AAU/Matt Roth

[tornado]

I found a nice piece that covered the AAU circuit, and they seemed to suggest that maybe Matt Roth has been nursing some injury, and that's why he hasn't been playing with the
"A" team of the Indiana Elite.

However, he IS at full strength this weekend at the Houston, TX Kingwood Classic AAU Event, and Roth posted one of the notable performances of the day.

Matt Roth helped his team today to a 70-63 win over Howard Pulley (MN) by nailing SIX long three pointers, and he finished with 20 points. The impressed coaches in the stands who saw the performance included Bruce Weber, Greg McDermott, Dana Altman, Billy Donovan, Ben Howland,Todd Lickliter, Tubby Smith, Ben Jacobson, Chris Lowery, and Keno Davis. I suspect Jim Les was there, but the writer didn't note that.

[houstonbrave]

I was at two of Roth's games today. In the first one he got extremely hot-he indeed has 6 threes with some of them coming incredibly far out on the floor. He had a lot of folks talking in the stands. This was the first time I had the opportunity to see Roth since I live in Houston and was really impressed with his range. I am still worried whether he has the size, strength, quickness to get open in the MVC but I probably would have said that about Zobrist and Adams and they ended up doing pretty well.

In the second game he only had two threes but Indiana Elite won pretty handily so he did not play a huge amount since I suspect they wanted to save hime and others for the evening games.

Jim actually was not there. Kyle and Eric were there(at least I never saw Jim and I saw Kyle and Eric pretty much constantly throughout the day). I would bet Jim was either in Peoria with Theron Wilson or he was in Pitt at another big AAU Tournament.

Indiana Select had a pretty impressive group-Lewis Jackson, Beas Hagma, Tyler Zeller, Matt Roth etc.. They seemed better organized and played together better as a team than anyone else I saw.

[tornado]

Houston--
Thanks a bunch for the first hand report.


And by the way, you are right on Jim Les, as he is apparently in Pittsburgh for the Pitt Jam Fest.
He is there watching the Illinois Wolves, including Nick Freundt, who was noted to have "shot the lights out".

The coaches are also watching 6-11 Brett Thompson.

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=6882

[tornado]

I found yet another AAU report that mentions the Indiana Elite and Matt Roth:

"Indiana Elite (IN) - The elite can match up with Atlanta inside
with their bigs, 7-footers Tyler Zeller and Beas Hamga, and
jumping jack Emmanuel Negedu. They have been steady all weekend,
but the real key to their success may be the
shooting of 6-foot-3 Matt Roth and the ball handling of 5-
foot-9 Lewis Jackson. They have tools to win it all....."

[tornado]

Note thread on Indiana Elite & Lewis Jackson
The Indiana Elite dominated the Platinum Division of 17U

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?p=51335#51335

They ended up going 8-0 in cruising through their pool and bracket and beating the team that won the last AAU tourney in Fayetteville Arkansas, the Real Deal on the Hill.

Here are the teams the Indiana Elite beat (and scores if I could find them)

Howard Pulley-Black (MN) 70-63
Athletes First (OK) 62-52
Arizona Magic
Florida Rams
Atlanta Celtics-Black
Georgia Elite
Alabama Challenge (AL) 79-55 (Beas Hamga had 6 blocks in this game, Zeller was 13-14 from the floor in this and the last game combined)
Pump-N-Run Elite (CA) 78-58



In the 2nd highest 17U division, the Gold Division, the Chicago based, Mac Irvin Fire won the championship
Their top player was Jeremiah Kelley from Chicago Boys to Men, and Kelly was rated by several who were watching as one of the top if not the top PG in the Class of 2008.

[tornado]

In another premium report on the Indiana Elite Championship,
Tyler Zeller and DeAndre Liggins were the top players, but other contributed.
PM me if you want more on this premium report (unless I already have your e mail address).


Other AAU news...

at the Pttsburgh Jam Fest, Iman Shumpert was the superstud, so it is pretty likely he'll be getting offeres from all over.


Also at the Jam Fest, the Illinois Wolves did well, finishing in the Final Four. The Wolves' Nick Freundt had a fine tournament.

[tornado]

One other premium report....from the Kingwood Classic...

there was a little known 6-9 kid from Alaska, Damen Bell-Holter, who finished well behind Will Egolf in the Alaska Mr. Basketball tally, but who is a similar player.
To show what a steal BU might have gotten in Egolf, Bell-Holter had the scouts from numerous HIGH majors drooling, especially Washington State, Gonzaga, Arizona, and Georgetown were all over this kid.

Back at the end of January, Will Egolf's team squashed Bell-Holter's team...63-46, with Will scoring "at will" over Bell-Holter and ending with 33 points.

Here is a picture of both


Juneau-Douglas High School's
Will Egolf shoots over
Ketchikan's Damen Bell-Holter
during Friday's game.
Egolf scored a game-high 33
points in the 63-46 win.

Here is the text of the entire story, since it requires registration.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
January 21, 2007

Crimson Bears sweep Kings in pivotal series
JDHS improves to 4-0 in Southeast Conference with wins over Ketchikan.

The Juneau-Douglas High School boys basketball team seized control of the Southeast Conference this weekend with two wins over visiting Ketchikan.

The Crimson Bears improved to 4-0 in conference play with a 61-51 win Saturday and a 63-46 victory Friday.

"It's a good thing because now we're in the driver's seat for the conference," JDHS forward Clae Baker said. "We have the key."

Baker led all scorers Saturday with 17 points. He also added five rebounds in the win.

The Crimson Bears (8-3, 4-0 Southeast) trailed 20-18 at halftime but mounted a comeback.

Dominique Brinson and Ryan Larson hit 3-pointers and Ketchikan's Trevor Norton fouled out as JDHS went up 38-35 after three quarters.

Ketchikan (9-4, 0-2) responded as Matt Boyd knocked down his third 3-point shot early in the fourth. Boyd fouled out seconds later, however, as did 6-foot-9 center Damen Bell-Holter.

"That plays a big factor especially when Matt fouled out because he's such a floor general out there," Ketchikan coach Doug Nausid said of his team's foul trouble. "We have some young kids that had a harder time executing, and Matt is always a threat from the outside."

Robert Beierly added 11 points, Larson scored nine points while Will Egolf posted nine points, five rebounds and four blocked shots on his birthday.


Juneau-Douglas appeared poised to blow Ketchikan out early in the second quarter as Nico Saldivar's 3-pointer gave the Bears an 18-12 lead. Bell-Holter also picked up his third foul and sat the bench for the rest of the first half.

Despite having their 6-foot-9 center in foul trouble, Ketchikan's guards responded with tough defense and a trapping 2-3 zone.

The Kings ended the first half on an 8-0 run to take a 20-18 halftime lead.

In the second half, JDHS used its depth to put Kayhi away.

Bryan Combs, Saldivar, Faifo Levale, Sam Clark, Beierly and Brinson all provided quality minutes off the bench in the win.

Cameron Cook scored just three points but pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.

"We've got a lot of guys," JDHS coach Steve Potter said. "Beierly hit some big shots and that was part of the spark. We're playing together."

For Ketchikan, Bell-Holter had 12 points and five blocks and Boyd scored a team-high 14 points.

Friday's 63-48 win couldn't have gone much better for the Crimson Bears.

JDHS started quick, ended strong and received a monstrous performance from Egolf in the win. The 6-foot-9 senior exploded for 33 points, eight rebounds and three steals in the win. Egolf, who committed to NCAA Division I school Bradley University earlier this year, knocked down two of three 3-point shots but did most of his damage inside, throwing down three thunderous dunks to electrify an already raucous crowd.

"That's the kid that Bradley wanted right there," Potter said Friday. "That's seven games in a row he's played like that. I think that's the way it's going to be."

Holding a tenuous 41-35 lead after three quarters, JDHS put the game away by attacking the paint.

Egolf scored 13 points in the fourth and Larson added a back-breaking 3-pointer to quell the Kings. Larson scored 11 points and hit 4 of 6 free throws.

Friday's contest had the feel of a title bout event as fans packed the gym midway though the junior varsity contest. A triple-overtime JV thriller delayed Friday's tip off by about 40 minutes and only seemed to heighten the anticipation.

The fans weren't disappointed as Ketchikan's heralded junior, Bell-Holter, scored the game's first four points and added an emphatic blocked shot.

Bell-Holter led the Kings with 21 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots.

The junior's early success sparked JDHS. Egolf responded by throwing down an alley-oop pass from Saldivar and tying the score at 4-4 on a nifty reverse lay-up by Bell-Holter.

Juneau-Douglas led 18-14 after the first quarter and held a 30-24 advantage at halftime. Though JDHS seemed to be getting the big plays, Ketchikan stayed close by doing the little things well.

Kayhi hit 15 of 18 free throws in the first three quarters to stay close. Ketchikan cooled late, however, knocking down just 5 of 10 in the final eight minutes.

"We fouled a lot the whole game," Larson said. "They were hitting their free throws. In the fourth quarter we just stepped it up."

SATURDAY'S GAME

JDHS 61, Ketchikan 51

JDHS 9 9 20 33 - 61

Kayhi 10 10 15 16 - 51

JDHS (61) - Brinson 3, Saldivar 6, Larson 9, Beierly 11, Cook 3, Baker 17, Egolf 9, Levale 3.

Ketchikan (51) - Boyd 14, Yonker 9, P. Manabat 6, Scudero 2, Bezenek 4, Norton 2, Gibson 2, Bell-Holter 12.

FRIDAY'S GAME

JDHS 63, Ketchikan 46

JDHS 18 12 11 22 - 63

Kayhi 14 10 11 11 - 46

JDHS (63) - Brinson 2, Saldivar 3, Larson 11, Beierly 3, Cook 5, Baker 6, Egolf 33.

Ketchikan (46) - Boyd 9, Pihl 1, Yonker 2, Scudero 2, Bezenek 8, Norton 3, Bell-Holter 21.

Fouled out - None.

Here is the link:

http://juneauempire.com/stories/012107/spo_20070121001.shtml

To register if you want to see it:
user name: bradleyfans
password: bradley

I think this proves BU got a tremendous steal in Will Egolf!!

[amckillip]

If he is that good it will be great!! Did will ever play any high level AAU?

[tornado]

If he is that good it will be great!! Did will ever play any high level AAU?

Only one tourney in Las Vegas which is where Jim Les spotted him, offered him, and closed the deal!
We got him before he was on many other schools' radar