BOYSHOOPSCOUT EXCLUSIVE NACA REPORT -
BRISTOL TN - MARCH 4-7TH, 2008
|
This year's NACA Division I and Elite tournament was full of top talent. Below we will list some of the names that
stood out and some sleepers that colleges everywhere should be eyeing. I am always amazed that there are not more
D1's in attendance and every D2 in the country should be at this one. In all there must have been about 20-25 D1's
and less than a dozen D2's. Some random thoughts on the tournament. KC Ross-Miller (God's Academy) is for real,
he has the potential to be better than a Brandon Jennings by time he is a senior. If his recruiting opens back up
everyone should be running after him. Cashmere Wright, not strong enough or consistent enough, too worried about
his own shot. Clemson dodged a bullet, good luck with him Cincinnatti. If you are a low to mid major still looking for a
scoring guard in the senior class, take a hard look at 6'1" Darshtyn Baker from Covenant Christian in Marietta, GA.
This kid is left handed with a beautiful stroke and lightning quick first step. He led his team to an easy win over
Mississippi Elite to capture the Elite (Prep) Division of the tournament. In the Division I tourney it was North Cobb
Christian by 7 over Riverdale Baptist. N Cobb was led by Dustin Ware and Matt Shaw, while Riverdale was led by
Javron Farrell and Thomas Robinson. The surprise of the tournament may have been 6'8" Sasa Borovnjak being
named the offensive MVP eventhough his team, Veritas Christian only finished 6th. Borovnjak went 13-16 in Veritas's
second round loss to God's Academy and put on an offensive show most of the tourney.
Nashville Christian
32 Richard Anderson – Jr 6’7” Long , not thin but has frame to put on another 20 or more lbs of muscle. 3-4, nice
touch, runs floor well, looks for rebounding position. Weakness – Playing Hard All The Time.
30 Robert Elian Sr. – 6’4” 3/4 Good Athlete , Long Arms, Could Develop, Nice D2 pick up.
Meico Lyles – Soph 6’2” Athletic guard great stroke will develop.
Victory Christian (Charlotte)
Shane Williams – Jr - 6’5” 3/4 – Super Athletic, quick leaper, with nice touch out to 15. Plays much bigger. Saw him
against Nashville Christian (TN) and he really took it to their stud, 6’7” Richard Anderson. A good Low to Mid Major
Prospect Runs floor very well.
Riverdale Baptist (MD)
Javron Ferrell - Junior 6’5” 1,2 quick first step, great jump shot, athletic smart, long arms. Guarded Dustin Ware had
lateral quikness to stay with him. Can create own shot, gifted ball handler. 4.5 - 5. 0 rating. A definite mid to high
major.
Thomas Robinson Junior 6’7” 4/5 Runs floor well, strong , Rebounds very well, blocks shots, tremendous athletic
ability, soft touch around rim out to 15’. Low to mid major
North Cobb Christian (GA)-
Of course everyone knows about their signed kids. Dustin Ware going to Georgia and Matt Shaw going to Lipscomb,
however they have a couple of decent unsigned seniors as well as some very good juniors.
Unsigned Seniors –
Matt Mendell – 6’3” Shooting Guard – NCCS – Good D2 pick up, spot up shooter who understands game from good
program.
Justin Favors – 5’10” – PG strong body, fundamentally sound, decent JS. Great Defender. Great D2 pick up.
Juniors –
Milos Kleut – 6’8” NCCS – 4/5 Thin but strong, good athlete, smart defender. Strong post moves, long, runs floor well.
Low to Mid. Too Robotic Fundamentally good.
Stefan Frank – NCCS - 6’4” 2/3 Good spot up shooter, scrappy, defends well, understand game, good defender,
tough kid. Good 3 pt shooter. Is an excellent D2 level player but might very well gain some low to mid major interest if
he continues to develop.
Veritas Christian (NC)
Again everyone knows about their senior stud 7'2" Catalin Baciu going to Clemson but they have an array of
talented juniors and a great sophomore combo guard.
Seniors -
6'8" Junior 3-4 227 lb Sasa Borovnjak - While Veritas only finished 6th out of 16 teams in the tourney, Sasa was
named the tournament's most valuable offensive player. Remember this is an event that included; Cashmere Wright,
KC Ross Miller, Andre Cornelius, Javron Farrell and many other prolific scorers. He is a versatile player with a soft
shooting touch out to the 3 point line. He has an even better post-up game and can get to the basket with a quick first
step. Has a nice spin move in the post and hook shot. Around the basket he is an aggressive rebounder and is not
afraid to finish offensively with a dunk. He is a hard matchup to stop 1 on 1 because of this versatility. Defensively he
blocks shots and can guard either forward position. NC State, Clemson and Notre Dame are involved. NC State was at
two of his games on Wednesday at NACA.
6'7" Junor 2-3 Allen Ebert - A long deceiving kid with a nice 3 pt stroke but also has the ability to slash to the hole. A
tenacious rebounder as well. SC Upstate and VMI have shown the most early interest but Morehead State expressed
interest at the tournament as well.
6'9" 5 man Junior 250 lb Andrew Kyles - A big powerful body who rebounds strong and has a nice shooting touch out
to 15'. excellent in the high post offensively and has a great understanding of pick angles. A Warrior with great size
who can do nothing but improve. Western Carolina and American University are the early front runners for his
services. Had a real nice game against Nashville Christian in the consolation finals.
6'6" 2-3 Junior Colin Sekal - A tough 2-3 who can flat out stroke the ball. A hard nosed defender who rebounds well,
works hard and has good size. An excellent student in the 4.7 range with a 1300 SAT. Dad is Scott Sekal former
Michigan State player and assistant coach.
Sophomore -
Devin Pickering - 5'10" Combo - This young man really came into his own this season. By the middle of the year he
had put our senior starting point who had D1 interest on the bench. A quick first step, great quarterbacking skills and
an excellent 3 point shooter. He had big games on big people. On Oak Hill in Late Feb in the finals of the Champions
Classic in Johnson City Tenn he scored 21 pts and only had 2 turnovers playing the entire game with Brandon
Jennings in his face. This was a 4 pt game with 3:30 left. This effort earned him all tournament honors and caught the
eye of Van Coleman as well. Against the Mt Zion National Team he had 24 pts and 3 turnovers. In the NACA
consolation finals he went off against Nashville Christian single handedly bringing us back from 12 down in the first
half by going 5-7 from beyond the arc. He finished with 28 pts , 6 steals and 9 assists. Morehead State and SE
Missouri were in attendance and both coaches left very impressed. Reminds me of a Terrance Oglesby (Clemson)
with point guard skills.
Milestone Christian (MO)
6'10" Jr 4/5 - Illija Mihakunvich - This native of Serbia was a very interesting study to me. The kid has solid 3 point
range, is mobile and can put the ball on the floor. He is a powerful dunker as well. He is a little out of shape but his up
side is awesome. He has the potential to be a mid to high major. Amazingly his weakness may well be go to post
moves. He does a decent job rebounding as well.
Mississippi Elite -
7'0 340 lb Senior 5 man Melvyn Oliver - A huge guy who is fairly mobile and long. Is a project but all the big guys want
this kid. I expect him to sign with Kentucky
6'11" Jr - Andre Jackson - A long big man who runs the court well, needs a more polished skill set but is athletic
enough and long enough for a low to mid D1 to gamble on, plus he is only a junior!!!! with continued skill development
could go high major.
Covenant Christian (GA)
6'9" Junior Lazar Bogdanovic 3/4 - A long 3/4 with a nice shooting touch, needs weight but battles hard and is
adequate enough that a high D2 or low D1 will take a chance on him.
6'5" Senior 2-3 William Yengue - A tough 2/3 who slashes to the hole well, has a nice jump shot and is real athletic. A
great D2 to low D1 pickup.
Our Saviour New American (Centereach, NY)
They have lost many of their big Sudanese kids but they still have a couple worth taking a gander at.
7'5" Ring Ayvel - Senior - A long 7 plus footer who needs further ball skills but is long, farily athletic and has the
potential to develop into a difference maker especially on the defensive end. I look at how a kid like Kenny George
changes the face of the game at UNC/A and I see this kid having the potential to do that down the stretch at a low to
mid major.
Eric Deng 6'7" 3/4 Senior - Good body, good athlete, did not get to see him play enough to make a formal evaluation.
Other Schools in Attendance with Big Time Athletes - Mountain State Academy (WVA) ( Has a senior 7 footer
unsigned and a 6'8" athlete unsigned and an excellent 6'5" wing. ) Genesis One Elite (MS) (Several big time players
as usual, quite a few big seniors 6'8" - 6'11") IMG (Bradenton, FL) They had some good unsigned bigger seniors and
post grads. Upper Room Christian (Dix Hills, NY) had a big 10th grader, Matthew Milk with some real potential.
Christian Life Center (Humble TX) Had two 6'9" juniors who were impressive in Coleby and Sierra-Ortiz along with a
6'8" senior big man in Brian Stafford. Gods Academy Elite (Dallas) They had several very good unsigned seniors,
mainly 2-3's in the 6'4" - 6'7" range.