By Bill Martin
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The Hoop Hall Classic was an event designed to showcase the 2006-07 Syracuse recruiting class to the Syracuse fans.  There was however, a ton of talent in these games other than the Syracuse recruits.  In fact, in three games witnessed the Syracuse Recruits were often outshined, either by their own teammates or the opposition.

Christian Brothers were severely outmatched in this contest.  Rice simply had two much talent and speed on both sides of the ball.  Rice applied a full court press for the entire game and constantly double-teamed the man with the ball generating turnovers.  This was very effective as Christian Brothers had trouble even getting shots off.  They had trouble getting across half court throwing bad passes and getting 10-second violations.  When Christian Bothers did get it across half court they often would have the ball stolen or were forced to take bad shots.  Rice held them to just 11 first half points.  Rice did not play any of their starters in the fourth quarter, and still ended up winning the game 72-30.

Christian Brothers Prospects:

Mike Goodman (6-6 PF, 2009)
The lone bright spot for Christian Brothers, Goodman was the leading scorer with 7 points.  He is an undersized post player but has a wide body.  Goodman did show the ability to knock down an open jump shot from the outside but he is too slow to play on the wing.  Another one of his strengths is rebounding, he uses his body well to gain position and has good hands to catch the ball.  He struggled the most was with defensive pressure; any time he was double-teamed he made a poor pass resulting in a turnover.

Rice Prospects:

Lamont Jones (5-10 PG 2009)
Jones was instrumental in Rice’s pressure defense.  He utilized his quick hands and feet to generate turnovers, by jumping in passing lanes or simply stripping the ball away from his man.  When he did come up with steals he finished very well is transition, he did however struggle to finish when there was more traffic in the lane.  His shot selection could also use some work but it did not matter in this game.

Kemba Walker (6-0 PG, 2008)
Kemba is quality point guard prospect.  He displayed excellent court vision and good decision making abilities.  He handles the ball very well with both hands and did not turn the ball over many times.   His jump shot is solid and he can knock it down from behind the arc or off the dribble.  Kemba also did a good job of driving into the lane and drawing contact, he then proceeded to knock down all of his free throws.

Dorvelle Carter (6-6 SF, 2008)
Dorvelle is an interesting prospect.  He is 6-6 with long arms and showed a little bit of an inside outside game.  He can play in the post, using his long arms to snag rebounds and shoot over defenders, but he prefers to stay out on the wing.  He will need to learn to get in better position for rebounds against better competition.  He finished fairly well in the paint but he had some trouble when there was a lot of traffic in the lane, this is probably due to his thin frame.  Dorvelle’s ability to knock down threes is what makes him a dangerous player.  He did not create his own space to get his jumper off but he has a high release on his shot so it is hard to block.

Randy Battle (6-6 SF 2007)
A very athletic player, he was instrumental in Rice’s press defense.  He ran very well up and down the court, and finished with monstrous dunks on fast breaks.

Chris Fouch (6-1 SG 2008)
Chris finished the game with 15 points, tying Dorvelle Carter as the games leading scorer.  Most of his points came from wide-open three point shots.

This was a battle of some of Syracuse’s top recruits for next year, Donte Greene of Towson Catholic vs. Rick Jackson and Antonio “Scoop” Jardine of Neumann-Goretti.  There was however a wealth of talent other than these three players on both teams.  These two squads were pretty evenly matched and it showed in how competitive this game was.  Neumann-Goretti looked to be the better team in the first half.  They contained Dante Greene and ran up a 14-point half time lead.  Towson Catholic came out in the second half playing a pressure defense and playing much better on the offensive end, lead by senior guard Malcolm Delaney.  He finished as the games top scorer with 29 points.  Neumann-Goretti also played very sloppy in the second half, taking bad shots and turning the ball over due to the defense Towson Catholic was playing.  With 2 minutes remaining in the game Towson Catholic took their first lead since the first quarter 66-64, on two made free throws by Larry Bastfield.  “Scoop” Jardine fouled out on this play and Rick Jackson would foul out only a minute later.  Towson Catholic hit a few more free throws to seal the game 70-65.

Neumann-Goretti Prospects:

Rick Jackson (6-9 PF 2007) - Syracuse
Rick is a big presence in the paint both offensively and defensively.  He grabbed a good number of rebounds in this game and showed off his myriad of post moves.  The only problem with his game was his free throw shooting.  He got to the line a lot but converted under 50% of his attempts, he still finished the game with 19 points.

Antonio “Scoop” Jardine (6-2 PG 2007) - Syracuse
“Scoop” struggled with his jump shot a little in this game but he did a number of other things very well.  He attacked the basket and got himself to the line, connecting on a high percentage of his free throws.  Scoop also distributed the ball very well getting his teammates open looks.

Jamal Wilson (6-5 SG/SF 2008)
An extremely athletic player with a long wiry frame, Jamal is loaded with potential.  Jamal aggressively attacked the hoop, but sometimes struggled to finish in traffic.  He is another player that will need to bulk up a bit.  He showed off his leaping ability by throwing down a highflying one-handed slam on a fast break.   Jamal is also pretty accurate from three point range.  His shooting form needs a little work, as he tends to push the ball, but he was pretty accurate and has a quick release.

Tony Chenault (6-2 SG 2010)
A Promising freshman with a smooth outside jump shot, finished with 9 points.

Towson Catholic Prospects:

Donte Greene (6-10 SF 2007) - Syracuse
Donte is an extremely athletic versatile player; he has the skills of a guard and the height of a center.  He struggled to score in this game as he settled mostly for jump shots, but he helped his team win in many other ways.  Donte was very unselfish in this game and displayed the court vision of a point guard.  He did a very good job of drawing the defense to him and then finding the open man for an easy basket.  He passes equally well when driving or from out of the post.  His athletic ability was truly on display on defense where he blocked a ton of shots, sending a few into the crowd.  He finished with only 3 points but his assist, rebounding and blocking totals were surely higher than that.

Malcolm Delaney (6-4 SG 2007) - Virginia Tech
Malcolm is a shoot first, shoot second, pass third type of player.  He scored a lot of points, but took a lot of shots.  His three point shots were not falling at the beginning of the game but in the second half he found his rhythm.  He is very confident and is not afraid to fire up shots from anywhere on the court or off the dribble.  Driving to the hoop and drawing contact is another one of Malcolm’s strengths.  He finishes well in traffic and converts most of his free throw attempts.  He did a lot of his team's second half scoring, he really came up big in crunch time.

Larry Bastfield (6-0 PG 2008)
Bastfield is another player who came up big at the end of the game.  He is extremely quick and uses that quickness to get to the hoop.  He finishes well, and has a soft touch around the basket.  Bastfield also showed the ability to hit the running floater or knock down a three point shot with a man in his face.  He is more of a scoring guard then a true point guard but his passing skills are still pretty good.

Brandon Greene (6-6 PF 2008)
A tough but undersized post player, that uses his body well to grab rebounds and to get his shot off against taller defenders.  He held his own against Rick Jackson on the boards despite giving up at least 3 inches.  Brandon showed that he could knock down outside jumpers but he needs to have his feet set.  If he wants to be more of a wing player he will have to improve his quickness and ball handling abilities.   His passing also needs some work as he turned the ball over a good few times.

Third Game: Notre Dame Prep vs. Champlain St. Lambert

This was a match up of the number one prep team in the nation against one of the top teams in Canada.  Notre Dame Prep is absolutely stacked with talent; so much so that 6-11 Syracuse recruit Sean Williams usually does not even start.  Champlain St Lambert kept the game close at the half, only down 2 heading into the locker room.  Notre Dame Pep really did not pull away until the fourth quarter but ended up winning by double digits.  Seniors Johnny Higgins and Michael Beasley sparked Notre Dame Prep’s second half run.

Notre Dame Prep Prospects:

Sean Williams (6-11 C 2007) - Syracuse
I am frankly a little surprised that Sean Williams is going to Syracuse.  He has the height to play center in the big east but he definitely does not have the skill set, he is more of a project.  He has extremely long arms that should make him a petty good shot blocker, but his lack of jumping ability negates that.  Williams is also somewhat slow and uncoordinated, he sometimes has trouble catching the ball.  The Syracuse coaching staff obviously saw potential in Williams but I did not see it in this game.

Michael Beasley (6-8 SF/PF 2007) – Kansas State
Michael Beasley is ranked by some as the number one prospect in the country for the 2007 class.  I don’t know if he played up to that level in this game but he still played very well.  Notre Dame Prep is so loaded with talent that Beasley sat on the bench for part of the second quarter and most of the third in order to get some of their other talented players into the game.  Beasley displayed his athleticism in the paint, either by skying for a rebound, blocking a shot or dunking off a lob pass from Johnny Higgins.  He finished well inside and got himself to the foul line.  He did not shoot the best from the charity stripe.  Beasley stayed mostly in the paint during this game but he does have the ability to play out on the wing.

Johnny Higgins (6-2 PG 2007)
Of all the big time players in this game I was probably most impressed with Johnny Higgins.  He did not play at all until the second half but once he got into the game, the Notre Dame offense ran a lot smoother.  He finished the game scoring 11 points and had at least a half dozen assists.  Johnny handles the ball extremely well and can break his man down off the dribble.  He had no trouble penetrating against future Old Dominion PG Etoile Imama.  He showed exceptional court vision, squeezing passes through seemingly invisible holes to get his teammates open lay-ups.  Johnny is also capable of finishing in traffic as he scored every time he took it to the hoop.  Even his three point shot was falling in this game although he definitely prefers to attack the basket.  Johnny made all his teammates better in this game and that is what you really need in a point guard.

Jamine “Greedy” Peterson (6-6 SF/PF 2007)
Jamine is a very strong and athletic player.  He played limited minutes due to the depth of this team.  When he was in the game he played in the post, often times using his muscular frame to bully his way to the basket or to grab a rebound.  He also threw down a monster two-handed slam off a fast break.

Deonte Roberts (6-2 SG 2007)
Roberts did a great job of rebounding in this game, and most of his points came off offensive rebounds.  He has a very quick spin move, which he effectively utilizes when driving to the hoop.

Champlain St. Lambert Prospects:

Etoile Imama (6-2 PG 2007) – Old Dominion
A very calm heady point guard, that does not make many mistakes.  He did a very good job at running the offense and did not turn the ball over.  He was not very aggressive at all in this game; he did not even attempt to drive by his man until the second half.  The few times that he did drive he showed a nice mid range jumper and the one time he got to the line he converted both free throws.  He is pretty quick and has some long arms so he has potential to be a pretty good defender, but he really struggled to defend Johnny Higgins once he came into the game.  He also  struggled with his outside shot, although he only took two or three, three point shot attempts.  Etoile Imama’s biggest strength is definitely his ball handling skills.  He demonstrated that he could dribble out of double teams and break a press all by himself.  He needs to get a little more aggressive on offense as he was not even a threat to score until the second half; he finished with only 6 points.

Valeriu Lazarescu (6-5 SG 2007) – William & Mary
Valeriu has a college ready body and is a very good leaper.  He has a very smooth jump shot but his feet have to be set.  He did not demonstrate the ability to shot off the dribble, but he does have three-point range and will knock it down with consistency.  He can drive to the basket, but drives mainly to the right side and simply tries to run by his man rather than fake him out.  Valeriu is also very good in transition and can dunk with ease.  Passing was not his forte in this game as he turned the ball over a number of times on bad passes.  He was benched for these mistakes on more than one occasion, but he still finished as his teams leading scorer with 19 points.  This is a player with a lot of potential, he needs some work to make him a more complete player but this looks like a nice sign for William & Mary.