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Myk Brown (Left), Larry Sanders (Right)

Undefeated P.K. Yonge (Gainesville, FL) and Myk Brown were too much for Port St. Lucie and Larry Sanders to handle as the City of Palms Tournament kicked off Saturday evening. The Blue Waves (8-0) defeated the Jaguars 89-56 behind Brown's game high 25 points. The talented Yonge guards force the tempo and took control of the game early and built up a 17-7 first quarter lead. Yonge never looked back.

Although the game itself wasn't all that entertaining with Yonge controlling throughout, a good battle of future VCU teammates, Brown and Sanders, took place. Despite the substantial side difference between the two players (Brown 6-4 and Sanders 6-9), they were matched up when Yonge had the ball on the offensive end. Both players had their moments against each other (see player breakdowns for more info).

Myk is a strong player player who understands the game well. He compliments an aggressive, physical style of play with a solid perimeter game. He's isn't a super athlete or incredible ball handler, but he understands the strengths of his game and plays to them. In this contest, he was able to do most of his damage in transition and from behind the arc. Myk has a very smooth jump shot and appears to be pretty consistent from that area. He could use a quicker release, but he's still very effective. He loves to play aggressive and won't back down from anyone. He is clearly a player who loves contact. Being matched up against Larry Sanders, Myk took the ball straight at his future teammate. He actually had very minimal success in doing so, but it was good to see him on the attack. Sanders is a rare combination of length and quickness that Myk won't encounter very often in the CAA. What was actually more impressive is that Myk was able to recognize that he wasn't going to be successful playing this way against Larry, so he went back to more of a perimeter game. By forcing Sanders farther away from the basket, he was able to open up the middle for his teammates as well as allowing himself to score from the perimeter. Myk's attacking style didn't work that well in this contest, but you have to believe that he typically has much more success using this method against smaller players. He displayed good body control to go along with his strength. Even though he doesn't stand out as a typical VCU type athlete, Myk did show he has some of that ability as well when he finished with an alley oop dunk. It's also good to see him playing in an uptempo system on the high school level, which should allow him to transition into the college game. Myk should be a solid contributor for VCU over the next few years.

Typically when you hear the word "upside" used to describe a big man you think he's very raw and undeveloped. Although that term has often been used to define Larry Sanders, he is already quite quite skilled and a solid player on the offensive end. I expected Larry to play mostly on the interior, but he actually plays more like a face up power forward than a center. With his size, I'd expect him to transition more towards the center position in the CAA, but he certainly has the potential to play either spot. Larry is a very long and athletic big man. That was obvious from the moment I saw him step on the court. The thing that caught me off guard was his skill level. He handles the ball very well for a player of his size and has the ability to shoot the ball from the perimeter. He is comfortable putting the ball on the floor and driving past the defender. He also understands that he isn't going to drive around the entire defense, so he'll often pull up for the mid range jumper. Larry has as smooth stroke and is very capable of hitting from this area. During the contest, he even stepped out from behind the arc and burried a three pointer.

As good as Larry is on the wing, I'd like to see him use his size to his advantage more often in the interior. He tends to get most of his interior points due simply to his size and athletic ability. He does have nice touch, excellent hands and good footwork. He just doesn't seem to have developed many low post moves and clearly isn't as comfortable in the paint as he is on the wing. This is the area where he really has a lot of untapped potential. To be a dominant post presence, Larry is also going to have to add bulk to his thin frame.

Larry is a good offensive player already, but he's also very strong on the defensive end. Because of his length and athleticism, he is very versitale on defense. He showed off that ability by holding his own while guarding future team Myk Brown. Larry has great timing and is a good shot blocker. Since Yonge didn't have a player of Larry's size, it was difficult to guage just how good his interior defense truely is. Adding strength would certainly help this area of his game as well. Larry was great on the boards too, but again had a distinct advantage in size.

I would like to see Larry play more in a transition style offense like he'll being doing under Coach Grant at VCU. I suspect he'd fit well with this style because of his ball handling, shooting skills and athletic ability. He just didn't play this type of game too much on Saturday.

Larry is already a pretty good player, but still has plenty of potential room for improvement. With the right work ethic, Larry can become a very special player at the CAA level. He had a good game on this evening, but I still felt he could've been even more dominant. I'm not sure Larry realizes yet just how good he can really be. He has a bright future ahead of him at VCU.