Adidas Gauntlet Finale: Ashton-Langford lives up to reputation

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- Rivals.com spent much of the day on Friday checking in on the 16-under division at the Adidas Gauntlet Finale, but still managed to catch a few standout performances from the 17-under players as well. The highest-ranked players coming into the weekend played like it on Friday.

Makai Ashton-Langford is one of the highest-ranked point guards in the 2017 class, and he certainly lived up to that reputation on Friday. He helped lead Mass Rivals to three-straight wins and they are all set to take on Team Loaded Virginia for the championship on Saturday afternoon.

At 6-foot-1, the four-star prospect has everything a coach could want in a point guard. Ashton-Langford is under control, makes good decisions, sees the floor well and can hit shots when all else breaks down. He looks like the type of player that will pick a top program and stick around for at least a few years, and he’ll win a lot of games along the way.

Right now, Ashton-Langford says three schools are putting in the most work in his recruitment.

“Louisville, UConn and Providence are the main ones I’m talking to right now,” he said. “Creighton and DePaul are still on me too. That’s really all I can think of right now.”

Reggie Perry spends the high school season playing at Thomasville High School in South Georgia, but plays travel ball with the Arkansas Hawks. It’s a perfect match as Perry has the perfect pieces around him on the Hawks to allow his talents to flourish.

The Hawks took a tough loss late to Yes II Success in the 16-under semifinals on Friday night, but a big part of that had to with Perry leaving the game for an extended portion of the second half with a lower leg injury. Early on in the game, Perry completely dominated the paint on both ends against future five-star prospect in 2019, Charles Bassey, who Perry gives up two inches to.

Perry is the ultimate stat sheet stuffer. He scores it in a variety of ways, rebounds on both ends, blocks shots and he’s a really gifted passer for a 6-foot-8 power forward. With more showings like Friday night’s against Bassey, Perry could eventually rise way up in the rankings to five-star range.

A number of schools came through with offers during June such as Arkansas, Auburn, Florida State, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, but it may not be too much longer before he makes a decision.

“It depends,” Perry said. “In late August, I’m going to sit down with my family and talk about my top schools and I might commit then.”

Perry’s father played at Mississippi State, and Ben Howland was among the head coaches watching him on Friday.

The Iowa Barnstormers made a nice run to the semifinals in the 16-under division before taking a loss to DC New World. Four-star forward Joey Hauser had a terrific day for the Barnstormers, and showed why head coaches from Iowa and Marquette followed him around all day.

The easy comparison to make for Hauser is Henry Ellenson given his appearance, and it’s not a terrible comparison. He’s not as big as the recent first round pick out of Marquette, but he’s similarly skilled and able to play both inside and outside.

Along with Marquette and Iowa, Hauser said Michigan State, Creighton, Indiana, Oklahoma, Northern Iowa, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Northwestern have been involved in his recruitment. He’s taken visits to Michigan State, Iowa, Wisconsin and Marquette so far.

Marquette has an advantage going to into the process with Hauser.

“I have a really good relationship with them with my brother going there,” Hauser said. “I really like Coach Wojo (Steve Wojciechowski) with his intensity and how he coaches.”

Romeo Langford, the No. 2 prospect in the 2018 Rivals rankings, had John Calipari and Tom Crean standing courtside to watch him on Friday afternoon.

A.J. Green does a really nice job running the show for the Iowa Barnstormers 16-under team. He makes really good decisions with the ball and made a lot of timely shots. Northern Iowa, South Dakota State and North Dakota have offered already with high-majors showing quite a bit of interest.

Darius Perry had it rolling right from the tip off for Game Elite with three quick three-pointers to start the game in the first few minutes. He finished with well over 20 points, but needs to take better care of the ball as a point guard as he had quite a few costly turnovers. All in all, it was still a really good outing for the four-star prospect, who now has serious interest from Georgetown and Georgia Tech to go along with Georgia, Louisville, Iowa State and Texas A&M.

Charles Bassey is quite simply going to be one of the most highly-ranked and highly-recruited players in the 2019 class nationally. Already 6-foot-10, Bassey checks all the boxes as a player. For a post player, he already has great hands and soft touch around the rim. He runs the floor and can step out and hit jumpers. Bassey will be a fun one to track going forward out of Texas.

Jarvis Thomas and Race Thompson from D1 Minnesota 16-under aren’t the biggest post players at around 6-foot-7, but what they lack in height they make up for in effort. The two are absolutely relentless on the glass and very tough finishers around the rim. Both will likely end up as power forwards at the next level, and very good ones.