The NCAA evaluation period began this weekend around the country, and numerous Arizona teams this weekend traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada to take part in the Pangos Spring Spectacular. Organized by recruiting expert Dinos Trigonis, the event featured many top-rated club programs from around the West Coast. With more than 120 different club teams from around the West in action this weekend, and loads of division-I college coaches in attendance , the competition was fierce and exciting.
The Arizona Magic Elite 16U team is loaded with top-notch talent for the future, and this weekend they would put it all together in the first NCAA evaluation period of the club season - winning the Silver Division Championship of this year's Pangos event.
The tournament title came after the Magic 16's would fall in their second game of the event in a narrow loss. As a result, the team fell from the Gold Division to the Silver Division. The Magic 16's would then regroup and blow out each team they faced, including a 20+ point victory in the championship game over Hard 2 Guard (NV).
The team had a very balanced attack, as each player for the team contributed to the tournament victory. The team was primarily led by the play of Tri-City Christian High School's 6-foot-8 sophomore post Nigel Shadd - a serious post prospect for the future. The Magic received a very well-balanced attack on both ends of the floor from Copper Canyon HS 6-foot sophomore guard Treyvon McCray, Mesa Mountain View HS 6-foot-8 sophomore forward Curtis Hodges, Mountain Ridge HS 6-foot-5 sophomore wing Saikou Gueye, Apollo HS 6-foot- sophomore Jeff Perez Jr., Apollo HS 5-foot-11 sophomore guard Dre Marin, Apollo HS 6-foot-2 sophomore guard Elloheim Clark, Desert Vista 6-foot-4 freshman wing Jaden Rollins and Desert Vista HS 6-foot-9 freshman post Steele Bennett.
Coached by Kenny Mullins and Gino Crump, this group of talented performers have a lot of promise for the future, and feature some of the state's top prospects for the 2017 and 2018 classes. I look forward to watching them play this spring and summer, and also watching them develop over time.
Congratulations to this group on making Arizona proud this weekend. They played hard and they played together - a winning combination.
