Basketball: This time, Provo's Davies looks like D-I prospect
After watching the 4A state tournament games on Thursday, I mentioned that I was not all that impressed with Brandon Davies, the 6-foot-8 junior from Provo High who already has scholarship offers from Utah and BYU.
Well, in the immortal words of Karl Malone, I've done a complete 360. Actually, I've done a 180.
I've changed my mind.
Just watched Provo beat Mountain Crest 56-44 in a 4A semifinal, and in a word, Davies was sensational. He was aggressive, dominant and intelligent with the ball. Seriously, he played like a high-major Division I prospect.
The numbers say so: 10-for-12 shooting for 26 points, with nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. It probably should be noted that Mountain Crest didn't have anybody close to his size.
That will be different next game.
Saturday night, he goes up against Bountiful's 6-10 Ben Aird, who has signed with Utah Valley State College. That's going to be a battle worth watching. Davies, Aird and another top-flight junior who will play for Bountiful tonight, Sean Carey, are familiar with each other because they played together on the Utah Pump N Run club team last summer.
After last night's game, Davies gave me a little update on how his recruitment is going.
Utah and BYU are the only schools that have offered so far. Utah State has expressed a lot of interest. He has heard recently from Kentucky and Washington State.
Does he have a favorite yet?
"I am wide open right now," he said. "I've got a long time yet before I have to decide."
He said he will consider both instate and out-of-state schools, and doesn't have a timetable for when he wants to decide. He also hasn't decided whether he will go on an LDS Church mission or not.
BYU assistant Terry Nashif and Utah assistant Chris Jones were among the college recruiters in the crowd, and both had to have gone away even more impressed with Davies.
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Couple of other observations from Friday's games:
* Two excellent sophomores played well and showed we will be hearing a lot more about them in coming years, Bingham's 6-7 Ben Clifford (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Provo's 6-5 Kyle Collinsworth ( 12 points, 4 assists).
* BYU football recruit Austin Holt isn't a standout basketball player (4 rebounds in 5 minutes, didn't attempt a shot), but he's a physical specimen out there on the hardwoods.
* Brighton's Jace Tavita, who has signed with Utah, had a subpar game (6 for 21 shooting) and missed two free throws with 2.4 seconds left in regulation that probably would have won the game for his team. At 6-3, Tavita can get to the hoop with the ball as well as any player in the state, but had a lot of trouble finishing -- except on one spectacular play where he pounded home a one-handed dunk in traffic.
With a little discipline and some tough coaching, Tavita is going to be a fine college player. With the talent Brighton had on the floor, it should not have lost to Bingham.
* Lone Peak's Tyler Haws showed again why scouts say he's the real deal, scoring 25 points on 9-for-17 shooting and making the game-winning basket in double overtime. Iowa State-bound senior Justin Hamilton also came up big with 13 rebounds and nine points. Utah-bound Josh Sharp was not as good offensively as he was on Wednesday, but made up for that by playing lock-down defense on Davis' Connor Van Brocklin, who was held to eight points.
Well, in the immortal words of Karl Malone, I've done a complete 360. Actually, I've done a 180.
I've changed my mind.
Just watched Provo beat Mountain Crest 56-44 in a 4A semifinal, and in a word, Davies was sensational. He was aggressive, dominant and intelligent with the ball. Seriously, he played like a high-major Division I prospect.
The numbers say so: 10-for-12 shooting for 26 points, with nine rebounds, two assists and two blocked shots. It probably should be noted that Mountain Crest didn't have anybody close to his size.
That will be different next game.
Saturday night, he goes up against Bountiful's 6-10 Ben Aird, who has signed with Utah Valley State College. That's going to be a battle worth watching. Davies, Aird and another top-flight junior who will play for Bountiful tonight, Sean Carey, are familiar with each other because they played together on the Utah Pump N Run club team last summer.
After last night's game, Davies gave me a little update on how his recruitment is going.
Utah and BYU are the only schools that have offered so far. Utah State has expressed a lot of interest. He has heard recently from Kentucky and Washington State.
Does he have a favorite yet?
"I am wide open right now," he said. "I've got a long time yet before I have to decide."
He said he will consider both instate and out-of-state schools, and doesn't have a timetable for when he wants to decide. He also hasn't decided whether he will go on an LDS Church mission or not.
BYU assistant Terry Nashif and Utah assistant Chris Jones were among the college recruiters in the crowd, and both had to have gone away even more impressed with Davies.
------------------------------------------------
Couple of other observations from Friday's games:
* Two excellent sophomores played well and showed we will be hearing a lot more about them in coming years, Bingham's 6-7 Ben Clifford (15 points, 10 rebounds) and Provo's 6-5 Kyle Collinsworth ( 12 points, 4 assists).
* BYU football recruit Austin Holt isn't a standout basketball player (4 rebounds in 5 minutes, didn't attempt a shot), but he's a physical specimen out there on the hardwoods.
* Brighton's Jace Tavita, who has signed with Utah, had a subpar game (6 for 21 shooting) and missed two free throws with 2.4 seconds left in regulation that probably would have won the game for his team. At 6-3, Tavita can get to the hoop with the ball as well as any player in the state, but had a lot of trouble finishing -- except on one spectacular play where he pounded home a one-handed dunk in traffic.
With a little discipline and some tough coaching, Tavita is going to be a fine college player. With the talent Brighton had on the floor, it should not have lost to Bingham.
* Lone Peak's Tyler Haws showed again why scouts say he's the real deal, scoring 25 points on 9-for-17 shooting and making the game-winning basket in double overtime. Iowa State-bound senior Justin Hamilton also came up big with 13 rebounds and nine points. Utah-bound Josh Sharp was not as good offensively as he was on Wednesday, but made up for that by playing lock-down defense on Davis' Connor Van Brocklin, who was held to eight points.
1 Comments:
Isn't it time for a Kemoeatu update?
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