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ABCD Report Hodge turns heads at adidas camp, Curry still dominant
Posted: Monday July 10, 2000 05:52 PM
TEANECK, N.J. -- The guys I think were kind of the Saturday stars included Julius Hodge (6-5, The Bronx, N.Y.). He was particularly impressive against Kelvin Torbert last night, and Torbert is, any way you cut it, certainly one of the best 10 seniors in the country. Both of their teams were undefeated, and as good as Torbert is, Hodge ended up with 20 points and Torbert five, and Hodge's team won the ballgame. He certainly stood out. The others that I thought played particularly well were Daniel Ewing, (6-4, Houston), who was extremely impressive the whole day. There are rumors that Ewing and his high school teammate, who is even more touted, T.J. Ford, a 6-foot point guard, both could be announcing shortly for Kentucky. That's one of the things that was going around Saturday. Among the others who played well Saturday were Jamaal Williams (6-6, Corona, Calif.), and once again Jackie Manuel (6-6, West Palm Beach, Fla.), was very impressive. Also, Jonathan Hargett (6-0, Durham, N.C.), who may be the best point guard in the country -- certainly, one of the best two or three -- stepped it up a notch, played a whole lot better than he'd played on the first day. Maybe with the coaches watching, it made a difference.
The guy who is the most dominant player is Eddy Curry (6-11, Thornwood, Ill.), any way you cut it. Everybody triple-teams him, and that's what happened. Even the team that has Kwame Brown (6-11 Brunswick, Ga.), who is one of the best frontcourt players in the country, triple-teamed him, because Brown couldn't stop him by himself. Curry's just overpowering. He was hitting his little short jump-hook, and he kind of came to play Saturday night in the matchup against Kwame Brown. I would rank Curry the No. 1 senior at the adidas camp. I don't think that would be likely to change, frankly. Rick Rickert (6-11, Duluth, Minn.) played much better Saturday than we'd ever seen him play, actually. He was working inside and hitting those short little jump-hooks, using quick moves to score. He was virtually unstoppable Saturday afternoon. The seniors with big reputations -- and these are good players -- but have not played up to their capabilities here, the two I would particularly point out are Ernest Turner (6-2, Somerdale, N.J.) and John Allen (6-6, Coatesville, Pa.). Turner is a scorer who hasn't been looking to score. Allen is another one, kind of similar to Turner, he's a guy who's capable of putting big numbers up on the board but hasn't been. He's been trying more shots than Turner. Turner's problem has been he hasn't been shooting the ball -- and he certainly can do it. Allen hasn't been hitting the way he did when I watched him at several venues last summer, when he played on the same team as Eddie Griffin. Among the juniors, I have to mention one guy because he leads the camp at the midway point in both scoring and rebounding. His name is Lenny Cooke (6-6, New York City), who had an awesome day Saturday. He's played extremely well the whole time. He is certainly one of the best five rising juniors in country, and he really has shown how tough he is. He's the junior that particularly stands out.
Another player is Sani Ibrahim (6-10, Atlanta), who is very talented. He previously had been listed as a senior, but now he is listed as a junior. There are about seven top juniors, and then you drop a notch, with my top five, plus a couple of point guards: Sean Dockery (6-3, Chicago) and the one with probably the biggest pre-camp reputation, Anthony Roberson (6-0, Saginaw, Mich.). He hasn't had a great camp, but he's certainly a talent. He probably plays better in a more organized team setting, with guys he's used to playing with. The first two days, he didn't play nearly as well as he's capable of, but I've seen enough of him to know that he's the real deal.
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