclones’ impressive win over a talented Virginia Elite squad, knocking down a mid-range shot and missing a trey, but he showed his slashing ability translates even against better athletes than he faced on a game-by-game basis in South Jersey.

More importantly, though, he displayed his improved point guard skills, taking the ball up the floor a number of times and consistently making the right play. It’s difficult to say exactly what position he played for Delsea, as he was generally a jack of all trades, but at his size, he may need to prove that he can be a lead guard before starting to garner some offers.

However, as he puts it, that shouldn’t be an issue, as he feels he’s a natural fit at the point guard spot.

“At the next level, you’re gonna have to be a point guard at 6-3,” Braxton said. “I’ve usually been a point guard, but I’ve always been playing with a smaller group of people so I’d have to take a forward position, so I’m just happy that I’m able to play my natural position here with this team.”


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