High School/AAU

Jordan Brand Classic / International Game

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 01:45:34 EST

After conducting a very informative practice on Thursday, the players scrimmaged on Friday and then participated in the actual game on Sunday, giving us two additional opportunities to evaluate the 24 prospects in attendance. We also were able to take in a fairly interesting game featuring many of the top prospects in the 1993 international class.

Jordan Brand Classic, Day One

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:57:21 EST

We’re here in New York City for the third and final major high school all-star event of the spring—the Jordan Brand Classic. Most of the top talents in the 2009 class are represented here, many of whom we saw at the McDonald’s All-American game and the Nike Hoop Summit. Fortunately, there are also a couple of new names sprinkled in to keep things interesting for us.

Nike Hoop Summit, High School Prospects

Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:22:58 EST

A in-depth look at all of the 10 high school senior prospects that participated in the Nike Hoop Summit, and their outlook as NBA draft prospects

Nike Hoop Summit Game Recap

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 09:24:27 EST

History was made at the Rose Garden Saturday night, in front of a record crowd officially listed at over 11,000 people. Players from 8 countries around the world came together on Saturday to upset a very talented squad composed of 10 top high school players from the United States. The victory for the World Select Team was the first since 1998 at the Nike Hoop Summit.

ESPN RISE National High School Invitational

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 17:15:01 EST

Last weekend’s ESPN Rise National High School Invitational was the first event of its kind; an end of the season tournament featuring some of the top teams in the country, with the intention of crowning a national champion. With four of the eight teams in action ranked in the top ten nationally, there was plenty of outstanding prep basketball on display at the gorgeous Georgetown Prep Hanley Center. The championship game proved to be a dream matchup with the nation’s top two teams in Oak Hill Academy and Findlay Prep doing battle. The No. 2 Pilots took down Oak Hill by a score of 74-66 to be crowned #1 in just their third year of existence. DraftExpress was on hand all weekend long to take in the action and break down some of the top players in the country from the 2009, 2010 and 2011 classes.

Nike Hoop Summit, Day Two

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 13:29:07 EST

Day two of the Nike Hoop Summit gave us an opportunity to evaluate practices of both the International and American players participating in the event. Xavier Henry, John Wall, Kevin Seraphin and Tomislav Zubcic get an in-depth look.

Player Evaluations, McDonald’s All-American Game (East Team)

Sat, 04 Apr 2009 02:20:30 EST

A look at all of the 12 players on the East squad participating at the McDonald’s All-American game, with observations, photos and interviews garnered from the entire week of action. This article will rely heavily on the private scrimmage we were able to attend the day before the event, which was far more competitive than the actual game, and provided significant insight into the strengths and weaknesses of everyone in attendance. We were also able to sit with and pick the brains of many of the dozen or so NBA teams that showed up for the game on Wednesday, which gave us an additional perspective based on their always-fascinating first impressions.

Player Evaluations, McDonald’s All-American Game (West Team)

Fri, 03 Apr 2009 01:00:46 EST

A look at all of the 24 players participating at the McDonald’s All-American game, starting with the west squad, with observations garnered from the entire week of action. This article will rely heavily on the private scrimmage we were able to attend the day before the event, which was far more competitive than the actual game, and provided significant insight into the strengths and weaknesses of everyone in attendance. We were also able to sit with and pick the brains of many of the dozen or so NBA teams that showed up for the game on Wednesday, which gave us an additional perspective based on their always-fascinating first impressions.

McDonald’s All-American Practices, Day Two

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 13:56:49 EST

Day two of the McDonald’s All-American practices gave us a great opportunity to continue to evaluate the top prospects of the 2009 high school class. We also conducted an interview with Memphis commit Xavier Henry regarding the John Calipari situation. The day started off slow, as much of the first hour of practice was mostly a free-for all, with players practicing their half-court trick shots, and others participated in an impromptu dunk contest. The second hour was a little more competitive on the side featuring the West team, while the East again mostly looked to be in vacation mode. Interview with Xavier Henry

McDonald’s All-American Practices, Day One

Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:18:36 EST

Our first day of the McDonald’s All-American week practices mostly revolved around familiarizing ourselves with the players as they went through warm-ups, light drill-work and some basic inter-squad scrimmaging. The atmosphere was pretty lax and the players mostly looked like they were trying to have fun, with the exception of a few self-starters who definitely came here to work.