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Homecoming for Horace Spencer at Reebok Breakout

07/10/2014, 5:15pm EDT
By Josh Verlin

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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The Reebok Breakout Classic brought kids from 40 states into the courts at Philadelphia University for a high-level three-day camp in front of hundreds of Division I coaches.

A good portion of the 120 kids in the camp were making trips from all over the country, some visiting the area for the first time. For one of them, Findlay Prep (Nev.)’s Horace Spencer III, it was just a trip home.

“This is my hometown, I’m now highly-ranked in my hometown, everybody knows who I am here,” the Warminster, Pa. native said after the second session of the Breakout Classic. “Trying to show I came out and supported my hometown.”

Spencer went to William Tennent High School as a freshman and sophomore, and while he was making a big name for himself in the area as a 6-foot-8, 210-pound defensive specialist, it wasn’t a big enough stage for the top-100 level talent.

So he transferred out to Henderson, Nevada and to the prep school that consists of only 13 kids and head coach Jerome Williams, formerly of the NBA’s New York Knicks.

“Because my coach was an NBA player, he taught me some tricks to the trade, some ways to make it, that’s why I went to Findlay Prep,” he said.

Williams is no longer the head coach of the school, as he was let go following a semifinal appearance in the Dick’s Sporting Goods National Tournament this year, his only year as head coach. He’ll be replaced by Andy Johnson, who was an assistant at the school since 2009 and helped the program win national titles in 2010 and 2012.

Findlay Prep has gotten a lot of attention over the years for its style of bringing in ultra-talented players for their final year or two of prep basketball, with the athletes living in two homes just a few minutes from The Henderson School, where they actually attend classes.

The actual Prep itself consists of the basketball team, and no one else.

“It’s like going to college, it’s like being in the dorms,” he said. “It’s not that bad, I got used to it over the course of the year, but it was an adjustment as far as weather-wise, people and everything, I adjusted really well.”

Of course, playing out at Findlay is a little bit different than playing at William Tennent. Spencer would get matched up every day against players like Kelly Oubre, a 6-7 forward headed to Kansas this year, or Craig Victor, another 6-7 forward headed to Arizona.

“I like a challenge, but when I first played against Kelly Oubre, Rashad Vaughn [UNLV] and Craig Victor, I knew I had to get my game up a whole lot,” he said. “Because I’m really behind these guys, even though I’m a year younger than the rest of them.”

The one drawback of being at Findlay Prep was the distance from home, and Spencer was only able to come back once, at Christmas. Of course, to Spencer’s sisters–he has three, and is younger than all of them–the basketball part of Findlay Prep was inconsequential.

“They don’t care anything about basketball,” he said. “It’s schoolwork, getting my classwork done, going to college for four years, that’s about it.”

Though his recruiting could certainly change with a strong showing at the Breakout Classic, Spencer came into the camp hearing from schools like Seton Hall, UNLV, Southern Cal, Cincinnati, West Virginia, Purdue and more, with offers from all of those schools so far except USC and Purdue.

He’s only visited Temple and Seton Hall thus far.

“Big factors for me are starting as a freshman, having a fast pace, getting up and down the court, and my relationship with my head coach,” he said. “Campus, kind of small because I’m not trying to do a lot of walking around, be late to my classes, but it’s not really a big factor.”

Spencer’s put on a show in his first two games at Breakout, with a number of big plays at both ends of the court. He’s already put a few defenders on some posters, and has denied a few attempts at the other end of the court as well.

He’s hoping to show off a more improved face-up game as well, something that’s been keeping him from really hitting the ultra high-major recruiting range.

“I worked on my offense to get that better, trying to get my jump shot to come along a little bit and my ball-handling and my passing skill,” he said. “My defense has always been there, I always could block shots and rebound; my offensive game has developed better.”


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