The Nike Hoop Summit has been an important showcase for high school seniors and the best under-20 International competition ever since 1995 when a team featuring Kevin Garnett, Antawn Jamison, Stephon Marbury and Shareef Abdur-Rahim debuted.

In part because of a three-year hiatus, no members of the 2008 Gold Medal team in Beijing had Hoop Summit experience, but Joe Johnson played in 1999.

The International talent pool began to improve in 1998 when Dirk Nowitzki and Luis Scola starred and it has become increasingly more important in the Internet and cable age when it resumed in 2004.

Below is my basic scouting overview and notes of Saturday's game with Team USA winning 101-97.

USA Junior National Team

Kendall Marshall, North Carolina, PG: Pure point guard with great vision, but must reduce careless turnovers. Top of arc three. Great pass through defense to Leonard for dunk, finding him alone. Lazy pass picked off by Ran. End of quarter penetration heads into traffic and leads to another turnover. Good controlled speed with open floor dribble. Can make a crisp one-handed pass with off-hand. Another no excuse turnover.

The third-best point guard on this team, but will create more scoring opportunities for others than either Irving or Knight.

Kyrie Irving, Duke, PG: Good reverse layup off dribble in transition from right side to left side. Nice form on deep 3-point attempt miss from top of key. Keeps it on three-on-two fastbreak and draws foul on an out of control play, but should have dished to Barnes for easy dunk/layup. Nice drive down the lane for layup, subtle explosion and great control with dribble. Attacks offensive glass, gets rebound and put back in traffic. Good drive and finish in traffic, high degree of difficulty make. Irving dribbles through traffic and completes 'And 1' with 44.5 seconds left, good change of direction dribble before getting into paint.

Will Barton, Memphis, SG: Turnover on pass over defense in transition. Played very sparingly.

Harrison Barnes, North Carolina, SF: On first play of game after tip, quick release, smooth form on perimeter jumper. Good ball fake on right wing to free himself up, but defender recovers and misses badly.He has a lot of confidence and control when penetrating from perimeter. Nice jumper off dribble creating for himself. Makes a nice post entry bounce pass around defender. Active hands on his man leads to steal. Smooth off dribble after pump fake and splits two defender and uses glass from about six feet. Barnes does a good job of moving into space either backwards or to the side with the dribble. Loses dribble trying to get out into transition, but he can clearly trigger break himself with a skilled open floor dribble. Offensive rebound and then quick to rim for power two-hand slam. High rise, one-hand slam in early offense. Muscles up shot and draws foul from about eight feet. Hits another jumper, closely contested. Barnes hits three-pointer for USA to retake lead at 81-80. Gets into passing lane on next possession to get steal. Hits deep three on catch and shoot near top of key with 1:09 remaining.

Barnes finished the game with 27 points and is clearly the best NBA prospect of the incoming freshman class and is almost certain to be the top overall pick in 2010. There is nothing he can't do on the court and with the college connection, he reminds me of what made Marvin Williams such a compelling prospect in the 2005 Draft. He has a much better overall skill set and is simply a more polished player and will be the NBA's next great big wing.

Terrence Jones, Undecided, SF: Out of control runner missed on early offense. Good ball fake to bounce pass from elbow to Leonard. Good put back on offensive rebound, using glass. Another offensive rebound, this one coming on a long bounce on perimeter shot. Nice mid-range jumper from about 12 feet away out of elbow. Out of control miss near bucket. Misses deep three-pointer from top of key. Hits three from right wing. Impressive point forward display, grabbing defensive rebound and taking ball the length of the court for layup when no World defender makes effort to stop him. Shot selection a little troubling, scrappy offensive player who had a high usage rate in this game.

Reggie Bullock, SG, North Carolina: Great catch and shoot on wing, compact form, high release, great mechanics. He has the kind of perimeter jumper where you're shocked anytime he misses. Fouled on runner out of early offense. Fouled on another runner out of early offense. Bullock goes up for three and turns the ball over deciding to pass to corner. Good dish to Sullinger off offensive rebound. Fell out of rhythm with perimeter shot in the second half.

Patric Young, PF, Florida: Really good lift going up for defensive rebound. Nice clean up on a Barnes miss for a layup. Dribble out of mid-post to bucket and is more physical than defender to get layup. Great lift to attempt block, though called for foul. Unable to catch pass off drive. Impressively active shotblocker and the most athletic big on the floor.

Brandon Knight, PG, Undecided: Looks to attack seams of defense in halfcourt. Solid jumper, a little too far out in front of him on form, but an effective shot. Knight does a good job of splitting defenders quickly and strongly, finds Sullinger on weak side with excellent pass. A little out of control at times and was unable to make a consistent impact on the game.

Tobias Harris, PF, Tennessee: Harris didn't play due to a broken foot.

Jared Sullinger, PF, Ohio State: Patient going back up after offensive rebound, lays it up with left hand. He is average in his lateral quickness defensively. Impressive hang time to allow would-be shotblocker to fly past while inside for easy bucket. Great position for in-air put back on weak side offensive rebound. Puts ball on deck for runner across lane. Good clean catch on feed from Knight, initiates contact to get to line. Takes dribble baseline and misses too hard off backboard on the other side from about four feet. Crafty block on dribble drive. Clean catch and power dunk off pass from Bullock. Good put back slam on offensive rebound. Does a great job of initiating contact consistently and that gives him separation to finish. Really good finish with left on pass from Knight.  Impressive block on Canter. USA relied on him more in the fourth quarter for those high efficiency shots down low. Fortuitous tip in on offensive rebound.

Meyers Leonard, C, Illinois: Nice block on defensive end. Allows too much ground when bumped in the post when on defense. Good catch and quick power one-hand slam on pass from Marshall. He was a late addition after the Harris injury and saw very little floor time.

World Select Team

Jason Cadee, PG, Australian Institute of Sport: Very small and slim, but not effectiveness not limited by physical limitations. Hits deep three-pointer. Impressive runner in traffic.

Duje Dukan, SF, Wisconsin: Raised in the United States. High arching shot from perimeter. Quick catch and release from left corner three. Minutes and impact were limited.

Sui Ran, SG, Shandong Flaming Bulls:Picks off a pass from Marshall in passing lane and dishes it to Cadee for fastbreak layup. Hits corner three-pointer, high-arching shot after moving into space when dribbler comes in his direction. Hits a 3rd quarter three. Great speed on defensive rebound with dribble and leaves ball for Kanter to finish. Good dish to Thompson after penetrating line on pick and roll.

Mael Lebrun, SG, Entente Orleans: Smooth runner across lane from left wing, putting shot high on glass. Hits top of key three-pointer off dribble.

Cory Joseph, PG, Undecided: High arching mid-range jumper. Misses little left hand lay-up. Makes nice one-handed pass off pick and roll. Tendency to over-dribble a little bit. Hits runner from about 10 feet with off hand (right). Hits clutch teardrop runner to tie game under a minute.

Tristan Thompson, PF, Texas: Smooth runner after penetrating lane off dribble. Good block high on glass of Sullinger. Fairly quick to rim. Good dribble from left elbow and sneaks past man for layup. Unable to catch pass in traffic from Cadee.

Enes Kanter, PF, Kentucky: Hits little 15-foot jumper, good form on shot. Control pump fake down low to free up easy bucket. Patient when getting ball in paint in scoring opportunities. The most impressive first quarter performer, which foreshadowed his dominant second half. Good repost and also makes nice bounce pass to cutter into the lane. Dribbles down lane, a little out of control spin move but makes layup. Good form on shot. Does a good job of keeping ball high on offensive rebound. Another offensive rebound, takes ball to other side to clear space in traffic for layup. Grabs another offensive rebound and will fill a great deal of that rebounding void at Kentucky by the departure of DeMarcus Cousins. Scores again on the inside. Grabs yet another rebound and draws foul going up for another shot. Hits little baseline shot. Agile finish off pass from Ran on fastbreak. Great catch on tough pass, to two-hand slam. Another two offensive rebounds off missed free throw and his own miss.

Kanter had 34 points and 13 rebounds and was easily the best player on the floor for the World club. Given how easily he dominated up front against Team USA, Kanter should put up incredible freshman numbers for the Wildcats and become a certain lottery pick, if not a top-eight guy in 2011.

Nikola Mirotic, PF, Faymasa Palencia: Nice perimeter shot. Morotic does a great job of screening and sealing his man while rolling to bucket. Nice use of glass from about six feet out of post. Ball fake on baseline, takes a dribble and hits runner in a move made by a guard. Impressive 3-pointer from right wing. Sells shot fake really well on perimeter, dribbles into runner. Dribbles into lane easily and finds Cadee for wide open three-point attempt. Does a great job of setting up drive to bucket on ball fake, puts ball on floor well and finishes layup.

Robert Loe, C, JTB/Breakers: Tries to dribble from perimeter down the lane, but out of control. Loe struggled to get on the floor and do much damage due to the performance from his teammates on the frontline in Kanter, Mirotic and Musli.

Dejan Musli, C, FMP Zeleznik: Good form on shot, clearly skilled.  Excellent repost, sending ball back out to wing allowing him to get lower on left block, which leads to right-handed hook shot in the paint well over defender. Misses high arching shot out of post across the middle. Good block on shot from Young. Good strength down low. Misses badly when bodied in left block.