Saturday, April 9th was the 14^th annual Nike Hoop Summit, a game featuring ten elite US high school seniors and ten elite under-19 players from the rest of the world. These events tend to blend together sometimes, but you may remember that last year, this was the event where Enes Kanter scored 34 points and announced his presence to the basketball world.

As I noted last week, all-star games work so much better when some real pride is on the line. East vs West is rarely compelling, but under the banner of the US vs the World, players seem to pay closer attention to playing defense. And that is exactly where the US dominated from the start. Using their length, quickness, and some full-court pressure, the US held the World team to 3 for 22 shooting in the first quarter. We tend to think of the top high school prospects as having great offensive skills, but the reality is that these are some of the best leapers and quickest players in the nation. When they want to play lock down defense, they can.

But they are not always the best shooters. And thanks to the World team playing some solid zone defense, the only way the US seemed to score early in the game was on transition dunks. Finally, in the second quarter Bradley Beal and Austin Rivers burned the zone with some three point shooting, and the US rout was on. The US team won 92-80. No one really cares about the outcome, but because the game was played under more “competitive” conditions, it seemed like a better opportunity to evaluate some of the players. Here are my impressions.

US Team

Anthony Davis (Kentucky) – I mentioned after the McDonald’s All-American game that Davis was my favorite for freshman of the year, and that he has the mobility and athleticism of a young Kevin Garnett. Davis had 16 points and 10 rebounds and shined again on Saturday. But I should add one qualifier. Davis is still very raw. With the wrong coach, I could see him stalling out. But after the way John Calipari stayed on Terrence Jones this season and demanded perfection, I expect Davis to get substantially better as the season progresses. One thing Davis may have to work on is how to better use his size in the post. He has to learn that he cannot block every shot, or reach on every ball that goes in the paint. He showed a little bit of inexperience picking up 5 fouls in 23 minutes.

Michael Gilchrist (Kentucky) – The other Kentucky post player might be better from the start of the season. Gilchrist is a little more polished, and I suspect he is a little bit stronger right now. He doesn’t make quite as many “flashy” plays, but he always seems to be in the right position. Gilchrist also had 5 blocks on Saturday.

Quin Cook (Duke) – The adjective they used to describe Cook was “smart”. He isn’t going to “wow” you with flashy plays, but he is also not going to make too many mistakes. In other words, he is probably closer to Nolan Smith than Kyrie Irving. Cook is probably not going to declare for the draft; all he will do is play four years, win a ton of games, and be a player-of-the-year candidate as a senior.

Austin Rivers (Duke) – On the other hand, Rivers makes smart plays and has that “wow” factor. In a game where teams were running real offense, you could just tell he was the best player on the floor. Rivers was the player who could knock down open jumpers, but he also showed an impressive ability to beat people off the dribble. The game used a 24 second clock, and when time was running down, he was the only player who looked confident scoring under pressure.

Bradley Beal (Florida) – The adjective I would use to describe Beal is mature. They mentioned his great GPA in high school, but he just seems in complete control on the floor. He can knock down shots and score in transition. I am starting to wonder how Billy Donovan will manage egos next year, because I think there is a decent chance Beal should be the guy with the ball in his hands in crunch time. I do not think he will defer to the other Florida players the way Chandler Parsons sometimes did.

Tony Wroten (Washington) – Though Wroten was not invited to the McDonald’s All-American game, we finally got a taste of the Huskies’ top recruit. Wroten looks like the kind of point-guard who will have a lot of fun in Washington’s fast-paced system. His biggest joy on the court was to make a crazy pass to set up one of his teammates, and he led team USA with 5 assists.

James McAdoo (North Carolina), Marquis Teague (Kentucky), Rakeem Christmas (Syracuse), and Adonis Thomas (Memphis) also played in the game, although none made a particularly large impact.

World Team

There were also a few noteworthy performances on the World squad. Kyle Wiltjer (Kentucky), and Kevin Pangos (Gonzaga) both had their moments knocking down jumpers, but neither was that impressive. The player that stuck out the most for the World squad was from the Congo. 

Bismack Biyombo plays in Spain and his professional team did not want him to come to the US for this game. But he had it written into his contract that he could play in the Nike Hoop Summit because he wanted to show off his stuff to the NBA scouts. And I think they walked away impressed.  To steal a Stephen Bardo catchphrase “That’s a grown man”.  Biyombo may not be polished, but I would be shocked if some NBA team doesn’t look at his strength and agility and want to see if he can develop.