| January 11, 2003.
Cameron Indoor Stadium.
This was the first time I'd seen either in person,
and I was impressed by both. Deng's Blair
Academy team was matched up against Raleigh Milbrook, one of the best teams in the state. Millbrook was an aggressive, disciplined squad
that battled back from an early deficit, forced Deng's excellent teammate Charlie
Villanueva into a number of mistakes, and even briefly held the lead in the second
quarter. However, they had no way to control
Deng, who was named player of the game after Blair cruised in the second half.
Deng and Villanueva are near polar opposites on the
court. Villanueva is brash, bold and a risk
taker. He's extremely aggressive all the
time, and usually looks to make the spectacular play.
Millbrook took advantage of this by blocking a couple of his dunks,
stripping him of the ball here and there, and generally getting in his way. On the other hand, Deng has a cool, quiet
presence on the court. He lets the game come
to him and almost never makes mistakes or takes bad shots.
Deng takes over when he needs to but tries to get everyone else involved. Even if he was just 5-8 or a mediocre athlete,
he'd still be a valuable player to have on the court because his court sense is astounding
for such a young player. He's an excellent
basketball player who happens to be a great athlete, not a great athlete playing
basketball.
In the first quarter, Deng waited a few minutes
before ever attempting his first shot. It
came as he won a scramble for a ball and sank a 17' jumper.
His next score came on a three point play as he drove to the basket. The Millbrook players simply couldn't stop him
because of his size and strength. His third
score was on a three point play after a rebound basket.
The only shot he missed in the quarter was a three.
It was more of the same in the second quarter. He had a two handed dunk on a runout, and then
stole a ball at midcourt and had a reverse slam going to the hoop. He also had a couple of assists in the quarter,
one to Villanueva and one to a player for a three. As
time was running down in the half, he sank a clutch 19' jumper to put his team up by 6
after they had trailed. Luol had a total of
16 points and 6 rebounds at the half.
The third quarter was when he really took over and
put Millbrook away for good. He drove right
at Millbrook's defense for a three point play, got a tip-in, finished a transition break
in traffic, hit a 17' pull-up jumper, and had a coast-to-coast drive after grabbing a
rebound. He didn't look for his shot much in
the fourth quarter, but did get yet another three point play on a drive. For the game, he finished with 30 points on 12-17
shooting (and 6-8 from the foul line), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, a block, a steal and a
turnover. He was the difference-maker for
Blair and was an absolute rock for them. The
scary thing is that if Blair had had steadier ballhandlers and passers, Luol could have
done much more. He more or less had to create
most of his opportunities. He's athletic and strong--not at a LeBron James or Amare
Stoudemire level, but definitely above average. About
the only thing that wasn't falling for him was his three point shot. As for how he will fit in at Duke--he was born to
wear a Duke uniform. With Chris Duhon and
Sean Dockery feeding him passes, he has an excellent chance to start right away. His defense is very good (though a few guys scored
over him in this game) because he rarely gambles or makes mistakes.
Unfortunately, Kris Humphries' Hopkins team did not
fare nearly as well in the second game, falling to legendary St Anthony's of Jersey City. It was a distinct pleasure to see Bob Hurley Sr do
his thing on the sideline. One interesting moment came when a player of his made a comment
to a ref after a play and was called for a technical foul.
Hurley immediately yanked him from the game, got in his face, and told the
ref (from halfway across the court!) that this would never happen again with that player.
The ref smiled, clearly unused to a coach apologizing for a player or much of anything.
Jersey City was incredibly disciplined and
athletic, and this allowed them to overcome a size disparity against Hopkins. Humphries is a big, strong forward who loves to
battle on the boards and take short jumpers. His shot was not going down tonight, however. He scored early on with a short baseline jumper
and later on a fast break, but only had 5 points and 2 rebounds at the break as Jersey
City built a big lead. Kris was more active
in the third quarter, hitting a three and scoring 7 points. He valiantly tried to keep his team in it but had
to take incredibly tough shots. In the end,
his team was defeated easily. He finished
with 17 points on 7-16 shooting and was 2-6 from teh foul line. He had 7 boards, 2 steals, 3 blocks and 3
turnovers.
Humphries reminds me a bit of Shane Battier, only
perhaps a bit taller and more rugged but not as good a shooter. Humphries will immediately play at "power
wing" for Duke, combining inside-outside skills but focusing on defense and
rebounding early in his career. He is an
adequate but not remarkable athlete but is in excellent shape and can really run the
floor. He's not tremendously versatile; he's
not a great passer or ballhandler, but instead loves to battle inside and occasionally
step up for a long jumper.
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