Well, I figured this was as good a place to post this, so here are my thougths from catching some of the action at the KC Classic the past couple days, I tried to organize the player profiles by their respective teams.
Spiece MoKan
Nino Williams 6'5" 190 SF Class of '11(maybe '10?) KSU commit
I don't think it's a stretch to say he was the best player at the tourney. Best prospect? now that's debatable but there's no question Nino brings it with effort and intensity every time he steps on the floor. Really excels at finishing in transition, had a couple monster dunks on the break where it was best for all involved to just get out of his way. Also a very strong finisher amongst contact in a half-court set, just has a real knack for putting the ball in the bucket when he's in the paint. Jump shot from deep looks good, knocking it down with consistency, I'd say he's hit 35-40% from 3 so far this weekend. Doesn't not attack much off the dribble in the halfcourt, could probably stand to improve his handle which would allow him to be more aggressive off the bounce and use his strength and athleticism to attack the rim.
David Kravish 6'9" 200 PF Class of '11 - Lee's Summit, MO
In the Friday night update on the tourney, Bossi mentioned that we've been in contact with this kid. He looks to be a legit 6'9" and moves really well for a kid that size. Definitely needs to put on muscle mass to be a B12 type player, but fights hard on the glass and showed some good offensive awareness in the paint with nice passing and touch on his shots.
Clint McCullough 6'6" 180 Combo Forward Class of '12 - Stillwell, KS
Plays a class up with the MoKan 17's, has decent passing and handling skills for a kid that size, has a slightly unorthodox release on his jump shot(releases from his chest) but still knocks it down with a fair amount of consistency from the mid-range. In his last game of the day, had one really nice take off the dribble that started about 40 feet out that he finished off with a 14 ft jumper.Had some inconsistency finishing in the paint but I think that's to be expected to some extent playing up a class like he was. Still fights hard though when physically overamteched in the post.
Willie Cauley 6'10" 210(I'm guessing on the weight)
PF-C Class of '12 - Spearville, KS
Looks to be every bit of 6'10", extremely long arms, and moves very well for his size. Very active in the paint on the defensive end, is a nightmare to try to shoot over anywhere within 6-7 ft of the rim. Also really goes and gets rebounds. Offensively, doesn't have a bad feel for the game but really displayed no post moves at all. He will catch the ball in the post with a 6'5" kid guarding him and will still not make an offensive move, he will just pass the ball back out, just painfully obvious he has no confidence in his back to the basket game. Basically at this point, the only ways he are scoring are if he is setup with an open dunk or on putbacks. Still a tremendous prospect right now due to his combination of size, athleticism, and defensive presence.
The Life - Houston
Isiah Jones 6'2" 170 combo G - Originally from Chicago but has moved to Houston to attend Christian Life Academy
Blessed with the best nickname I've heard in a long time, "Hoopy" started out the tourney with a bang on Friday night. I was mostly paying attention to the MoKan-Athletes First game being played at the same time and I didn't catch more than 10 minutes of the 2nd half of The Life's game against Martin Bros, but in that time, I saw Jones drill 4 3's, 1 being the go ahead bucket with about 1 min left and nail 2 game clinching FT's in the closing seconds. My interest was piqued and I made a point to watch Jones this morning againdt Athletes First. Jones started right where he left off the night before and drilled 3 3's in the 1st half on his way to 16 pts by half. Then, early in the 2nd, he took an ill-advised 3 from deep when the game was starting to get away from his team and his coach sat him down for a long stretch. He came back in the game with about 7 mins to go but never regained his touch, going about 0-6 from distance the remainder of the game and not scoring another point. In his last game of pool play agasinst MoKan, he continued to struggle with his outside shot, but should be commended for attacking off the dribble and knocking down a couple nice floaters in the lane. I'd be really interested to know if he's always that streaky of a shooter or not, because he has a really smooth shot and when he gets it going it's a lot of fun to watch.
Chris Coleman 6'9" 260 C Class of '11 - Humble, TX
Just an absolute load on the block, needs to improve his consistency in finishing when he gets the ball in the paint. Did do a good job of knocking down FT's when fouled. Moves fairly well for his size, just really tough to manuever around him when he gets anchored in the paint. With improved touch and skill level in the paint, could be a real force in college hoops in a couple years.
Team Texas
Thomas Gipson 6'7" 240 Class of '11 PF - Cedar Hill, TX
I know Rivals lists him at 255, but he just didn't look THAT big to me. Don't get me wrong, definitely has the body for DI ball right now. The left-hander really favors going to his left in the post, in the game I watched him play today, he did have a couple strong finishes in the paint going to that left hand. Would like to see him develop a counter move to his left hand to keep the D off the balance. Also knocked down about 16 ft jumper in the game I saw. Granted, it was early and it was only that game but I would have liked to have seen him be more aggressive and throw his weight and strength around more than he did. Had a couple of physical boards but he did not dominate the glass like I think he could have.
Jamal Branch 6'3" 170 Class of '11 - Arlington, TX
The highest rated prospect in the Class of '11 at the KC Classic, the Texas A&M commit loves to attack off the dribble and then once he has his defender back on his heels, he'll step back and shoot the 3. He can pretty much create his own shot(or 1 for a teammate)anytime he wants due to his elite handle and athleticism. Only problem his, he was having trouble knocking down those shots throughout the majority of his team's game against Kingdom Hoops today. He did start to get things going late, knocking down some nice floaters and 2 3's in the final minute, but that wasn't enough as Team Texas lost to a scrappy but less-talented Kingdom Hoops.
