Report from the Glaxo Invitational Tournament

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball36

I attended the first two days of the tournament during which I watched the first eight games of the main tournament. There was some excellent basketball being played by some future stars. You can click on the link below to read more information about the tournament. I am neither a scout nor a recruiting analyst but here are some of my observations of some of the teams and players. Please feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section as I enjoy reading about other’s experiences and opinions.

News and Observer Link

Schools
1) Word of God – They are an excellent team with a great coach. They have a top notch PG in John Wall and a talented young center in CJ Leslie. They have speed, skill and experience. Their main weakness is consistent outside shooting, but strangely a a zone does not work against them. They use patience and good passing to work the ball in to the heart of the zone to get easy shots (as opposed to shooting threes). If you have the chance to see them play then do yourself a favor and go. Their gym is small but the atmosphere is exciting and the basketball superb.

2) Kinston – They have a great coach and play hard. They are another fun team to watch. They have at least two players that will play division one basketball (Bo Ingram and Reggie Bullock).

3) Knightdale – This is the smallest team I have ever seen play (and this includes my private high school team from the 80s). They start 4 players 6 feet or shorter but they play as hard as any team I have watched. It is almost impossible not to pull for them. Their sparkplug was Antonio Moffit who is generously listed at 5 feet ten inches tall. Against Ravenscroft (who plays three players 6’10” or taller) he would drive the lane and somehow get his shot off. He was an amazing player to watch.

4) Taft – This is the second year in a row they have been in the tournament. They had more talent last year but a better team this year. They have a good PG in Larry Drew and a great shooter in Bryce Smith.

5) Ravenscroft – I wanted to see them play as they have 3 juniors 6’10” or taller but I was dissapointed. Their problems are 1) only one of the big men have any skill 2) they do not have a PG and 3) no one could hit a three. If they could get a top PG to play for them next year they could be a very good team.

Players
1) John Wall – This is probably the fastest player I have seen in more than 20 years of watching high school basketball. He has a great handle and body control. This allows him to beat his man off the dribble and get his shot off in traffic. He also has good court vision allowing him to get the ball to the right player at the right time. He loves to play defense and is a shut down defender. He plays hard and rarely leaves the game. He drives left almost exclusively and needs to work on his jump shot but is a talent that I would love to see play for NCSU. No matter what school he goes to he will be the best guard on the team.

2) CJ Leslie – He is a big, talented sophomore who has verbally committed to NCSU. He has some good moves around the basket, excellent athletic ability and works very hard on both ends of the court. He has a lot of potential and will improve (especially given the excellent coaching he is receiving). I expect his rankings will improve as he gets older. He will be a very good small or power forward, depending on how big he grows.

3) Larry Drew – I was anxiously awaiting the match up between Drew and Wall. I fully expected Wall to abuse Drew but was surprised at how well Drew fared. Wall was able to drive the lane pretty easily but Drew was also able to get past Wall who is a good defender. Drew is a pass first guard with good speed and a decent shot. My guess is he will average about 8-10 points and 5-6 assists for his college career. He will be a good guard and I would be thrilled if he would go to State instead of UNC.

4) Ryan Kelly – He is a 6’10” junior who plays for Ravenscroft. He has excellent moves, hands and body control around the basket. He was virtually unstoppable on the block. I would love to see how he does against someone his own height. He needs to put on some weight but will be an excellent PF at the next level.

5) Reggie Bullock – This sophomore plays at Kinston. He is a 6’6” guard that has a very nice, smooth stroke. He looks very comfortable shooting the ball and will be a very good player. He was not “THE” player on his team so I did not get a great feel for how good he will be.

About Rick

1992 and 2002 graduate from NCSU. Born and raised an NCSU fan. I remember the good ol' days and they weren't in the last 20 years.

Basketball Recruiting General NCS Basketball

36 Responses to Report from the Glaxo Invitational Tournament

  1. packgrad93 01/03/2008 at 4:19 PM #

    ^ nice

  2. RAWFS 01/03/2008 at 4:41 PM #

    ^^ Dude, that’s just harsh. The guy has made some major contributions and been key in a couple of wins.

    No, he’s not in perfect shape, but he’s still one of our better ballplayers. By no means is he worthy of throwing under the bus like that.

  3. Trip 01/03/2008 at 8:03 PM #

    Noah, if Sid is going to over-recruit at the guard position, someone is going to not get any playing time. In 08 we’re going to have MJ/Fergy/Javi/Fells/Mays/Degand fighting for 2 positions. You know Fells is going to get his time in, so really we’ve got 5 guys fighting for 40 minutes of PG time and 10 minutes of SG time. If they’re not bothered by the lack of PT then by all means they should stay and progress, all of them have the potential to become great guards, especially under Lowe and Co.’s guidance.

    My thoughts with Javi, is that he is good enough that if he transferred to a smaller D1 school that he would easily get a starting position with a lot more play time. MJ/Fergy/Degand all have already transferred once, and I’m not sure on the rules, but I doubt they’d transfer again, Mays will be in his first year, and Fells SHOULD be a force of nature. Javi is the only one who could transfer easily. But hey, if Javi DOES stick around, his senior year I’m going to wager that he’ll be nasty good. Just he’s going to have to be patient and work as hard as he can to improve.

    IF we land Wall in 09, I doubt Sid is going to let him sit on the bench, and we’ll still have 6 guards fighting for 1 position and 10 minutes of the other. If we went to a 3 guard offense then that would fix the minutes, but so far we don’t have a sniper that would make that work well.

  4. redfred2 01/03/2008 at 9:20 PM #

    Boys, boys, boys, have we not learned anything??? College is four years, with four years of eligibility attached. If any coach/program gives a player scholarship, then it should respected and accepted.

    I cannot believe that any Wolfpack fans, who as a group are known as some of the most ridiculously haughty and self righteous fans on the planet, would even be discussing the possibility of a kid leaving because he didn’t measure up in his first few seasons.

    This, after all following of the talk about how we MUST allow a recruiting class to basically walk without any resistance, because that would be the only honorable thing for NC State to do?

    NC State fans are not only lunatics, they’re fickle as hell to booth.

  5. bTHEredterror 01/03/2008 at 9:45 PM #

    I kind of hope Javi sticks around, seems mercenary to hope a young man leaves who came to the team in their hour of need. Of course it was fortuitous for him as well, and those types of lucky breaks happen for a reason. Get back to me on Javi in March.

    Javi’s had some flashes, he is quick and looks to exploit gaps into the frontcourt thru pressure. He needs some polish on his passing, a better focus in man on the defensive end, and some seasoning/confidence. He’ll be an increasingly valuable asset each year and a leader in his fourth.

  6. Trip 01/03/2008 at 10:15 PM #

    I like Javi, don’t get me wrong, and I think this whole Wall thing is what’s taking me for a spin. He’ll have a spot next year just as he does this year currently, and he will get better. Just ignore what i’ve said for the last day or so about recruiting, it’s been a while since we’ve had a couple of 5 star recruits even mentioned, haha.

  7. Stoner 01/04/2008 at 6:05 AM #

    Anybody catch Mike O’Donnell against Villanova, in the OSC? He dropped 20+ on ‘Nova and played well in a couple of the other games. NCSU fans didn’t like him, because he didn’t measure up as a true freshman starter. He didn’t want to wait for his chance to play, so he transferred, but he seems to have gotten better.

    Javi’s doing alright for a true freshman PG, who missed fall practice due to a hand injury.

    He’s not spectacular, but he’s not a liability. He hussles on defense. No reason to think he can’t improve and no reason to want to run him off.

    Even if we get Wall, in 2009, Fells will be gone and Johnson / Mayes/ Degand can all play the 2G position. This leaves Javi as the main back-up for the PG position.

    With our history of injuries, you can never have too much depth.

  8. Stoner 01/04/2008 at 6:11 AM #

    the only thing costner would be a lottery pick of would be the stay puff marshmallow man look alike contest.

    Costner made third team All ACC as a R-Fr. last year and had some monster scoring performances in the ACC tournament.

    From reports he had a knee injury over the summer, which limited his conditioning and I heard one of the radio announcers mention he was wearing a knee brace at the Seton Hall game.

    I am assuming his slow footedness is somewhat due to his bad knee.

    Costner’s shown he can be an effective player and is trying to adjust to playing with Hickson and not being the primary scoring option, like he was last year. Plenty of players and teams take time to adjust to impact players coming aboard. The burden is on the coaching staff to make sure players know what their new roles are and what they need to do.

    The team, as a whole, struggled including all the returning starters earlier in the year.

    Pissing on Costner like that is really classless, especially for the college game.

  9. packbackr04 01/04/2008 at 10:33 AM #

    ill stop pissing on costner when he can keep his hands up for a whole defensive possesion. i am sorry though. the fact that he was 3rd teamm all ACC last yr is all the more reason why his lack of effort is so frustrating. because we know the talent is there.

  10. packgrad93 01/04/2008 at 11:57 AM #

    During our 5 game winning streak, Costner is averaging:
    12ppg, 6.6rpg, 3.2apg, & 1.6 blk/game. Give him a break.

  11. haze 01/04/2008 at 2:46 PM #

    Costner is improving, especially in his effort on the defensive end and in his rebounding. He’s working and that’s the key, IMO.

    That said, I think this team will need BC scoring more and more efficiently if they are going to do anything significant this year. At the peak of his powers, he’s the best player on the team.

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