By Brian Crownover

{mosImage}The weather outside was hot and so was the action indoors throughout Vegas.  Here’s a look at some of the top performers on Monday at the Reebok Summer Championships

Hoop Booth

Chris Cooper (2008, 6-8 215 PF)
Chris was among the hot prospects when came to mid major level players.  He had headed coaches from GMU and ODU in attendance as well as members of the coaching staffs at Northeastern, JMU, Mt. St. Mary’s and Marist, just to name a few.  Chris is a talented big man so it’s easy to see why there was so much interest in his game.  He possesses a good set of hands.  He also gets into his moves quickly in the low block.  He also has a soft touch around the basket, although he did have some difficulty in that area during this contest.  He is a solid ball handler, especially considering his size.  Chris moves very well and is an above average athlete.  He’s a very good rebounder who really goes after the ball.  In the low post, he loves to spin towards the middle of the basket.  On the defensive end, he blocked a shot.  He did have trouble moving quickly enough on the defensive end against smaller players from time to time.  Chris also took a deep jumper, although he failed to convert.  He has decent size, but like most big men could get stronger.  Chris didn’t necessarily have a great game, but he can do a lot of things out on the court.  That was clearly evident during this game.  

Hoop Magic

Marquel DeLancey (2008, 6-2 190 PG) Committed to Old Dominion
This future ODU Monarch put together a decent game. The lanky guard is a solid ball handler. When he has a gap, he doesn’t waste dribbles and gets to the hoop fairly quickly. He’ll also use spin moves and between the legs dribbling techniques if necessary. He can drive with either hand. Although he can get by defenders, he doesn’t look to do so often enough. Marquel is also a solid distributor. He doesn’t make difficult passes, but still can spot open teammates. He did have several turnovers when trying to break a full court press. In his defense though, he wasn’t getting much help from his teammates either. As mentioned above, Marquel can get into the lane. When he does so, he typically looks to draw contact whenever he gets to the defender. Sometimes he is able to draw a foul and other times going at the defender prevents him from scoring. If he just concentrationed on finishing first and then drawing the foul, he might have better results around the hoop. He does have a smooth stroke, but has not shown much in the way of knocking down jump shots. Marquel is a solid guard, but isn’t very flashy.

D-One Sports

Lateef McMullan (2008, 5-11 PG)
Lateef is a small, but aggressive guard. He loves to attack off the drible and can get into the lane with his quickness. He’s a slick ball handler with a good crossover move. His ball handling led to frequent trips to the free throw line. Lateef also likes to work a pull up jumper off of his crossover. He added in a nice steal and assist as well during the contest.

Danarius Robinson (2008, 6-10 PF/C)
Darius is a long-armed post player. He showed good touch on a short lay-in attempt. He didn’t get many touches on the interior though. Darius also blocked a shot and can rebound the basketball.

Shamar Bowden (2008, 6-3 SG)
Shamar is a long wing player. He can hit the three point jump shot. The long strider has a good handle and can get into the lane and score.

NOVA United

Curtis Keys (2008, 6-1 PG)
Curtis a talented lead guard. He opened the game with a mid range jumper and he really loves the pull up shot. He can get into the lane off the bounce as he doesn’t waste dribbles. The scoring point hit several jumpers, but also is really effective at getting his points by pushing the ball up the floor. He showed a beautiful banked floater on one occasion and a fantastic drive right with a left-handed finish as the defender slid by. Curtis also showed his hustle by diving after a loose ball. He can distribute the ball too, but he does look for his offense first. Curtis really stood out in the morning session.

Max Kenyi (2008, 6-4 SG/SF)
Max possesses a fantastic skill set. Unfortunately, his production doesn’t always match his phyiscal abilities. I was hoping to see him more aggressive with a less talented AAU team than his regular team. That wasn’t the case though as he played a very passive game. The athletic guard had an eye opening blocked shot, but was rather quiet on the offensive end. Max needs to look to score more often game in and game out. When everything is clicking for him, Max is a fantastic player. That just wasn’t the case during this game.

Thaddaeus Koruma (2008, SG/SF)
Thaddaeus is a strong guard. He didn’t have a huge game, but he did make several plays. He had a nice pass to a teammate early on. He then showed a nice pull up jumper. He did miss on a three point attempt so it’s not clear how far out his range extends.

Anthony Winbush (2008, 6-7 SF)
Anthony is a long, athletic wing player. He had a fantastic dunk in transition. The lefty had a nice drive and finish. He uses very look strides to get to the rim quickly.

Team Alberta

Mangisto Arop (2009, 6-4 SG)
Mangisto was the most impressive foreign player that we came across. He’s a guard with good size who is good off the bounce. The shifty guard can change directions quickly and possesses a good crossover move. Mangisto is also a big strider who gets to the hoop in a hurry. Equally as impressive as his ability to penetrate was his passing ability. He had several nice assists, including one pass at the last minute when looked like he was going to shoot. The athletic guard was quiet from the perimeter, although his shot didn’t look bad. Mangisto is a talented Canadian guard with good size and skills.

Donyell Marshall

Dane Miller (2009, 6-7 SF/PF)
Dane is a talented young big man. He had several high major division programs watching his game, including Syracuse head man Jim Boheim and Tennessee head coach Bruce Pearl (although Terrence Jennings was wearing the other color jersey). Dane possesses a fantastic handle for a man of his stature. He can certainly create off the dribble and that causes problems for the opposition. Partly due to that, he gets to the line quite quickly. He missed badly after a spin move in the paint. The half of his game we caught was sloppy, so Dane didn’t have a memorable game. His abilities still stood out though.