Grand Rapids Storm Recap

Grand Rapids Storm Classic

One of the biggest AAU tournaments of the early spring schedule takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan has hundreds of teams come from all over the mid-west from age groups from 4th grade to 11th. This years tournament once again featured a lot of great players from teams like the King James Shooting Stars, Michigan Mustangs, and the host Grand Rapids Storm just to name a few. In the 17 and under division King James Shooting Stars beat the Host Storm 57-33, the Michigan Mustangs blew out Grady Elite/Hurricanes in the under 16 division 49-33, and in the 15 and under division MBA Select beat the Grand Rapids Storm as well 65-52. That wasn’t MBA selects most remembered performance of the weekend though. That honor goes to their 17 and under team in the quarter finals against King James, where in the second half, down 5, 17-12, they held the ball for over 8 minutes, only to not even get a bucket, and lost 22-14. The 17 and under semis featured four great teams in King James, Mustangs, Storm and the Hurricanes. King James beat the Mustangs by 15, and the Storm won in double Overtime over the Hurricanes as CMU commit Jorddan Myrick hit two free throws with under 7 seconds to go to seal the 4 point victory for the Storm. In the finals the Storm had nothing left to take on the very talented King James team loaded with Division one talent. Here is a look at some of the players who played well at the Storm classic that I was able to see play from the under 17 division.


King James Shooting Stars:

James Prices- 6’10 Lakewood St. Edwards 2011- committed to Louisville- Long post, who has a nice touch and good feet. By far the best post prospect in attendance.

Jakarr Sampson- 6’8 St. Vincent/St. Mary 2011- A top 100 player in the class of 2011 is the real deal. A long athletic wing, who can post, shoot and handle.

Darius Carter- 6’7 Akron Firestone 2011-Showed a lot of athletic ability on getting to the rank and finishing hard. A D1 player IMO.

TJ Buchanan-6’3 Kalamazoo Central 2011l- Holds offers from CMU and Cleveland State right now, but I would bet those will not be his last. He is a great on the ball defender, who can shoot or get to the basket. Attacks the glass hard, and has no problem distributing to the other D1 players on this team. He is a winner.

Richard Johnson-5’9 St. Vincent/St. Mary 2011- Good D1 pg prospect. Showed a nice mid range and a good floater finishing at the basket.

Marcus Crider-6’7 Wayne High 2011-Just another 6’7 athletic wing with loads of D1 potential on King James… I wonder why they won the tournament.

Grand Rapids Storm:

Jorddan Myrick-5’11 West Ottawa 2011- Committed to CMU- Played very well this weekend, he is a good pg, who continues to work on his jump shot, while at the same time running the team and getting a lot of other talented players looks.

Jason Pretzer-6’10 Jenison 2011- Big body who moves very well for his size. He even stepped out and hit a 3, so he does have a nice touch. I believe he will be a D1 player, because he is not a skinny 6’10, he is at least 250.

Ryan Majerle-6’3 Rockford 2011- Committed to Toledo- Has gotten stronger and can still flat out stroke. Very versatile, and will only get better.

John Simons-6’6 Cadillac 2012- Plays down low more then his older brother Ben, but still has a nice shooting touch and can knock down 3s at will if he is open. My guess is he will get taller, and will be more of a 4 in college, did fine playing up from them this weekend.

Michigan Mustangs:

Dwuan Anderson-6’4 Suttons Bay 2011- continued to show his athletic ability and his improved handles. Did well running the pick n roll with Tray McDonald. Has improved his jump shot a little and will continue to work on it.

Devin Ivy-5’7 Ottawa Hills 2011- Quick pg, who runs the team very well, explosive to the basket and took advantage of having Patrick Lucas-Perry being hurt and not here this weekend for him to play more.

Tray McDonald-6’9 Battle Creek Central 2011- Long and skilled d1 post. Had some trouble with Prices in the semis, but showed a lot of potential.

Triple Threat:

Austin Barns-6’6 Waverly 2010-Prefered walk-on CMU- Hasn’t played basketball very long, but is long and has some potential. Played hard this weekend and twice got his own offensive rebound against more talented King James Shooting Stars. He has a decent shot, but does need to get stronger.

Jordan Johnson- 5’10 Dewitt 2011- Lefty who I have seen play well for a few years now, hit a bunch a 3s, as did his teammates, 14 for 21, as they beat the Mustangs Friday night. Not D1 IMO, but a very solid player.

All Michigan:

Rashaun Carroll-6’0 Waverly 2012- sophomore playing up did some good things, has long arms and likes to shoot and get to the basket. Should work on his handles to become more of a 1, because of his size.

Skyelar Moore-6’2 Waverly 2011- Long and lanky, who needs to get stronger, attacks the glass well.

Deion Stegall-5’10 Inkster 2011- Quick PG who likes to get to the rack, strong for his size, and finishes well at the rim.

ACB Bank Hoops:

Kody Chandler-6’1 Schoolcraft 2011- Great shooter, who continues to improve.

Jared Klein- 6’1 Otsego 2011- Very good pg who runs the team well, good shooter.

Basketball Workshop:

Darren Washington-6’9 AA Gabrielle Richard 2011- Big body, with good feet who post well, has good hands, and showed good patience catching and finishing. Needed to get more touches when he had his guy seeled off behind him.




Games of the weekend:

ACB Bank Hoops vs. Triple Threat Under-17-69-68 double OT- Triple Threat won on a free throw, double OT for sudden death. A great game, with some good players playing hard on both teams.

King James Shooting Stars vs. Grand Rapids Storm Under-17-64-60 OT- A finals preview on Saturday afternoon was much closer then their Sunday afternoon final, with the teams worn down a little. Ryan Majerle was hitting lights out and it was a great back and forth game all the way though.

Triple Threat vs. Mustangs Under-17-74-70- Triple Threat went 14-21 from the 3 point line during this Friday night upset. Triple Threat is a good program that has guys on their team that are use to winning, but they do not have the individual talent that the Mustangs have, even with them missing Hinton and Lucas-Perry, among others.

Mustangs vs. All Michigan Under-17- 67-65- In the quarter finals All Michigan played hard and their guards got to the basket and finished tough over the Mustangs length. Dwuan Anderson had a nice block that was called a foul, but the FT was missed by Tre Tigner, 6’7 post from Detroit Consortium who did have a nice tournament, the Mustangs spilt at the line and a buzzer beater inside of half court was missed by All Michigan.