Khaleem Bennett, Kendrick Jolin Snatch MVP at Hamilton Showcase
HAMILTON, ON–To put the talent that we saw this weekend in perspective, you will be hearing a lot about the prospects that attended the NPH Showcase in Hamilton this weekend for years to come. Burridge Gymasium at McMaster University was graced with future CIS All-Canadians, NCAA prospects and even NBA potential.
That chatter about the 2016 class that you’ve got accustomed to hearing about is cooling off. Not to take away anything from that talented group of Canadians, but it’s time to shed light on the next group coming up.
The young pups really know how to get after it in a showcase environment and are becoming the next hot topic in Canadian basketball. 50+ prospects will crack the North Pole Hoops National Rankings, as of this past weekend in various classes. New discoveries were made and many showed that they’ve exercised the option of using the second half of their summer to focus on skill development.
Hamilton’s own, Khaleem Bennett was the underclassmen MVP at the Hamilton Showcase. His game has risen leaps and bounds; literally and figuratively, since watching him earlier this year during the high school season with Sir Allan MacNab. Bennett put together enough footage this weekend to compile a highlight tape, which you will be seeing in due time.
The transition he’s made from playing as a forward for his junior high school team to now producing as a shooting guard has been prolific. Of course, there’s still room for improvement…there always is.
Most of what we saw from Bennett was his slashing ability and above the rim finishes. Once he shows that he can connect from deep with consistency, it will be havoc on the courts for his defenders.
Upperclassmen MVP, was a Quebec representative, Kendrick Jolin, who we’ve been tracking all summer. He attends Salisbury School in Connecticut and suits up with Brookwood Elite during the summer.
After spending a week in the trenches with a bunch of professional basketball players and high level NCAA Canadian talents, he saw this as an opportunity to unleash on prey.
The term that I used when discussing Jolin’s outing with an NCAA coach was, “he was eating everyone’s food.” He made it undeniable that he was MVP of the camp because he produced on the offensive end and strapped up on defense.
Defensive Stopper + Sonic Speed
Most prospects that watched from the sidelines kept repeating the words, “Who is this guy? He’s so fast.”
During timeouts they plotted to find a way to stop Tyler Brown. There was no answer for him. He picked pockets and finished layups with no one near him. He’ll remind you of Waterloo’s Juwan Miller, both pesky defenders with leadership qualities, who have developed shooting later in their high school careers.
Tyler Brown is a 2015 PG that will enter his post-grad year at Cardinal Newman. Keep tabs on this gunner.
Christian David vs Abu Kigab
Christian David had come off an Underclassmen MVP performance in June at the Toronto Showcase, Abu Kigab had heard about this and was coming to see what all the hype was about. During their showcase games Kigab locked up and gave David a hard time.
They matched up again in the Top Prospect game and went at each other with no clear victor in this battle.
Next Showcase in Olds, Alberta
With the exception of a few prospects we’re practically walking in blind to this next showcase at Olds College. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that it’s time to dig out some gems.
That will wrap up the summer for Showcases, but stay tuned for future plans of NPH Showcases coming in the fall before the high school season’s start with British Columbia and Quebec on the radar.
