Hype Sports Winter Jam Recap

The Winter Jam presented by Hype Sports is one of the biggest middle school events in the Nation in January. Teams from Oklahoma, California and other stats came down to Dallas, Tx to compete. I like to do my recaps by skill classification and here were the top performers.

The Lead Guards

We start it off with the point guards that performed at a high level. 2020 AJ Hoggard of West Coast All Stars (WCA), Brandon Lawrence of Basketball Means More (BMM), Braelon Bush of Supreme Court, 2021 Chance Felix of Hardwork, Tezohn Taft of Bridges of Faith (BF) and Tyrone Washington of WCA all fit in this category. When you see Bush, you initially don’t think much of him because of his small stature but when the ball is in his hands, he becomes a problem for opposing teams. He is lightning quick and he finishes against big men in the paint at a high rate.  He is aggressive on defense and pressures ball handlers from full court. Lawrence had two strong games on Sunday. He has a tight handle and he knows how to find his teammates in transition. He knows when he needs to score the ball as well and his maturity on the court shows he can be a big time player in the future. Hoggard is a beast plain and simple. The strong guard got whatever shot he wanted and he loves to initiate contact on anyone trying to stop him from scoring inside. He is shifty with his handles and he has quick explosion when he goes up for shots. Out of all the 2020 guards I’ve seen, Hoggard may have been the best I have seen. Felix does a good job managing the Hardwork group and getting them set up in their offense. When I saw him in the TYBL in Houston, I thought he shot the ball too much and was getting too ball dominate at time but this weekend he showed his unselfishness and growth as a point guard. Felix helped his team make a big run against BF on Sunday and his transition vision, defense and intensity was the reason why. Taft finds a way to score, especially inside. Sometimes he over-dribbled and it caused turnovers but other times he used double moves and hesitation moves to get to the rack and score. Washington let the game come to him and he made basketball look easy. He was making good passes against teams that ran zone, he shot well with his mid-range pull-up from the top of the key and he spaced the floor because he is a capable catch and shoot three point shooter. Another 2021 guard that did good was Imo Essien of the Mighty Kings. Although on Sunday they struggled, he was one of the few bright spots for that team as he did a good job on defense.

The Scoring Guards

2020 RJ Hampton of Supreme Court, 2021 Harrison Ingram of the North Texas Tarheels and PJ Neal of Houston Hoops scored very well this weekend from inside and out. When a 7th grade guard that is built like Ingram comes down the court with the ball, it usually means bad news for the defense. Ingram has terrific range on his jumper and he got what he wanted inside when he drove. Against the Mighty Kings he made about five threes. Neal is a lefty guard that looked a lot more aggressive as a scorer than I have seen him before. Against WCA he found himself getting into the lane and finishing most of the time. He shot the ball well from the perimeter off the dribble but he was in attack mode. Neal, the past two times I have seen him did good but there usually is an energy drop during the game. This is the type of play I know he is capable of consistently putting up. For a guard, there isn’t much Hampton can’t do on the court. He scores efficiently from inside and out, has good vision when driving into the lane, and plays great on-ball defense. One thing about Hampton that I like is that he looks to be in shape and even though that may not sound like a big deal to some people, it allows him to play big minutes and be able to play at a high level for long periods of time.

Sharpshooters

The category speaks for itself. I look at the top shooters from the tournament and 2020 Makei Pope of BMM, Fielder Summy of Supreme Court, 2021 Chris Felix of Houston Hoops and Coleton Benson are in this category. Pope was in this category in the TYBL Circuit in Houston and he makes an appearance again. Pope shot the ball well on Sunday and he made clutch shot after clutch shot. He is lethal from the left-wing three point line and has a quick release. Summy is a zone killer. When teams played zone, he made them pay with his deep range on his shot. He plays a good role for that Supreme Court group and will definitely keep track of his progress. Felix for Houston Hoops is known for his shooting abilities. Give him space on a jumper and more than likely it will go in. What I saw this weekend was a good shot coming off the dribble with a hand in his face. He was able to generate his own offense and I saw him being more comfortable handling the ball. Benson plays with a lot of energy and runs the floor well in transition to spot up for three pointers. Benson was one of my favorite players from this weekend in the 2021 class.

Mr. Versatile

Or the Mr. Do it all player goes to the stat sheet stuffers. 2020 Terrance Williams of WCA, Greg Brown of Supreme Court, 2021 Latrell Moore and Brandon Perez of WCA and Devin Martin of Tarheels. Martin was a beast against every team he played against. From scoring on the block, to blocking shots and running the offense, Martin did it all. I love his footwork on the block and he didn’t force the issue but allowed the game to come to him. He is a special player in the 2021 class. Moore is a freak athlete as he rises above the rim and finishes. The crazy thing about it is he isn’t even 6ft tall. Moore is a good offensive rebounder due to his athleticism and he shoots it from way deep as well. His IQ isn’t all there for the game but he is young. Perez can handle the ball in transition and find teammates, shoot the ball off the dribble and rebound the ball at a high rate on the defensive side. Perez does a quietly good job on defense as well as he plays good help side defense and communicates well on that side of the ball. Williams was a big time player for WCA. He used his size well to get inside and score. And he finished above the rim a few times. He looked like a man amongst boys at times and Williams looks poise to having a breakout Summer. Be on the lookout for him. Brown blocks shots, rebounds, brings the ball up the court and exploits mismatches inside. The 6’6 wing has potential on being a nationally known player. He still needs to get more coordinated but he performed at a high level this weekend.

The Bigs

Last but not least we look at the bigs the controlled the paint. 2020 Jason Harris of WCA, Emmanuel Okpomo, and 2021 Amarie White of Tarheels and Duncan Powell of BMM fit this list. White made his debut with the Tarheels and he was a problem inside mainly on defense. He averaged four blocks a game and he did a solid job finishing inside with contact. Speaking of debuts, 6’9 post Okpomo played his first game this weekend. He went to block anything that was put up in the lane. He has a solid touch around the rim and he rebounds the ball very well offensively as he uses his length to get the ball over other players. Okpomo has potential to be special. Powell had the best game I have ever seen him play against WCA. He scored on the block consistently with the right handed hook. He demanded the ball when he had position and he scored well from the top of the key. In the preview I wanted Powell to be more aggressive and he answered with a 25 ppg average this weekend. One player you didn’t want to see going into the lane and that was Jason Harris. One play he took the ball coast to coast and dunked the ball in traffic. He has a solid mid range jumper and he is a great defender from the interior. Harris is a nationally ranked player and he has all the tools to be a high major player.