2013 Tarkanian Classic Recap by Jarrell – Part 1

We had a long great weekend at the #2 rated Indihoops tournament in the country:  The Tarkanian 2013 Classic.  Great job done by the tournament staff.

Here is a video preview of us on the way up:

Another highlight of the tournament was being on the CBS Sports College Network right behind the announcers, lol.

Lone Peak –  In my opinion the best shooting team in the tournament, finishing 5th place in the tournament. They lost in the quarter final game against Redondo which was arguably the best game of the tournament.  Lone Peak runs a lot of flex and motion on offense and the players are always moving in sync together.  Lone Peak has two standout players in TJ Haws, a senior future BYU player who is one of the better shooters in the country.  Frank Jackson is another sophomore BYU commit who is a great all around player who can create for himself as well as others, and can stroke it if he gets any space.

TJ can get to the rim once he makes a couple shots and starts using his pump fake to get past defenders.  He is a smooth player that is always even keel on the court. Frank Jackson is another sophomore BYU commit who is a great all around player who can create for himself as well as others, and can stroke it if he gets any space.

This is a compelling team that people should watch out for because they have all the pieces to compete with anyone because of the shooting, two D1 players and great role players.

Bishop Gorman – Going into the Tarkanian Classic, the host team had very high expectations and a Mater Dei final was anticipated, but not something we got to see.

This team on paper should be able to compete with anyone in the country with two of the better post players in Stephen Zimmerman and Chase Jeter holding down the front court, also a great point guard in Noah Robotham who can create shots for himself and everyone on the court making the game easier for everyone. Last but not leas

t the x-factor on this team is Nick Blair a wing player that is very athletic that is now starting to find his shooting touch and becoming a difficult player to defend. This team in every game in this tournament came out flat and allowed teams to get leads, then they would pick it up and come back to win the game. In a semi final game against Bishop O’dowd the team went down early and never really seemed to recover and lacked intensity in the game.  However, there is ridiculous talent on this team, and I expect them to be a force down the stretch once they come together.

Redondo Union – Coming off a State Championship last year, they have athletes and great discipline.  Redondo runs a great motion offense getting their shooters open shots and spacing for players to attack the rim.  Big man Terrell Carter who has got exponentially better since the summer, seems like he is putting a lot of work  on his game and finishing around the basket with some solid post moves.

Another intriguing piece on this team is Leland Green, an athletic guard that loves attacking the basket with nice touch on his mid range jump shot. The conductor of the team is unsigned senior point guard Ian Fox who is a pass first point guard looking to get his teammates involved first and making the game easier for everyone on the court he’s a good shooter who wants to take the crucial end of the game shots.

Redondo was involved in arguably one of the most entertaining games of the tournament against Lone Peak in the quarterfinals.  Redondo won 67-63.

Bishop O’ Dowd – Bishop O’Dowd came into the classic as a good team and left as a great team, coming into this tournament we knew this team was good but they played better than many most people thought. This team is very good defensively and the wing players were able to push up and pressure guys because of Ivan Rabb patrolling the pain, blocking and disrupting a lot of shots.  In my opinion this team also had the best back court at the tournament which helped them get to the finals.

The aforementioned big man Ivan, who during this tournament blocked and disrupted a lot of shots, plays with a lot of intensity during the games that helps him rebounds the ball with authority, on the other end of the court he is multi skilled player who has range out to 18 feet and scores in the post with an array of moves.

Ivan seems to be ambidextrous which makes him even more dangerous as he shoots with his right hand but enjoys finishing and dunking with his left. Rabb is a very versatile player that can do little of everything and made the case for being the best post player in the 2015 class, if not the best player in the class.

Paris Austin, Ivan Rabb, Juwan Anderson

This back court was very dangerous all weekend and almost won the tournament for this team, Paris Austin a 2015 combo guard who can run either guard spot and excel at it, Paris is a excellent at attacking the basket and either creating a opportunity for a teammate or finishing himself, he’s an adept shooter and a willing defender. His running mate is Juwan Anderson who is senior PG who control the tempo of the game and never seems to ever be rattled on the court, Juwan creates open shots for everyone on the team and get everyone going but he also can score the ball himself in various ways he’s also a very tenacious defender.

The team is impressive with phenomenal under the radar role players but key pieces in Jake Crudo, Jackson Kalmbach and Shane Farley who is the perfect 4 man complement to Ivan. Bishop O’Dowd was four minutes away from winning the entire tournament just couldn’t pull through in overtime and lost to a tough team, but this is a team to keep your eyes out for because they will be consistently great and give teams headaches.  Scratch that, they had a shot to win in regulation, however, a possible state playoff matchup moving forward.

Mater Dei – Deja vu all over again.  The powerhouse mainstay in Socal that has won three state titles in a row and are looking for a fourth this year. No one really tested this team until they played Bishop O’dowd in the finals, which Mater dei won in the end behind the play of Stanley Johnson who was the tournaments MVP for the second year in a row. This team’s depth issue showed in this game where they only played six players and it almost hurt them at the end of the game but the starting five will go at any team in the country.

Stanley Johnson is a man amongst boys right now in high school at 6’7 225 it is hard for teams to match up with him because he’s to quick for bigs and too strong for most guards. Mater Dei also has another standout at the guard position in Rex Pflueger who is a junior that is very athletic at 6’6 but also can knock down the jumper which makes him so difficult to guard.  He has been drawing some comparisons to another Rex, Rex Chapman.

 Last but not least the other key piece to the team is sophomore big man M.J. Cage who is a force in the lane whether it’s rebounding the ball or blocking shots.  In the Redondo game he influenced almost every shot in the 1st half.  He has very good hands and finishes around the rim to go along with a nice mid range jump shot. This is one of the most talented starting groups in the country but it will be intriguing to see if the team lack of depth will hurt them down the line.  Stanley needs to avoid foul trouble.