What I watched this Week: 12/23-1/5

With both the holidays and a much needed break after a near week of scouting in Florida, my film grind is back underway. Here is what I watched in the last two weeks, and what takeaways I have:

• Nebraska vs Oregon State

  • Brice Williams stood out as a 6’7 shooter that was playing fundamental defense in this game. There’s some turnover problems he has to smoothen out before getting to the next level, but at the same time, some of those turnovers won’t translate because his role will involve less ball-in-hands actions. His handle is rather simple, but again, for his role that won’t matter since most of his real dribbling actions will only come off the catch and be limited to one/two dribbles. A 3&D upside is possible for Williams, but he will have to translate quickly given his age.

  • Nate Kingz for Oregon State was a new name that popped up for me, and it was not because he changed his last name from Meithof to Kingz in the offseason. He was hitting tough jumpers, including this tough turnaround jumper.

  • Michael Rataj could be an interesting name to track as a 6’9 shooter. Despite a bad game, especially near the rim, his big picture is intriguing. He is currently averaging 16.7 PPG, 8.4 RPG, 2.3 APG, 2.2 SPG, 0.8 BPG, and 2.9 TOPG on 48/37/80.

• NC State/Virginia

  • Jacob Cofie’s upside seems fun as a 6’10 intelligent defender, low usage big that can step out on the perimeter. He is a 5 on offense, but multipositional on defense.

  • NC State’s Jayden Taylor played some lights out defense in one of the best defensive performances on a possession-to-possession basis that I have seen this year. Despite only one steal, he prevented tons of plays from happening like a cornerback in football that makes it impossible to throw the ball near him. Taylor ultimately finished with 14 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 turnovers on 4-8 shooting. I am not sure he makes it past the G League in the NBA system, but he profiles well as an overseas candidate. Taylor won’t turn 22 until June, making him one of the youngest seniors in the class.

  • Andrew Rohde is a fun junior who should end up as a 2026 Portsmouth candidate. He had a cool no dip 3, a crazy 3, a clean cross court pass, and a nice spin score.

• Maryland/Washington

  • This was and will be Derik Queen’s worst game of the season, going 1-7 for 4 points, 1 rebound, 0 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 2 turnovers, and 4 fouls in 18 minutes. However, I still wasn’t too scared off. He was easily shaken off of his rhythm by foul trouble, which is its own problem of course, but this wasn’t an exposure of a potential fatal flaw like many other similar games from prospects are. Sometimes players just have bad games and there isn’t a red flag that pops up either worse than before or in a way that wasn’t present before, but rather data points can be outliers without real value. I lean towards this being the case, as someone who is pretty neutral on Queen’s draft value.

    • The only major concerns I had were: he was not always in stance defensively, but he is a good rebounder. He had some bad misses like an airball left handed hook shot, but I didn’t think the process was bad, just sometimes the ball doesn’t feel right coming off your hands. Reducing the volume of these games will be key and telling of him.

  • Zoom Diallo could be a freshman point guard that, while not a 2025 prospect in my eyes, could be someone to rise in Big Ten play. Here are my notes from his game, which was his best advanced stat game of the year:

    • Felt like one of his best games. He was able to showcase point guard skills, improved defense from a prior game I had seen him in (yet still some fundamental mistakes on display), and an ability to get within the three point line well. He has a bad habit of reaching when he wins the first play defensively. Diallo also jumps on fakes too much, yet again emphasizing how much he goes for the home run play instead of the simple plays. Thus, he needs to be more comfortable defending with his feet and work to eliminate one of every coach’s least favorite habits. Had a few too many plays of poor spacing offensively, walking into the post up’s territory, or crowding a spot he was supposed to be in but the play dissolved and he was late to recognize it. Had a smooth P&R game, using separating side step jumpers, pump fakes, and simple pull-ups through a screen, along with smooth P&R pocket passing. Needs to get stronger to take hits defensively on drives. Even when he gets into bad shot territory, he is good at passing out of shots.

  • Great Osobor is an interesting prospect, and Osobor vs Queen was an oddly similar matchup. Osobor needs to speed up his shot and be more comfortable shooting jumpers, otherwise his game is too awkward to scale up to the NBA system. He likes operating out of the mid post, which won’t be done in as much volume in the pros, and most importantly he must improve his turnovers.

• Longwood/Presbyterian

  • This isn’t an NBA related note, but I had this game on more in the background. Then I started to pay more attention to the second half when Kory Mincy was doing well for Presbyterian en route to a mild upset over Longwood. Mincy is a high volume shooter that can run point, and while not the flashiest archetype at 6’2, I think he could be a transfer candidate to a mid major in the summer.

• Dayton/Cincinnati

  • Jizzle James has taken a jump as a sophomore, but there is still some areas left leaving me wanting more. James is a gifted scorer that could probably explode with one more year of college basketball, then go to the Draft. Despite a clear playmaking jump, he still misses elementary passes and needs to buy into making point guard level reads without sacrificing his scoring. He plays hard on defense which goes a long way too, but the playmaking and free throw drawing are the missing links at the moment. He has the abilities, but putting his whole package together is his next challenge.

  • Nate Santos, a 6’7 shooter, has a fun skillset at a good size, but I struggled to see his impact during the stretches when his shot wasn’t falling. Santos could be a Portsmouth candidate to see how he does with NBA tempo, but for now I remain skeptical despite him having an elite skill at compelling size. However, I did watch his game this weekend against George Washington, and his one-on-one scoring ability popped, which changes my perspective in hindsight of what I saw against Cincinnati.

• St John’s/Delaware

  • RJ Luis is the kind of sneaky athlete that will randomly explode to the rim in both halfcourt traffic and in transition. Intelligent defender. Makes simple reads at a high level and can navigate in and out of traffic with the ball in his hands. Handle, however, still needs to be sped up. Not buying the jumper much, but if it can be the lowest level of serviceable he should stick at the end of an NBA bench.

  • John Camden had an explosive game, going for 35 points thanks to some impressive jump shots. His jump at Delaware after being an end of bench piece at Virginia Tech and Memphis is a delight, showcasing a real shooting threat at ~6’8. If this breakthrough holds, he could be a Portsmouth candidate in 2026 (since his freshman year was a redshirt year).

• Utah/Baylor

  • The time to start being worried about VJ Edgecombe’s jumper has come for me, as someone who is generally patient with jump shots that aren’t falling. The release point is off and defenses don’t even bother to make a conscious effort to step up on his spot up 3s. Take this play for example, where the defender intentionally does not contest Edgecombe.

    • This is unfortunate because Edgecombe checks all the boxes elsewhere. Yes, there are some wild drives at times, but that should get fixed with age, especially for someone who understands the game as well as he does for his age. He showcases outstanding defensive potential despite some tweener size limitations, and even though he is a point guard’s size without being a point guard, he is capable of running the offense at times and fitting into the combo guard role. However, to maximize the combo guard spot, he has to be able to play off the ball as a shooter. Edgecombe will likely become more polarizing than he should, but is still an NBA player because of his strong peripherals away from shooting.

  • The Madsens (Gabe and Mason) are fantastic shooters that should be on your radars. Despite being undersized, they are ridiculous shooters that can hit shots off of movement, and they have a ridiculous shooting analytics profile. Who knows what their NBA upside is, but the shooting at a high major school should warrant at least a chance. **Stats below from before Saturday’s loss**

    

• Napoli/Reggio Emilia

  • Mouhamed Faye is a 19 (soon to be 20) year old big that has been on my “watch and see” radar for some time now. While raw, I think there are some interesting traits to work with to grow as an energy big at a slightly undersized 6’10. The positives are that he runs the floor hard and well, and that he plays smart defense and can draw out opposing possessions, thus limiting the opposing shot quality. However, he needs to set better screens,

    defensive positioning can be rough, and he needs to learn defense better, which often leads to foul trouble. Unlikely to be a name in 2025, Faye is someone to monitor for the next couple of years.

• Xavier/Georgetown

  • I like Dailyn Swain’s upside, but he is not a 2025 Draft candidate. There’s too many things he still has to iron out, and it will take more volume and confidence as an upperclassman to fix. A couple of the notables for me include closing out defensive possessions and being quicker to react/better to read the offense, and not resorting to turning his back on drives when he gets met by a second line of defense. No NBA player will let the defense dictate their offense, and Swain must learn to improve this habit.

  • Micah Peavy’s jumper needs work, but I think the issues for him are fixable because the base feels much more of the problem than the upper portion. Legs/feet are easier to fix on a jumper than the elbow/upper body mechanics, so Peavy having the confidence is half of the equation that many good shooters don’t get to. He is still a lights out defender though, he moves well without the ball, and he has grown as a ball-handler every year. Between improving turnovers and becoming a shooter, Peavy’s NBA chances come down to those two offensive traits, while his defense is his ticket to the league.

  • Thomas Sorber is an incredible rebounder, and probably a top two or three rebounder in the Big East. He follows his own shots well, and he is tough to win a tough rebound against. Currently my main concerns with Sorber are his three point shooting and some shot selection within 10 feet, often forcing shots over double teams and not seeing the open perimeter teammates.

  • Zach Freemantle should be a Portsmouth attendee this year, and he may be one of the top headliners if he does in fact make it there. Freemantle is a tweener for his play style at 6’9, often playing the 4 and 5, but he will have to fully adopt the 4 spot mentality to his game with NBA tempo. With an added 3 point shot this year, that possibility is looking more and more realistic.