City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31) &
Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Here’s a notebook from the later portion of the second day of action at the Elevate Hoops Icebreaker on Thursday at Philadelphia University:

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Ramiir Dixon-Conover (2017/TBD/Jersey Force)
Dixon-Conover’s decision to utilize a prep year was one that he didn’t make entirely by himself.

A devastating, season-ending facial fracture, that occurred with 13 games remaining in his senior season, was the main reason the 6-foot-3 guard decided to go prep.

“I was going up for a layup and I got elbowed,” Dixon-Conover said. “There was a dent (in my forehead). I felt something there, I thought it was a bump but it was a dent.”

The recovery process, which ultimately took three months, was not an easy one.

“They said I couldn’t sniff for like a month, I had to watch it,” he said. “And then when I came back, I was kind of rusty for a month. But as time went on, i started getting back into the flow.”

The April live period was his first in-game action since suffering the injury, and he has continued to improve his game leading up to the current July live period.

““I’ve been working on my jump shot, trying to get it a little more consistent,” he said. And then to play defense solid and not reach a lot.”

His improvements on both sides of the ball were evident on Thursday, as he finished with 17 points in a win against York Ballers and added in 11 more in a win against East Coast Power.

Although he doesn’t have a set destination for his prep year yet, Dixon-Conover will be sure to make the most of his opportunities there and expand on his list of offers that currently consists of NJIT along with drawing interest from Monmouth and Boston University since announcing his decision to reclassify.

Although he has been hearing from a variety of schools, the new member of the 2017 class is still unsure on where he wants to play at the college level.

“Not really,” said Dixon-Conover “When I go on my visits then I’ll see the differences between the schools and where I really want to go.”

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Mitchell Phillips (2018/Pennington School/East Coast Cyclones)
As his high school career has gone on, Phillips has had to continually adjust to his body.

A 6-foot-tall shooting guard/wing as a freshman at Hopewell (N.J.) back in 2013-14, Phillips has inched his way up to his current solid 6-7 frame, which naturally has him playing much more around the basket than he was previously used to.

But he can still pop out and knock down a jumper, which he showed in a 12-point effort against Team Philly in a 60-53 win. He also made several nifty passes, including several touch passes in the paint that resulted in easy layups for teammates.

“Really I think I‘m a rebounder and a hustler, but I can also shoot a little bit,” he said. “First half I had a couple of jump shots, but really my main thing is just boxing out and rebounding, hustling, playing defense.”

Currently sporting a GPA around 3.5, Phillips decided to take another year in high school to work on his academics; he’s aiming for a 3.7 or 3.8 GPA and an improved SAT score with one specific goal in mind.

So he’s headed to the Pennington School (N.J.) and reclassifying to 2018, adjusting to his body and working on his grades.

Up to this point, his recruitment mostly consisted of some letters from Columbia and Brown, but he’s hoping that with the extra year to work on his game and his academics, he could end up in one of the high-academic Division I leagues.

“I would love to end up in the Ivy League somewhere, or the Patriot League, because the academics are incredible and that’s really important to me,” he said. “That’s the main goal.”

And Phillips already knows what he wants to be after basketball. A Type 1 diabetic, he has an interest in becoming an endocrinologist, a doctor who specializes in the system of the body that deals with hormones -- including, of course, insulin.

But he doesn’t let his condition keep him from doing anything differently on the court.

“I’ve got it down to a science now because I’ve had it for so long,” he said. “There’s some stuff you have to do, test before the game, make sure you’re good, have some Gatorade, whatever I need to do.”

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George Gordon (2017/D'town West/Jersey Shore Warriors)
Although Gordon spent the first three years of his high school career at Downingtown West playing a secondary role to now college-bound graduates Ryan Betley (Penn), Josh Warren (Cornell) and Dom Guerrera (West Chester), the 6-7 forward showed on Thursday that he is more than capable of carrying the load.

Gordon scored 12 points in a variety of ways against Team A.J. Price on Thursday afternoon.

The big man showed that he can score off the putback, create for himself, and stretch the floor by knocking down a couple of jumpers from outside of 15 feet.

While playing in front of dozens of coaches at a time can rattle some players, Gordon knows that sticking to what he knows best is the thing that will help him during this live period.

“I’m just going to keep doing my best to play my game,” said Gordon. “I’m really trying to not let playing in front of all the coaches get in my head because when kids do that everything just starts to get kind of mixed up and it affects your game.”

Gordon certainly hasn’t let the big stage affect the way he’s played so far, and coaches have begun to take notice.

He is being recruited by schools across all levels, with Franklin and Marshall, Lock Haven and West Chester showing the most interest.

While his former teammates have offered him advice about the recruiting process, they have also mentored him on how to prepare to take the reigns in his high school season for the highly successful Downingtown West Whippets in the fall.

“I really liked playing with those guys, but I really like playing with the new guys too,” said Gordon. “It’s a different role, but I like it.”

With Gordon’s game attracting the interest of coaches at all levels, the Whippets can expect their 2016-17 team to be led by yet another senior who will be committed to playing at the college level when the high school season rolls around.- Will Slover

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Jayden Saddler (2017/St. Benedict’s/Philly Pride)
While Jayden Saddler’s 6-1 frame might not be enough to make him stand out, the athleticism he displayed on Thursday certainly helped him do so.

The guard from St. Benedict’s Prep, which finished ranked No. 17 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25,  threw down a rim-rattling dunk off of a steal and followed that up with a 3-pointer on the next possession, which got coaches to turn their heads.

Although the July live period just started, Saddler is trying to make the most out of every opportunity he gets.

“I’ve been working on my all-around game,” said Saddler. “Coming off the pick-and-roll, creating for my teammates and I’ve been working on my shot a lot.”

Improving in those areas might also help Saddler improve on the college interest he has been garnering.

As of now, he has heard from Rider, Towson, Wagner and UNC-Greensboro, amongst others, with Towson, which he plans to visit, coming after him the hardest.

Saddler’s goal in the July live period is simple.

“Just get as many offers as I can, and to win,” Saddler said.

If he keeps up his play and Philly Pride continues to play the way they did on Thursday, both of his goals should be well within reach. -- Will Slover

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Quick Notes
-- One of the best games all day on the 17U courts was Jersey Force's 73-67 win over the East Coast Power, which wasn't decided until the final minute. Justin Jaworski (2017/Perkiomen Valley) had a standout game for ECPower, dropping 22 points and going 12-for-12 from the foul line, while Matt Faw (2017/Upper Merion) added 16. Both players are right on the fringe of their first Division I offers; Jaworski, a 5-11 guard and two-sport star, certainly a D-I ballplayer's mindset, and he's capable of getting his shot off against capable defenders. Faw, a 6-8 forward, didn't have his best shooting game but showed the versatility that has plenty of low-to-mid-major programs (as well as numerous top Division IIs) tracking him very closely.

--The New York Ionians, a team mostly comprised of European students who attend Knox School, a boarding school in New York, were an interesting team to watch on Thursday. While the team has only been in existence since the spring and most of the players have only been in America for less than a year, they still held their own against some of the top talent in the area. Many of their players have begun to garner Division I interest, including 2017 6-4 G Laurynas Stonkus, who currently holds an offer from Hofstra and has only been in the states since January. Other players with offers from Division I programs are 2017 forwards Waseef Methnani and Omar El-Sheikh.

-- In a losing effort to the East Coast Cyclones, two Team Philly 17U guards playing up a level, Bernard Lightsey (2018/Imhotep) and Yazid Powell (2018/Boys’ Latin), both had impressive showings. Lightsey, a 6-0 guard who showed during his sophomore season that he can be much more than just a 3-point shooter, displayed his tight handle and creative abilities with a few tough drives, though he also knocked down a pair of perimeter shots as well to help him to 14 points. Powell, a smooth 6-2 slasher, finished with 16 points, including two triples of his own. Both will be among the better guards in the Public League next year and should be on Division I radars in the low-to-mid-major level.