HENSLEY MEMORIAL: Scouting and Recruiting Report

FT. WAYNE -- For a college coach and for a scout there’s always emphasis on finding the next group of talented prospects as soon as possible. The Hensley Memorial Run n’ Slam was an excellent opportunity to find some of the best young players in the country as many of them stepped forward showing their talents.

15 and Under

Wisconsin Playground Warriors 80, Michigan Hurricanes 68

The score does not indicate how hard-fought this game was because Hurricane guards Demetrius Ford and Delano Collins along with big man Derrick Nix put on a show for all those watching. Unfortunately for the Hurricanes Jamil Wilson and Johnnie Lacy got more help from their teammates.

Demetrius Ford 5-10 so. PG Hurricanes (right) – Ford led all scorers with 26 points and was all over the place raining in jump shots, attacking the paint and scraping on defense. It seemed as if he and Collins took guarding Nate Zastran and Lacy as a personal challenge and they were solid as they made both guards work. Ford has excellent quickness and ball skills and that city toughness that you come to expect from Detroit kids. He moves his feet on defense very well and with his quickness he’s able to keep most players in front of him. While he led the scoring attack it wasn’t a forced 26 because he still dumped off to Collins and Nix when needed. Ford was impressive in this outing as was the entire Hurricanes squad because they were playing against one of the best 16U teams in the country and hanging in there until the end when they seemed to run out of gas.

Derrick Nix 6-9 so. C/PF Hurricanes – As we pointed out last week when highlighting Matt Balkema the state of Michigan has been blessed with several excellent post prospects because besides DaShonte Riley and even James Still there isn’t a huge drop off and with Nix’s performance that point was driven home. Nix was a man inside and for awhile the Warriors didn’t have an answer for him. He displayed wonderful understanding of using his body and creating space for strong finish after strong finish inside. He showed good hands and the ability to score when single covered. The play of the game for Nix occurred when he attacked the offensive glass and crashed in with a one-handed tip-dunk with Wilson battling inside. Nix was also fouled on the play making it even more impressive. Nix is working on his conditioning and also his footwork inside but he’s a very nice post prospect. Tom Izzo and John Beilien, who will both be looking for good big men in 2009, should be smiling because for them they won’t have to travel far to find some promising prospects. Nix finished with 18 points.

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