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| Balsa Koprovicia, Bryan Saunders, Vernon Carey & Marquise Walker |
They were
good last year, but this season, Team Florida has enough pieces and is
constructed well enough to win the NYBL National Championship trophy. Halfway
though the 2015 NYBL season, Team Florida stands 9-1 with a single loss to DC
premier (47-42) in the opening session in Washington DC. In session II, despite
being taken to the wire by a scrappy SWO Elite squad, Team Florida finished a
perfect 5-0.
Team Florida
is led by super prospect Balsa Koprovica
(6’9/C/2019/FL) who dominated the competition at the NYBL’s session II in
Richmond, VA. Over the course of the
weekend Koprovica displayed an excellent skill set and the ability to score
around the basket with a soft touch. Not
only can he ring up the scoreboard, Koprovica is a rim protector as well as a
high volume rebounder. If that wasn’t
enough, Koprovica is an excellent passer who will make teams pay for
double-teaming him. High major college ball is a no brainer, and a professional
career is highly likely for the Florida big man.
Sharing to
post duties with Koprovica is Vernon
Carey (6’7/PF/2019/Ft. Lauderdale, FL), who represents another high major D-I
prospect. This past weekend was the first
time we really had an opportunity to watch and appreciate Carey, who already
has great size for his position, is athletic and offensively skilled. He also runs
the floor well and finishes at a high rate. According Coach Adrain Sosa, Carey
is still very young and is not a grade exception. He was a NYBL All-Star last year
and Byran Saunders’ (6’1/WF/2019/Fellsmere,
FL) performance in session II has him on pace to get another all-star game nod.
Saunders mans the wing for Team Florida and uses his football-equipped frame
and elite handle to bully his way to the cup. Saunders is strong with the ball
and can put up good numbers if required to do so.
Already one of the elite programs in the class of 2019, Jeremy Alters went out and upgraded the roster
with Marquise Walker
(5’10/PG/2019/Bowling Green, KY), arguably one of the top 5 floor generals in
the class. His NYBL debut was as
expected, productive. Walker is a
problem in the backcourt and is near unstoppable from getting into the paint. His
game is equipped with a jump shot and the 3 ball, but he makes his money
beating defenders off the dribble and either driving for the score or the kick
out pass to a teammate. Walker’s game is
D-I caliber and should land him a high major gig in a few years. Until then, Walker
was impressive and will quickly establish himself as one of the top 2 guards in
the NYBL. Not only is team Florida loaded with D-I prospects, the team is well
coached, disciplined, and they play the game the way it’s supposed to be played.
If this team is not in the NYBL Championship Game in Columbus in June, we will
be very surprised!
Great article, and with no offense to Rob Taylor who does an excellent job running a good organisation but lets face it only Balsa and Carey are legit 2019. Walker has tremendous talent and has proven himself on the high school level where he belongs so he gets the gold seal. Saunders another talented kid but belongs in the 10 grade at minimum. I am excited to hear that Carey is a legitimate 2019 talent and look forward to seeing his development, but outside of balsa and Carey the other 2 belong U16 basketball. Those who say scouts only care about grade dont get it, college scouts are not watching middle school ball so it makes no sense to be almost 16 in the eight grade. U get better playing up and U get scouted playing up. If u got talent beating up on 13-14 year old middle schoolers aint gonna help u get noticed.
ReplyDeleteThanks again to Rob Taylor for the NYBL weekend #2. And a shout out to the Puma Organization. Both 6th and 7th grade teams have maybe the 2 most underated point guards out of all the teams we saw. Next year we will be looking to team up with them. The 7th grade boy can shoot the rock, and the 6th grader...that boys engine is full throttle and plays good defense. Good job boys and good luck to all the teams.
ReplyDeleteGreat players but they are older. Big difference in development, testosterone etc. At 15 relative to 13. Playing up at 15U would reveal more.
ReplyDeleteNo offense to anyone
Agreed. I would like to a process where the true 8th graders or true graders in general who excel are given credit first. Not as impressive when highschool age kids dominate younger kids.
ReplyDeleteThe story should be about team Rio National. Rio figured it out the 2019 team was in Pittsburgh at Hoop Group this pass weekend battling it out in the 16U platinum divisions against teams with multiple D1 prospects on a stag with D1 coaches watching. They realized that beating up on 8th graders and blowing teams out by forty does nothing to prepared those kids for the next level. That team answered the challenge winning 3 straight losing only in the quarter finals against Team Melo in a battle of a game. Team melo's 16U team has at least 7 D1 prospects. What's amazing about the Rio situation was the player on team Rio who stepped up and took over was a 14 year old 8th grader named Tariq Ingraham who sent 2 of Melo's bigs to the bench with foul trouble and caused massive problems attaching the rim. Rio finish 8th out of 64 teams. Now that's something interesting. They figured out to get better those kids needed to be challenged and even lose. They figured out that development is more important than winning all the time at the middle school level. Those kids probably learned and grew more this weekend than in all the middle games they have dominated the pass 3 years.
ReplyDeleteMr. Taylor why are you letting kids play on different teams with different organizations with different grades you already have teams playing kids to old to play with different age groups the integrity of the NYBL is at stake you need to clean it up.
ReplyDeleteHey rob, A name I haven't heard, and curious to know what he's doing is Damon Harge?
ReplyDeleteNot "letting" them. The player was slipped into the game, was confronted about it, and it did not happen again. We are doing our best!
ReplyDeleteHe was in Cali last I heard Phalon. Just worked out with my boy Khari a few months back. Kyree Walker's dad. Still looks VERY good. Has a couple nice offers as well
ReplyDeleteJalen Burbage (Lexington Hustle) is a legit 8th grader only 13 yrs old won't turn 14 until July. Great competition Rob Keep up the great work.
ReplyDelete