THE BIG TIME IS BACK; BATES, GREEN, KUMINGA, CHRISTOPHER, WILKINSON, THOR, SUGGS, CUNNINGHAM, BROWN, & HOLMGREN ALL TURN IN STELLAR PERFORMANCES IN SHOWCASE GAMES

We were wondering what Gary Charles and Grant Rice, who are now the directors of the Big Time Tournament, which tipped off last night at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, NV,  were going to do for an encore after last year's incredible overtime thriller between Team Takeover and the Compton Magic in the final showcase game on the first night of action at the Las Vegas Fab 48.  That tournament no longer exists and there were no college coaches this time around due to changes in the recruiting calendar and the fact that college coaches are now required to evaluate players only at the four regional camps that the NCAA has taken upon itself to run this time of year.  However, Charles and Rice have adopted the same "Big Time" name for their tournament that Sonny Vaccaro used back when adidas reigned supreme in the grassroots basketball world and last night they clearly outdid themselves with three of the best back-to-back-to-back games that we've seen in a long time.

We start things off with the much anticipated 15-Under match-up between Bates Fundamentals, which featured 6'9 Frosh Emoni Bates from Ypsilanti (H.S.) MI, and Team Breakdown, which featured 6'9 Frosh Mathew Bewley from Oakland Park (Northeast) FL, 6'9 Frosh Ryan Bewley from Oakland Park (Northeast) FL, and 6'5 Soph DeShawn Jean-Charles from Miramar (H.S.) FL.  That's the #1-ranked player nationally in the Class of 2023 versus the two highly touted twins that we'd heard so much about from South Florida, plus a multi-dimensional athletic perimeter player who has to be one of the better players nationally in the Class of 2022.  And early in the game Team Breakdown was more than up to the task, as they jumped out a 14-8 lead early, Mathew Bewley was dominating in the paint, Jean-Charles was a force to be reckoned with in transition and a match-up problem out on the perimeter, But then Team Breakdown broke down and Bates took over the game, as his team went on a 23-9 run and enjoyed a commanding 31-23 lead at the intermission.  And it got even worse, as Bates Fundamentals led by as many as 20 points in the second half and coasted from there to an impressive 69-55 victory.  However, even more important, for our purposes, it's pretty clear that Bates not only is the best high school player in his class, but he also has superstar written all over him.  We're talking about somebody with incredible length and athleticism, excellent ball handling and passing skills and tremendous quickness with the ball, and unbelievable body control and an uncanny knock for being able to finish at the rim.  He also know how to compete, has terrific hands, a great nose for the ball, and gets more than his share of rebounds.

And, just when you were starting to wonder if he has enough of an outside shooter's mentality, he knocked down three straight threes in the second half.  When the dust had cleared, Bates had 34 points and five threes and Van Coleman, who has been in the business dating back to the mid-70's and has a vote for the McDonald's All-American Game, put Bates draws some interesting comparisons at the same stage. "He reminds me of Ben Wilson back when he had long lanky athletic frame as a freshman and sophomore in high school and Grant Hill with his skill level and ability to totally take over a game,"  Matthew Bewley also impressed us with his strength, toughness, and athleticism, which is used to rebound, block shots, and overpower would-be defenders when he wanted to attack the rim.  He also showed that he can knock down the outside shot, but he did most of his damage early, as is evident by the fact that all but four of his 14 points came in the fist half.  The other Bewley is similar in terms of size and athleticism.  However he did not score a single-point in the game and also was not much of a factor on the boards and at the defensive end.  Jean-Charles, on the other hand, finished with 12 points and impressed us his toughness and ability to handle the ball, get out and go in transition, and finish at the rim.

The next game was another high octane fast-paced 94-foot track meet that featured Vegas Elite and Mudiay Elite and both teams featured some new additions for the event at hand.  And this was especially the case for Mudiay Elite, which featured 6'8 Jr Jonathan Kuminga from Centereach (Our Savior New American) NY and 6'9 J.T. Thor from Huntington (Prep) WV, who both of whom finished with 27 points apiece and led their team to a 89-80 victory that featured more dunks and fast breaks and less defense than most McDonald's All-American Games.  Kuminga has a tendency to be a feast or famine guy, but this time he played like a man possessed and he did most of his damage off transition with acrobatic moves and spectacular rim ratting finishes at the rim.  We also suspect that Kuminga's level of intensity was contagious, because Thor was a good as he was bad this past weekend when we saw him with Team Loaded-Virginia in the adidas Gold Gautlet Finale, Thor also was quickly effective both inside and outside, as he knocked down several 3-pointers in the first half and had more than his share of dunk, rebounds, and blocked shots during the course of the game.

The big addition for Vegas Elite was 6'6 Jalen Green from Napa (Prolific Prep) CA, who simply picked up where he left off at the NIKE EYBL Finals at Peach, as he led the way with 32 points and took turns, along with 6'4 Jr Josh Christopher from Lakewood (Mayfair) CA and 6'6 Mwani Wilkinson from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, bringing the house down with one spectacular dunk after another.  Christopher is best described as "a volume scoring" and this time around he had 19 points and knocked down three treys. Wilkerson finished with 18 points and he has the kind of world-class athleticism and upside and potential to now be attracting interest from schools like USC, LSU, Texas Tech, Vanderbilt, California, Kansas State, and Arkansas.  And, even though no Division I college coaches were in attendance last night, we're sure that his list will get longer before it gets shorter.  As for 6'0 Jr Zaon Collins from Las Vegas (Bishop Gorman) NV, he only scored six points.  However, he still was the unsung hero in the game, because he's the guy distributes the ball and makes everybody around him better.

The final game of the evening featured the Texas Titans with 6'5 Jr Cade Cunningham from Montverde (Academy) FL and 6'9 Greg Brown from Austin (Vandegrift) TX versus Grassroots Sizzle with 6'5 Jr Jalen Suggs from Minneapolis (Minnehaha Academy) MN and 7'0 Jr Chet Holmgren from Minneapolis (Minnehaha Academy) MN.  That's arguably the best player in the country right now regardless of class and a top 10-ranked senior nationally versus two guys who are good enough to be ranked among the top five or six players nationally in the respective classes.  Suggs also finished ranked #2 in scoring with 20.2 ppg, assists with 5.5 apg, and steals with 1.5 spg in the Under Armour Association earlier this spring and this time around finished with 36 points and was the primary reason why this game was just a one-point game at the half.  However, the Texas Titans went on a 23-4 run to start the second half and, like they say, the rest is history, as the Texas Titans coasted on to an 89-80 victory.  Cunningham had 29 points and Brown had 17 points for the winners and Holmgren chipped in with 10 points for the losers.  However, even more important, Holmgrem also felt his presence felt in a major way with his ability to run the court, block shots, rebound, and defend.  Paul Biancardi of ESPN.com could be heard making reference to the fact that there could be two future #1-picks (Cunningham and Holmgren) in the NBA Draft playing in this game.  And that doesn't even include Bates, Green, and Kuminga, all of who put up ridiculous numbers in the previous two games.  So, with all of this in mind when we left the building last night, we were wondering how it is ever going to get any better than this.