Mike White, Florida Staff Hits AAU Trail
The second, and final, spring evaluation period for Division I college basketball coaches is here. This is time college coaches will be able to go off campus and evaluate prospects until July.
The Nike EYBL and the Under Armour Association are both holding events in Indianapolis, Indiana while the adidas Gauntlet is in Atlanta. Also, in Atlanta is the second session of the On the Radar Hoops Sweet Sixteen, the HoopSeen Atlanta Jam and a JuCo showcase event.
Head Gator Mike White was in Indianapolis and began the evaluation period at the UAA watching Team Rio’s big three -- Scottie Lewis, Bryan Antoine and Aidan Igiehon. Assistant coach Jordan Mincy was also in Indianapolis, and a source told us that new assistant coach Armon Gates was in Greensboro, N.C. for the Phenom Grassroots Tip Off Classic.
GatorsTerritory.com is in Atlanta for the adidas Gauntlet and spotted assistant coach Darris Nichols in the building watching the following prospects:
Walker came into Friday night’s game averaging 14 points, five rebounds and two assists. Friday night Walker got into early foul trouble and sat most of the first half. In the second half he just wasn’t able to get into a shooting rhythm. While Walker was able to score at the rim Compton Magic made sure nothing came easy in this physical game.
In addition to Florida, Florida State head coach Leonard Hamilton plus an assistant and Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner watched Walker.
Note: By the time we published adidas had not posted a box score for 16U games on the adidas Gauntlet website.
Unfortunately for Payne, most of his teammates think that the only way to pass him the ball is to throw a lob. The two teammates who know how to feed him the ball had difficulty getting it to him Friday night. The end result was just three field goal attempts for Payne in 23 minutes of action. Payne made all three field goals and three-of-four free throws for nine points. He added five rebounds, four blocks and an assist.
In addition to Florida, Danny Manning of Wake Forest and one of his assistants were court side. This game drew at least 30 college coaches as Team Parsons and, its opponent, Hoop City have quite a few MM and MM+ prospects on the floor. Including Darin Green, Jr. of Wharton High School in Tampa. Green had 19 points on 8-of-14 field goals (3-of-6 beyond the arc), four assists and three rebounds.
When we saw Brown 12 months ago he was on a star-studded Game Elite team with elite point guard Ashton Hagans. This year Brown stayed local and is running with South Carolina based Upward Stars and is adjusting to his new teammates.
Brown, is at his best when he is in space in transition, but tonight he showed that his half-court skills have progressed since this time last year. The energetic small-forward was an efficient 4-of-6 from the floor, connecting on a jump shot and beating his man off the dribble to score at the rim.
Brown has all of the physical tools you would expect in a five-star prospect and we believe his ceiling is pretty high due to his intangibles – including how hard he goes. Brown’s mother, Melody, told us that her son is impressed by Florida’s campus and has been trying to get her down to Gainesville to see it for herself.
NOTE: North Carolina has not offered Brown yet, but two Tar Heel coaches were sitting baseline watching every move he made.
Florida’s coaches rarely stay in one location for an entire weekend so we would not be surprised if a couple of the coaches switched locations at some point on Saturday and again on Sunday.