Cassidy's Takeaways: Day 1 of the Summer Hoops Festival

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- The 2021 Summer Hoops Festival opened on Thursday night and the first day of action featured a trio of games featuring major college and pro prospects. Rivals.com’s Rob Cassidy was on hand for Thursday’s action and shares his takeaways from the night that was in South Florida.

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Five-star Dariq Whitehead scored 18 points in a victory for Team Durant on Thursday night, but his streaky shooting performance on the court wasn’t the thing making waves. News about his college future handled the heavy lifting on that front. Prior to the contest, the No. 6 prospect in the 2022 class announced that he’d be making a verbal commitment on Aug. 1.

Duke and Florida State seem to be the front-runners here. And while the versatile star also visited Kansas, the Jayhawks seem like a bit of a long shot to land his pledge of decision day. The Blue Devils and Seminoles, however, seem to be locking horns. According to Whitehead, he hasn’t yet made up his mind, but the allure of each program is obvious.

“Duke is Duke,” Whitehead said on Thursday. “I liked the visit a lot. It was great getting to know coach [Jon] Scheyer. I had talked to him over text a lot, but getting to know him in person was important and great. He’s a super cool guy -- down to earth. He means everything he says.”

As for FSU, Whitehead says the appeal lies in the relationship he’s built with the Seminoles’ staff.

“I have a really really close bond with the coaches there,” he said. “It feels really familiar and I’m really close with some of the players there. It was a good trip down, getting to see all that and hang out with everyone.”

Cason Wallace’s recruitment remains wide open. The five-star combo guard made sure to get that point across before saying anything else following his Pro Skills Basketball team’s Summer Hoops Festival opener on Thursday. Once he got the disclaimer out of the way, however, he discussed the schools that have made the biggest impact on him thus far.

“Tennessee I went on a visit and liked it. I really liked everything I saw there,” Wallace said. “I had never been before. It was cool to see how family oriented they were. They are really always together as one. I’ve been talking to Texas and Kansas a lot lately, too.

“With Kansas, I’ve talked and texted with coach [Bill] Self a little bit. That’s just starting, though, we haven’t really dove deep into what they have to offer or anything. We are just starting to talk.”

Baylor remains in contact with Wallace via text, but the five-star says recent conversations with the Bears staff have been sporadic.

I don’t usually cover pro athletes in this space, but the professional Overtime Elite team played its first ever exhibition on Thursday evening, and celebrated international point guard Jean Montero used the stage to score a shockingly efficient 41 points that included eight 3-pointers.

Montero, who draws a paycheck from Overtime, looked like a pro among amateurs dictating a breakneck pace and making a handful of highlight-worthy passes to go along with his pile of points. Montero is currently projected as a mid-first round pick in the 2022 NBA Draft according to ESPN, and it’s easy to see why they’re so bullish on his game. During Thursday’s exhibition, an NBA employee texted the person to whom I was seated next to calling Montero “a future 10-year NBA veteran.”

Rivals.com doesn’t rank professional athletes, and the 17-year-old Montero played professionally in Spain before joining Overtime Elite, so I guess this is a simple “remember the name” situation.

There were certainly more eye-popping performances during the Summer Hoops Festival’s Thursday night triple header, but few prospects showed as much versatility as Pittsburgh commit Judah Mintz.

Mintz went for 14 points in Team Duant’s 72-57 win over Team Breakdown, but the major takeaway from his game was his ability to both distribute and finish through contact. Mintz shot nine free-throws in the contest, and one sequence saw him finish off back-to-back and-1s, including a four point play. He recorded an unofficial six rebounds and showed the ability to push the tempo without seeming out of control.

Mintz was as active on defense as any prospect on the floor. So while he needs to become a more consistent shooter from range, Pitt fans should be encouraged by the fact that he’s turning into a combo guard that can impact games in a number of ways.

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The Overtime Elite team’s debut was the main event on Thursday. The team of mostly paid professional high schoolers played an exhibition against two teams, taking on Team Loaded North Carolina in the first half before playing Team Loaded Virginia in the second half. The Overtime team won half No. 1 rather easily but came up short 51-47 in half No. 2. Few things on the court, however, were as captivating as what took place around it.

Overtime purchased space that occupied the majority of both baselines to house their dozen or so videographers. The company also placed a few dozen cushioned courtside seats for parents and others with ties to the team. I never figured out why former NFL star Brandon Marshall was in one of said seats, but he definitely was. Point is, Overtime seems to want everything it does to be a full fledged event and it’s committed to doing so.

According to forward Matt Bewley it also wants to be a stylistic, plot-driven documentary of sorts.

“It’s basketball,” Bewley said. “It’s a league that wants to expand. It’s also kind of like a reality show, too. It’s for everybody. It’s fun. It’s lit.”

The most important thing, however, is that the league will be another avenue for athletes to get paid to practice their craft. That’s never been more obvious than when you hear Bewley explain about what he did with his first professional check.

“I didn’t really buy anything,” the 17-year old Bewley said. “I really just took care of my family and get them straight with financials and some things like that.”