OK, random thoughts on the hoops in Vegas, hoops and Vegas:
Over the week I developed some serious curiosity about the kids in the Jayhawks program specifically, having seen all five of their games at the 17s level.
All i can say is that I will watch guys like Jake Nelson and Alex Stoyle, Eric Deane and all the rest this winter with a bit of a closer eye.
For the guys like Nelson, Alex LaRosa, Ben Proulx et al, the ones who’ll be back in Class L again, it will be interesting to gauge what I saw in Vegas with how it translates in the Granite State.
One Jayhawks parent noted that Nelson might be the favorite for Class L Player of the Year. We’ll see.
I’ll also watch the recruitment of Ben Bartoldus, the Jayhawks’ go-to guy, who is clearly in my eyes a scholarship guy.
I wonder if Bert Hammel and Merrimack have him on the radar screen.
Not a spectacular shooter or ballhandler, he is a dynamic scorer, a slasher and finisher at 6-foot-2 with some serious elevation.
To me, he’s an impact player to be in the Northeast-10.
The UNH coaching staff, which was all over the Jayhawks this week, might think Bartoldus is even better.
That said, I’m not sure Mark Dunham had another scholarship baller on his roster, which says a bunch about the grit of those kids to win a championship round game and play even through a half in the round of 16 before bowing out.
On Carson Desrosiers, let’s just say he was all I could have expected and a little more. There’s a reason Lon Kruger, Herb Sendak, and Jim Boeheim and Jay Wright and Keno Davis all showed up for him out there.
I question the legitimacy of any rivals.com (no connection to Mass Rivals by the way) in its rankings that have Desrosiers a 3-star prospect out of 5.
Let’s see, 6-11, best passer on a powerhouse AAU team with range out to the hash mark???
Which leads me to my biggest laugh of the week?
A pretty well-written story on CD in the Las Vegas Sun this week had the writer noting that Carson’s defense was “still developing.”
That writer should talk to the folks in the MVC about that one.
Speaking of the MVC, it’s truly nice to watch Desrosiers get played by one man, not a whole team, sloughing off everyone else.
After watching Desrosiers work in a little open space, I can’t imagine he’ll be in too much of a rush to return to the clogged confines of Hoops for Hope.
Desrosiers is going to hang in Vegas with his uncles and cousins for a bit and follow the Rivals out to California for another tournament before a family vacation.
Some bad news on the local injury front.
The worst news I heard on the trip was that Salem’s Josh Jones, New Hampshire’s reigning Mr. Basketball headed to Franklin Pierce in the fall, tore his ACL.
If that’s official it’s a tough break for one of the hardest-working hoop players to ever come out of the area.
Hopefully, Josh will make a speedy recovery but those three letters as Pats fans know all too well, can be the worst in all of sports.
On the girls side, Carson’s younger sister Kendall Desrosiers, who also plays for Central Catholic is still hobbling from a high ankle sprain that she suffered in the spring.
Hopefully, the swelling will go down and Desrosiers will be ready for volleyball in the fall.
Some quick thoughts on a handful of the other Rivals 17s …
Jordan LaGuerre … If I’m UMass or URI, I’m in now before the kid blows up and you have no chance.
Evan Smotrycz … I admit it, I wasn’t sold on him being “Michigan” good coming in. To be honest, I had only seen him in the 2008 D2 North tourney and yeah, he was OK. Kid can play. Very smooth, very poised, the prep year worked wonders. He’s a Big-10 talent.
Ryan Canty … Some small D1 coach, like a UNH or that level, will love him. Didn’t play that well the first game I saw, was a monster against the NJ Playaz.
Cedric (I won’t even try to write his last name) … Look out in Vegas next year. Tons of raw ability.
OK, a couple side notes while I wonder how I never stepped up and tried the fried catfish being served in concessions at all three venues:
Facilities, WOW! Rancho High and El Dorado High were in a couple of pretty tough neighborhoods, but man the facilities made the new Lawrence High look shabby.
And Canyon Springs High was just as nice.
I will think of those schools every time I walk into Haverhill High for the rest of my life and wonder what a state with an income tax, a sales tax and a tax on just about anything imaginable can’t do any better. It’s nothing short of shameful.
Location, location, location … Canyon Springs, where the Jayhawks played, was literally about a half-mile from a Sonic that we repeatedly frequented.
If you’ve never been to Sonic, you have no idea what you are missing.
The $1.99 (99 cents from 2-4 p.m. happy hour) Route 44 (ounce) slush was a giant hit in our mini-van as were the Popcorn Chicken, the Extralong Chili-Cheese Coney and David Proulx’s staple for the week, the Supersonic (enormous) Double Cheeseburger.
All right, enough on Vegas. Back to the real world. But remember, starting a week from today to check out my series on the tournaments and AAU hoops. I promise it will be pretty interesting.
