Cassidy's Takeaways: The Scrimmage

DUNCANVILLE, Texas -- One of the first notable events of the 2021-22 high school season, The Scrimmage presented by The TB5 Reports attracted some of the best high school teams in Texas and beyond to the Dallas suburbs on Saturday. Rivals.com’s Rob Cassidy was on hand for the full day of action and offers his takeaways from the event below.

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Four-star point guard Anthony Black says he hopes to have a college decision finalized “soon,” though he’s not sent an official announcement date other than that vague descriptor.

Seen as the odds-on favorite to land Black’s commitment, Oklahoma State sent most of its coaching staff to Saturday's event. The gesture certainly didn’t go unnoticed by Black, who said he saw head coach Mike Boynton and company before his first game of the day tipped off.

“It shows they care and shows they are still prioritizing me,” Black said. “They could have coaches out watching somebody else but they’re all here.”

Officially, Black is considering Gonzaga, Memphis, Arkansas and Georgia in addition to Oklahoma State, but it seems as though the Cowboys and Bulldogs are running in the front of the pack as things stand. Black recently visited Gonzaga for the program's midnight madness event and left Spokane impressed with what he saw.

“The environment is cool,” Black said on Saturday. “It’s straight basketball there. It was really cool to get up there and see all that. I got to go to the event and then we did all the normal stuff. I saw where they live and all that.”

Ron Holland has long been known as a rim-attacking slasher capable of finishing at the bucket. One of the knocks on his game in the past, however, has been a lack of a consistent jumper from deep.

On Saturday, it became clear that the criticism had been addressed. “I spent the offseason working on it with my AAU coach and my high school coach,” Holland said. “I just worked on catch and shoot and shooting off the dribble. I worked on that a lot.”

Holland looked comfortable shooting the 3-ball on Saturday, knocking down more than a handful of deep jumpers with a new, smooth stroke that drew comments from at least two college coaches sitting courtside. Following his second game of the afternoon, Holland said that Memphis, Oregon, Tennessee State, Texas, UCLA, Kentucky and Arkansas. are the schools he’s most interested in at the time being. He’s recently visited both Memphis and Tennessee State and intends to visit Oregon and Texas in December.

UCLA assistant coach Darren Savino was on hand at Saturday’s event checking out a number of prospects, the most important of which was Mark Mitchell who is considering the Bruins in addition to Duke and Missouri.

“I think people know that me and Kansas aren't talking anymore so it’s just really those other three schools,” Mitchell said. “I’ll probably have a decision next month. I’ve seen all I need to see.”

Duke and UCLA seem to be the two most likely destinations with Mizzou, which also had at least one coach on hand Saturday, running in third.

“I love Mick [Cronin],” Mitchell said following his afternoon game. “He’s a real dude that tells you how it is. They have guys that play like me in Peyton [Watson]. With Duke, they’re going to need a guy like me next year. I think I can go in there and fill that versatile do-everything spot. My relationship with coach [Jon] Scheyer is great. We talk all the time.”

Rivals150 guard Drew Steffe is moving closer to a decision and will likely trim his list to five in the coming days. Xavier and Texas Tech seem like good bets to make the Frisco (Texas) Memorial High School standout’s narrowed list, as Steffe seemed blown away by both recent visits.

Where he’ll ultimately land, however, is less clear.

“I think I might go back and visit some schools before I decide. I probably won’t have a decision until February, March or April.”