Recap of De La Salle vs. Whitney Young

As I went to throw out my paper towel from washing my hands in the York High School men’s bathroom outside of the gymnasium, I almost knocked over this older man. I looked up to say excuse me as the sight of an all purple jumpsuit caught my eye. “You’re all right,” this guy said. When I quickly looked at him as we both passed each other, I said to myself, “Hey, that was Bill Carmondy!”

That is how big the game between the De La Salle Meteors and Whitney Young Dolphins was; college coaches like Carmondy of Northwestern, Bruce Weber of Illinois, and the Loyola (IL) and Miami (OH) coach came as well to see the star studded match-up.  For the small gymnasium holding no more than 1,700 fans, the atmosphere was as electric as a semifinal game downstate.  The main attraction was Sr SF Sam Thompson (6-6, 180 lbs, signed with Ohio State) of Whitney Young and Sr. PF Mike Shaw (6-8, 220 lbs, signed with Illinois) of De La Salle. What people, like myself, left with was an appreciation of how bright the future is for Illinois high school basketball. Some performances stood out positively, while a couple other performances stood out for all of the wrong reasons.  So let’s get crackin’…

What I watched for- Whitney Young- The headliner was Sam Thompson. This future Buckeye had a lot to prove to me despite being dubbed one of the top Chicago-area talents this year. The three games I watched of Whitney Young this year, Sam Thompson had underwhelming performances after underwhelming performances. Even though the numbers he put up were good in those games, for someone with this talent and potential, I did not think he lived up to his hype. In those games, he did not score more than 13 and in a couple of those games, his impact was not felt on the offense end until the final minutes of the game when the contest was already decided.  So when he took the court Tuesday night, the bar was set extremely high for Thompson. Needless to say, he lived up to his hype. Thompson was the leading scorer for the Dolphins at the end of the night with 15 points; a majority of those in the first half. Where his presence was really felt was on the defensive side of the ball and on the boards. Thompson was hands down, the best defender on the court Tuesday night. I have thought the strongest part of his game all season was his defensive prowess, but seeing it up close and personal was very refreshing. Along with his hounding defense, the one thing that stood out was his athleticism. On a couple drives to hoops and rebounds, I swear his head was at the rim. The ability to jump over people is something that cannot be taught so I expect this to be one of his strengths in college.

The other player I had my eye on was So C Thomas Hamilton, Jr. (6-9, 230 lbs, on a good day, offers from Illinois and Michigan State). When walking to my seat, Whitney Young was walking to their bench. As I passed by, Thomas Hamilton, Jr. his wide frame grazed me as I walked on by. From the waist on up, he looks like a well-built athlete with wide shoulders that could handle the burden of playing down low. But from the waist on down to the floor, Hamilton, Jr. looked like a cartoon character with his wide legs. Looking at him, you can tell that this kid is not done growing and he can definitely put on more weight, not that he would have to. His game reminds me of Fr. C Josh Smith of UCLA. With that wide frame, he was able to dictate his way around the paint. De La Salle had no answer for him as he was backing down defender after defender. What stood out about Hamilton, Jr. was not his inside game, but his outside game. Despite lacking explosiveness, Hamilton, Jr. has the ability to consistently hit the 15-18 foot jump shot. If he can ever make this a valuable part of his arsenal, this likely seven foot center will be almost unguardable. I had high hopes for Hamilton, Jr., who next year should be the best player Whitney Young has on what will be one of the top teams in Chicago next year. But due to foul trouble and terrific play from a freshman, Hamilton, Jr. did not play as much as I have seen him play in the past. The tools are there to be a five star recruit in 2013, but for right now, there are some aspects of his game that he needs to work on extensively in order to be great.

The freshman that I just alluded to that took time away from Hamilton, Jr. was C Jalhil Okafor (6-8, 255 lbs, offers from Illinois, DePaul, Georgetown, Michigan State, and Wisconsin). That last name might sound familiar because his uncle is New Orleans Hornets starting center, Emeka Okafor. Okafor made quite an impression last summer that has many scouts saying he is almost a certain five star prospect in 2014. It is hard to believe that he is only 15 years old. There are some top prospects in this year’s recruiting class that are not as big as Okafor is right now. As I mentioned with Hamilton, Jr., you can tell that this kid is going to put on more weight and a couple more inches.  Okafor made his presence felt in the 3^rd quarter of the game scoring 12 quick points in about a 5 minute span going into the 4^th quarter. His points came off of rebounds and defensive breakdowns, but a couple of his moves had NBA-like similarities. Okafor, on one play, caught the pass on the elbow about 12 feet from the hoop, made a move to the basket and drove over three defenders, including Mike Shaw. There are not enough superlatives for this kid the way he played. Out of all of the players, Okafor had the most surprising performance of the night. Bruce Weber had a couple players with official offers on the court Tuesday night that probably disappointed him, but he had to be most impressed with his performance. In the end, the frontcourt depth of Whitney Young proved to be too much for De La Salle as they killed the glass and won the war of the paint getting a lot of put backs and short range shots.

What I watched for- De La Salle- The marquee senior for the Meteors was Mike Shaw. I was extremely impressed with his college-ready body. I think Shaw will most likely resemble Sr. PF Jarryd Cole from Iowa with a higher ceiling. Outside of Okafor, Shaw was the biggest player, as far as frame, on the court. A lot of criticism has been said about Shaw over the year, such as lack of hustle, disinterested, and doesn't play up to his potential, but I really couldn’t confirm that without seeing him in person. For the first 5 minutes of the game, Shaw was the most dominating player on the court. He scored the first four points for De La Salle, he had a couple rebounds, was a lock-down defender, and made some nifty passes. Then after a couple fouls, Shaw was out of the game physically and what looked like mentally as well. There was a point in the 2^nd quarter when he was subbed out of the game, which I thought to myself, “when was he even in the game?” I said it before and I’ll say it again, he is the Harry Houdini of De La Salle- first he’s there, then he’s gone.  Shaw has a good outside shot but not enough that you can count on. He deferred to the better senior throughout the night which is something you do not want to see from one of your best players. Although I liked his unselfishness and willingness to get others involved, he was very passive in the half-court sets and was taken out of the plays. Shaw ended up with 9 points but they came in spurts and ultimately was not as effective as he should have been for the Meteors.

The real disappointment with Shaw came after the game. I am OK with the way Shaw played, despite being very underwhelming and inactive at times, but the attitude of the player goes a longer way than the skill the player possesses.  Throughout the game, Shaw did not show much emotion and it was tough to tell if he wanted to will his team back for the win or not. He was like the basketball version of Jay Cutler, and it pisses me off how everyone jumps on Cutler how he doesn’t show emotion on the field and lets his play dictate the way he want to be perceived. It would be hypocritical of me to jump on Shaw for a lack of emotion then when that really is the most important thing. As a senior, any game could be his last in that uniform so you would like to see a little more urgency out of him. The thing that really ticked me off and what I believe will be the difference between Shaw being a successful and prominent college player and a disappointment is the way he carries himself. This ties into his effort on every play and his overall hustle. During the game, there were a couple rebounds that he could have got that other players, not as big as Shaw, got because they wanted it more. As the game ended on a last second three point attempt by Andre Henley, Shaw went for a rebound and ended up on his backside. Now what I will say next is based more on opinion than fact, but I believe my eyes more than anything else. Sam Thompson, a teammate of Shaw on the AAU circuit, ran up to Shaw as he was on the ground and extended his hand. I don’t think he was pointing at him or said anything derogatory, but that is always a possibility. Thompson, along with the rest of the Whitney Young squad went over to the De La Salle side to shake hands and talk with the De La Salle coaches.  Shaw started jabbering at someone, and it looked like it was in Thompson’s direction. Because nobody was engaging with Shaw, it was tough to tell who Shaw was yelling at. It seemed like Shaw was just having a conversation with a player on the Dolphins, but as time wore on, Shaw was definitely yelling at someone. Shaw was so agitated that a coach had to restrain Shaw and help him off the court. That’s the type of attitude you see from a three year old not getting the toy he wants at Toys-R-Us. Now I don’t know if Thompson said something he shouldn't have or another player on the Dolphin felt like he had to rub salt in the De La Salle wound in the loss, but Shaw seemed to show more emotion after the game than he did during. With Bruce Weber looking on, he could not have been pleased to see this as Shaw's attitude and consistent intensity mimicked this year's current Illini roster, which was the reason Illinois underachieved this year.

Enough of Shaw bashing and let’s talk about the bright spot of the game. By far the best player for De La Salle and most prolific scorer on the court that night was Sr. SF Andre “Dre” Henley (6-6, 210 lbs, go to previous blogs for more Dre info). Dre finished with a game high 25 points and was the only reason why the 59-56 loss to Whitney Young was as close as it was. Henley did everything- shoot, pass, drive, rebound, and defend. If you were to ask me who was the four star recruit going to Illinois and will probably start his freshman year, I would say without hesitation Andre Henley, NOT Mike Shaw. For the whole season I have heard that he is the best player on De La Salle, and Tuesday night was no exception. Henley has a skill that can’t be taught and something coaches covet and that is a natural scoring ability. Henley was one of, if not the most aggressive player going towards the hoop and all of the scoring went through Henley towards the end of the game. He was the go-to guy that night and the most threatening scorer of any team. I would say his future is definitely bright for Henley, but there is great uncertainty in his recruiting despite Henley getting better day by day. It will be very interesting to see where Dre will be a year from now.

Some other notes from De La Salle come from the two other stars on the team, So PG Jaylon Tate (6-0, 170, offers from Illinois and DePaul) and So SF Alex Foster (6-7, 205 lbs, offers from Purdue, Illinois, and DePaul). Tate was not as effective as I thought he would be for a point guard. Tate finished with 6 points but did not have a major impact on the game on the offensive end. Foster, if not for Shaw, might have had the most disappointing performance based on talent and output for the game. Foster finished with 6 points but did  show many signs of being great slasher. There are signs that he could be great for this 16 year old, but nothing that showed up in his last game of his sophomore season. What did stand out about Foster were his shoes. While everyone on De La Salle wore shoes that matched the Meteors' blue color, Foster wore black shoes with a gold Nike logo. This might not mean much to people, but while schools have been recruiting Foster this whole year, Purdue has been after him the hardest. Coming onto the court with shoes Purdue player wear might be a sign Foster's recruiting will be coming to an end.

The final score of the game was 59-56 in Whitney Young's favor. For most of the game, Whitney Young was in control. De La Salle was playing from behind a lot and Whitney Young had a response for most of what the Meteors threw at them. Whitney Young was the better team that night and we can see now that they are healthy (Sr. SF Luke Hager, 6-6, 200 lbs, committed to UNC-Wilmington, and was one of the more impressive performances for Whitney Young throughout the night), they will are playing better than they did at the beginning of the year. This was a great game that went to the buzzer and great players played well, except for Shaw. With both of these teams out of the playoffs (Whitney Young lost to Brooks their next game), the next time we see these players will be as freshmen for major programs.

NEXT POST- 3/19- RECAP OF SIMEON vs. FARRAGUT 3/15