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Future Horns Avery Bradley & Tristan Thompson Whip #1 Oak Hill

Posted by Scipio Tex on April 5th, 2009 under Basketball, Recruiting

It’s a good day to be Longhorn basketball fan.

Avery Bradley & Tristan Thompson’s Las Vegas Findlay team just won the inaugural NHSI Rise ESPN Championship (a tournament of eight of the most elite high school basketball teams in the nation played in Maryland) dominating prohibitive favorite and #1 seed Oak Hill Academy in the final. The 74-66 final score wasn’t revealing of the degree to which Findlay controlled the game.

You can watch the replay here on ESPN360 assuming your broadband provider is ESPN360 friendly.

Pretty much every player on the court was a high level Division I basketball player…and Texas signee Avery Bradley was the best player on the court. Bradley was the MVP of the tournament. In the semi-final against Montrose Christian, Bradley had 27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and 3 blocked shots.

For the tourney, I have Bradley averaging 20.7 ppg and 6.7 rpg. Also, the best defender in the tourney.

Against Oak Hill, Bradley scored 20 points and had 8 boards while playing lock down defense on the Warrior guards. Bradley is a strong finisher with a smooth mid-range game (open 15 footers are layups) and is fully capable of dropping threes on a sagging defender. I’ve already described some of his other physical attributes in the McDonald’s All-Star Game. Despite the bright lights of ESPN cameras and the pressure of a national high school basketball championship, he played within himself and rarely forced a bad shot and never engaged in selfish play. His facial expression changes as often as Jennifer Garner dipped in Botox. He is an assassin without an ego.

Oak Hill used some Duke style flopping and Avery’s own hyper-aggressive play to foul him out with 2:30 left in the game. That’s when Tristan Thompson took over.

Tristan Thompson is a true 6-8 junior with a developing body. He runs the court very well, has a great feel and understanding for the game, and wanted the ball down the stretch scoring most of Findlay’s last points on the free throw line and on dunks in transition. He had 12 points and 11 rebounds and will clearly be the focus of the Findlay offense next year.

He also had a couple of beautiful assists and played willing defense inside on Tiny Gallon in the second half despite giving up 70 pounds in the paint. He’s a very promising kid and I’ll be curious to see how much he improves over the next year and a half. I’m sure he’s not done growing so we’re likely to get a 6-9 230 pound guy who can handle and shoot when he arrives at Texas. Kevin Durant and Mike Wacker are the only other two players in Texas basketball history who remotely fit that description. If he’s somewhere between those two in ability, I believe I’m a happy camper.

I should mention that when Bradley fouled out he stood encouraging his teammates and directing traffic on the sideline. Every timeout he met a teammate with a word of advice, a towel, water. You see his inspired play on the court paired with a total absence of ego and it’s pretty clear to me that we’ve got a great one on our hands.

Both Thompson and Bradley have very high hoops IQs. Bradley understands defensive principles the way Bobby Knight punches chalkboards and Thompson repeatedly made the right decision and presented himself several times on offense for easy buckets that Findlay teammates missed.

Oak Hill star and OU recruit Tiny Gallon was very impressive in a number of areas. He dominated the paint rebounding and dropped down a NBA three. He has a great skill set and can handle and pass impressively for a guy his size (6-8.5 280). That written, he’s not a very willing or capable defender and he tired down the stretch. Several hustle baskets were scored by his man in transition and he has no interest in team defense. Still, a crazy offensive skill set for big boy.

Be very excited about the future of Longhorn basketball.

Trips opines here and BON prognosticated here.

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12 Responses

  1. Texoz said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    Good Lord. I may have to mortgage my house for courtside season tickets next year.

    I’ve always had college basketball as a close 2nd to college football as my favorite sport, but the next couple of years may change that.

  2. SkyMonkeyHorn said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 3:09 pm

    Avery is golden to say the least. The thing that surprises me eveytime I see him play is that he lets the game come to him and then he just explodes. Does not matter if it defense or offense he just explodes and then I wonder where in the hell did that come from. He is so smooth in his dribble drive and pop all with in that mid-range game for a 17yrs player. Scary part is that he is going to get better in the next 2-3 years…..

  3. Bob in Houston said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 3:59 pm

    I saw all I needed to see when he pulled down a rebound, took five dribbles and his steps and laid the ball in plus the foul.

    Thompson might not be a finished product when he arrives, but he reminds me of another Thompson who played at UT.

  4. HornsHornsHorns said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 4:05 pm

    Avery Bradley is very fast….with the basketball.

  5. Beaten Dead Horse said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    Wow. After watching Bradley for 3 games, all I can say is wow.

  6. Scipio Tex said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    Oak Hill basketball coach Steve Smith on Avery Bradley:

    “If he [Avery] had fouled out maybe two minutes earlier, we’d have had them; he’s the best guard Oak Hill has ever faced,” Oak Hill Coach Steve Smith said.

  7. Texoz said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 7:34 pm

    Another thing to ponder about Avery and Findlay Prep winning that game.

    Avery has now experienced the joy of winning a national championship, albeit mythical high school NC. I would imagine that goes a long way toward paving the road to another one on a much larger stage.

  8. Facebook User said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 7:55 pm

    avery bradley
    Chris Rossi for ESPN Rise
    Findlay Prep’s Avery Bradley was named NHSI tournament MVP.

  9. dick said:

    April 5th, 2009 at 8:44 pm

    the best players on our team next year will be Avery, Jordan and Dexy. That is a NC caliber Big 3 in my opinion with heck of a supporting cast too.

  10. Palmettohorn said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 2:55 am

    Mike Wacker ref. – nice.

  11. Palmettohorn said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 2:57 am

    Btw, it’s 7 am, here in ga – not 3 am.

  12. Facebook User said:

    April 6th, 2009 at 9:05 am

    It’s whatever time we tell you it is, damn it. We’re still combating Y2K.

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