just finished watching an extremely ragged game between westchester and newark memorial for the championship of california's top high school division. ragged, because newark was much smaller, less athletic, and content to "muck it up" (their coach's words) against a team with four d-1 players in their starting lineup.
my first look at jamar, and boy, do i think we got a good one in him. long, fluid, quick--and he doesn't look like a kid who has yet reached his full growth. decent handle, smooth stroke, good passer. wound up with 16 points--two threes if i'm not mistaken--and at least four rebounds. early in the game, the color announcer, in the course of saying that jamar was headed to montana ("he better get an overcoat") complimented him on his hustle and his willingness to get after it on the boards. "anybody can score," he said, "but jamar goes after those rebounds too." what especially impressed me was his cool, always playing within himself, setting up his teammates while letting the game come to him. on a team of stars, you never felt jamar was going out of his way to stand out.
and i do mean a team of stars. one of his teammates, jordin mayes, is a three-star point guard, headed for arizona.(how you can give mayes three stars and jamar two just points up the fallacy of that whole star system, and why so many kids that fly beneath the radar wind up as stars in college.) then there's 6'9" dwayne polee, originally headed to southern cal, but now on his own after the new u.s.c. coach pulled the scholarship. polee made one flying dunk tonight that was better than anything i've seen at the big dance. and finally, another big kid, not yet polished, but with the potential to be very good eventually. i do not know where he's headed.
just one caveat about jamar. a few years ago i saw the state championship game at a lower level involving santa cruz and austin swift. swift was much like jamar, a seemingly superior athlete who let the game come to him, often passing up shots to set up teammates. i thought he too was a great get for montana. turned out, swift lacked the toughness, the edge, to get better, to be be great. objectively, i believe jamar is a much better athlete with a more complete game--but i couldn't help making the comparison to swift as i watched the game tonight.
finally: if our recruiting dreams come true, and we have jamar, woods, cherry and autry on the same team next year, watch out for the griz. this will be one helluva team, with height, quicks and incredible defensive potential. montana basketball may be on the verge of something very special.
my first look at jamar, and boy, do i think we got a good one in him. long, fluid, quick--and he doesn't look like a kid who has yet reached his full growth. decent handle, smooth stroke, good passer. wound up with 16 points--two threes if i'm not mistaken--and at least four rebounds. early in the game, the color announcer, in the course of saying that jamar was headed to montana ("he better get an overcoat") complimented him on his hustle and his willingness to get after it on the boards. "anybody can score," he said, "but jamar goes after those rebounds too." what especially impressed me was his cool, always playing within himself, setting up his teammates while letting the game come to him. on a team of stars, you never felt jamar was going out of his way to stand out.
and i do mean a team of stars. one of his teammates, jordin mayes, is a three-star point guard, headed for arizona.(how you can give mayes three stars and jamar two just points up the fallacy of that whole star system, and why so many kids that fly beneath the radar wind up as stars in college.) then there's 6'9" dwayne polee, originally headed to southern cal, but now on his own after the new u.s.c. coach pulled the scholarship. polee made one flying dunk tonight that was better than anything i've seen at the big dance. and finally, another big kid, not yet polished, but with the potential to be very good eventually. i do not know where he's headed.
just one caveat about jamar. a few years ago i saw the state championship game at a lower level involving santa cruz and austin swift. swift was much like jamar, a seemingly superior athlete who let the game come to him, often passing up shots to set up teammates. i thought he too was a great get for montana. turned out, swift lacked the toughness, the edge, to get better, to be be great. objectively, i believe jamar is a much better athlete with a more complete game--but i couldn't help making the comparison to swift as i watched the game tonight.
finally: if our recruiting dreams come true, and we have jamar, woods, cherry and autry on the same team next year, watch out for the griz. this will be one helluva team, with height, quicks and incredible defensive potential. montana basketball may be on the verge of something very special.
