Chicago Elite Classic takeaways

I was at the event for two days and this is what I saw:  DAY 1 1)Fenwick/Oak Park River Forest rivalry was off the chains the Battle of Oak Park. These student sections were wild and had chants back and forth at each other. Greatest example was OPRF fans chanting to Fenwick's fans "Please don't sue us" repeatedly. This is in reference to the controversial finish in the Class 7A football semifinal between Fenwick and Plainfield North which can be read here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/highschool/ct-fenwick-football-lawsuit-met-20161122-story.html Fenwick by the way won the basketball game in overtime with three Nixon brothers in the starting lineup. 2) Loyola(Willmette)/Notre Dame(Niles) Game was a knock down drag out slug fest won in overtimeby Notre Dame with Malik Jenkins making the winning layup in overtime. 3) Curie(Chicago) beat up on East St Louis with the Martin twins outplaying Illinois signee Jeremiah Tillmon. A big issue is the East St Louis guards do not know how to feed the post. Tillmon had 12 points and 6 rebounds before fouling out. His 4th foul was not a smart one, hanging on the rim.  DAY 2 1) My day started with watching the second half of Uplift vs Chaminade(St Louis). This game was about bigger skilled players beating smaller skilled players. Chaminade had 3 kids 6'5" and over hitting three pointers at a high rate while Uplift had no one over 6'3". The Jacobs brothers both showed well. 2) Sunrise Christian(Kansas) has Malek Hall Class of 2019 player on the team who played his freshman year at Metea Valley in Aurora and Michael Johnson Class of 2017. Both played well in a win for Sunrise Christian. Gray Collegiate Academy(South Carolina) had a top Class of 2019 player nationally Juwan Gray(6'6") who is strong and can score on all three levels. One to watch out for. 3) Yale commit Jameel Alausa of UHigh(Chicago) had a double/double and looks like he'll be All-Ivy League in his college career. He plays hard and has skills in the paint and enough ball handling to be able to slash to the basket. They surprised Hyde Park(Chicago) who has a good point guard in Class of 2018 Andrew Anderson. Also be on the look out for Alausa's younger brother Mohammed Alausa Class of 2019. 4) Joliet West is for real and a contender for the Class 4A crown. They were very impressive in a win over North Lawndale(Chicago). Drake signee Teyvion Kirk was the best player in the game. He missed only one shot in doing everything for Joliet West. Wisconsin-Green Bay signee Trevian Bell was equally impressive in complementing Kirk. I was just as impressed with Tabyous Casrerberry who was an absolute monster on the glass and running the floor. Carlos Hines of North Lawndale continues to prove he is a true sleeper. Why doesn't he have more scholarship offers this 4.0 student? 5) Evanston got hammered by Montverde Academy(Florida) as expected. Montverde recruits players from all over the world so considering that I thought Evanston accounted itself pretty well. Nojel Eastern had a solid game 17 points and 7 rebounds, the three headed sophomore guard line of Jaheim Holden, Lance Jones, and Ryan Bost did not look ready for prime time. This was a game they needed though as I would bet they will be ready for the next prime time game; which Evanston will have plenty of Showcase games this winter. 6) Simeon(Chicago) looked impressive beating USA Today's #5 team Gonzaga of Washington DC. UTEP signee Evan Gillard, Class of 2018 Talen Horton-Tucker(26 and 14), and Class of 2018 Kezo Brown all had big games for Simeon.  7) Whitney Young(Chicago) and Kenwood(Chicago) game was entertaining with Kenwood coming out on top. Kenwood Class of 2017 Octavius Parker and  Young Class of 2018 Justin Boyd had a can you top this moment in the first half. Both were raining three pointers all over the place back and forth at each other. Parker ended the first half with a 33 foot there pointer at the buzzer. Young's  Lucas Williamson joined the proceedings with a great game as did Kenwood's Manny Patterson. I heard a lot of talk about how they matched up the teams for this. Some folks suggested that Simeon and Whitney Young should have played Chaminade and Montverde Academy. I asked those folks who's hosting this event? Enough said.

RJ Barrett At Chicago Elite Classic.

The Chicago Elite Classic is in it's 5th year of existence. It has had a lot of great players play in the event, from Jabari Parker,Jahlil Okafor,Tyler Ulis,Stanley Johnson who are all current NBA players. The latest to play in it this past weekend is Class of 2019 wing RJ Barrett(6'7" #1 ESPN, #2 24/7 Sports) of Montverde Academy(FL). In my opinion barring injury he is a future NBA player. He was MVP in the game he played vs Evanston(IL) with 23 points. I spoke to him after the game and this is what he had to say: Q: Hi, RJ I'm Tim Coleman Sr of A Sea Of Blue(Kentucky Publication) how are you doing? RJ: I'm doing great. Q: What schools are on your short list? RJ: I'm only a sophomore in high school my Dad(Rowan Barrett) is handling all of my recruiting right now. Q: Ok, how do you think you played today? RJ: I think I played well except I could have gathered more rebounds. Q: Has Kentucky shown any interest in you? RJ: Yes I have talked to John Calipari so yes they have shown some interest in me. Q: What are your strengths and weaknesses as a basketball player? RJ: My strength is taking it to the rim but I'm working on everything right now. Q: Ok thanks for taking the time to do this interview( I shake his hand) RJ: No problem thank you. My assessment of RJ Barrett as a player is he showed he can score on all three levels, has great vision passing the ball and a great lefty stroke. This game it looked like he could score with ease and has a lot of growth and potential in his game. Kentucky will be in his recruitment until the end. I as a Kentucky fan will look forward to watching him the next three years of his high school career.