THE RIVALS150: 2015 | 2016

HOUSTON -- On Saturday, Rivals.com spent the first half of the

day checking out 16U action before making it back to the MI3 Center for the 17U

action at the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League's Houston stop. Marvin Bagley, the top-ranked player in the class of 2018, showed flashes of

brilliance but suffered a loss in the 16s. Meanwhile, another 2018 star was

being born in the 17U division as guard Javonte Smart impressed for

Elfrid Payton Elite during the first round of games.

For most freshman, just playing up two age groups in the 17U division of the

EYBL would be pretty impressive. It would also be pretty daunting. Elfrid Payton

Elite's Javonte Smart isn't just playing up on the 17U level, he is

thriving and at times has looked like one of the most confident players in the

gym.

A 6-foot-4 guard from Scotlandville (La.) High, Smart has long arms and an

impressive build for a freshman to go along with quickness and bounce around the

rim. In earlier viewings, Smart had looked like a potentially elite shooting

guard prospect. After seeing him again, he is still a potentially elite prospect

but it may be at the point guard position.

Smart played pretty much the entire game at the point in a tough win over the

Spiece Indy Heat and he looked quite comfortable doing so. He was able to get

into the rim and finish with either hand, plus he created lots of easy shots.

Defensively, he can really move his feet and makes great use of his length.

We won't begin ranking or assessing stars to the class of 2018 until after the

summer, but Smart has put himself into serious five-star consideration. Smart

doesn't think he has any offers yet but LSU,

Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Wake Forest and

UMass have made early inquiries.

On the afternoon, Smart finished with 13 points, five assists and five rebounds

in a win over the Spiece Indy Heat. It should also be noted that Smart came back

down to Earth a bit in an evening loss to the St. Louis Eagles, but that doesn't

take away from his talent level and future potential.

"I think I've been doing pretty good," Smart said. "It's great competition out

here but I'm not surprised to be doing well. I came out confident that I

belong."

To be clear, Smart is far from a one man show for the Elfrid Payton -- whose

namesake was on hand to watch Saturday -- squad. They are loaded from top to

bottom with quality athletes and players. When Smart isn't attacking the paint.

Four-star 2016 point guard DeJon Jarreau can be found doing the same.

Still recovering from a hip injury, the 6-foot-4 point shifts gears with ease

and is tough to keep from the rim. He said that he's added offers from

UTEP, Temple, Oklahoma State and Miami since

the end of the April live periods to add to a rapidly growing group of high

major offers.

During the winter, point guard Shamorie Ponds emerged as one of the

better scoring floor generals in the class of 2016. He scored the ball so well

during his junior season at Brooklyn (N.Y.) Thomas Jefferson that some wondered

if he was really more of an undersized shooting guard.

Thanks to his play in the EYBL with the New York Lightning, Ponds has proved

that he's a point guard all the way while backing up his status as a four-star

prospect and the No. 99 player in the class of 2016.

Saturday night against the Northwest Express, Ponds absolutely took over in the

second half. Though he's quite skinny, he took contact and finished at the rim

and sprinkled in a few jumpers as he led his team to a win. Ponds finished with

22 points, four rebounds and a pair of assists but most of all he was happy to

get a win and help his team move to 5-6 as they look to battle their way back to

.500.

"I feel like I have been playing good but I can play even better," Ponds said.

"We really need to get more wins and I'm just doing everything I can for us to

get more wins."

On the recruiting front, Ponds listed offers from Minnesota, Oklahoma,

DePaul, St. John's, USF and South Carolina. Ponds

said that the St. John's offer came from the Steve Lavin staff and that he's not

yet had much contact with Chris Mullin's staff since they took over.

One of

Rivals.com's favorite players of the day was Bryan Assie of the New

York Lightning. A rugged 6-foot-6 power forward from the class of 2016, Assie

does the dirty work around the rim and doesn't care about being rewarded with

offensive touches. He only scored seven points in the Lightning's win over

Northwest Express but he grabbed 10 big rebounds and dished out all sorts of

physicality. Assie listed offers from Fairfield, St. Francis and Niagara to go

along with interest from Quinnipiac and Fairleigh Dickinson.

The best

point guard in the class of 2016 found his comfort zone on Saturday night.

Making an appearance with Team Penny, Dennis Smith had been getting

acclimated to his teammates. Saturday night the No. 4 player in 2016 went off

for 29 points, five rebounds, four steals and two assists to lead Team Penny to

an overtime win over All-Ohio Red. Not only did Smith produce, he gave the crowd

what they wanted to see with some high rising jams including one particularly

impressive one where he drove left along the baseline, exploded off two feet and

cocked back with one hand on a defender.

Mac Irvin

Fire point guard Charlie Moore could make a push for the 2016

Rivals150. The sub-six footer can really score it off the dribble and though he

looks offense first he is a very capable playmaker for others. Moore has

benefited from some added strength and played very well during a win over the

Oakland Soldiers as he tallied 20 points, four rebounds and six assists.

Four-star

small forward Oshae Brissett has had himself a nice spring with the

Las Vegas Prospects. The junior from Canada who plays at Henderson (Nev.)

Findlay Prep reported that he now has offers from Oklahoma, Oregon,

Carlos JohnsonClick UNLV, Texas Tech, IUPUI and UCLA.Here to view this Link. is a guy that coaches will have to think outside of the box on.

He's probably not much bigger than 6-foot-3 but is built like a linebacker and

doesn't really have a true position. What Johnson does do, is play hard and

compete physically. The Oakland Soldiers took a loss to the Mac Irvin Fire but

it wasn't for a lack of effort on the part of Johnson. Operating primarily near

the rim, Johnson had a manly 21 point and 15 rebound effort.

One thing is

very clear at this point, power forward Marvin Bagley is the best

prospect in the class of 2018. The southpaw is athletic, he can handle the ball

at 6-foot-10, passes very well and the southpaw has a high basketball IQ. On

Saturday, he had flashes of brilliance -- like a two dribble pull-up jumper from

the elbow going to his right -- but he and his We Can All Go team took a tough L

to a scrappy St. Louis Eagles team in a 16U game. Still relatively lean, he will

only get stronger and more explosive as he matures. Also making some noise for

WACG was point guard Darius Garland. The thin six-footer is a very

dangerous shooter from beyond the three point line, sees the floor well and can

control the tempo. He looks to be a potential high major prospect himself as he

adds weight.

Picking up

where he left off in the 16U division of the EYBL's first session in Hampton,

Va., 6-foot-5 wing Cameron Reddish of Team Final did several nice

things. Most of all he was extremely confident with his jumper. Reddish dialed

them up from three point land and got to the free throw line. He told Rivals.com

that he's received his first offer from Penn State.

Louisville, Temple, Syracuse, Virginia,

Villanova, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Duke

and N.C. State have all expressed some level of interest. In the last

year Reddish said that he's visited Louisville, Syracuse and all of the North

Carolina schools.

Down in the

state of Florida, the Each 1 Teach 1 program really has things rolling. While

their 17s have been making lots of noise, their 16U team is right behind them.

Impressive 2018 power forward Silvio De Sousa put on a dunking

exhibition on Saturday morning. De Sousa is put together more like a college

freshman than one in high school and he gets off the floor as quickly as anybody

in any age level of the EYBL. While he's an aggressive rebounder and dunker, De

Sousa also exhibits some patience and is a good passer out of double teams.

Also catching Rivals.com's eye on Saturday morning was 6-foot-7 Tyler Polley.

The sophomore can play as either a skilled faceup four man or a tall wing. He is

very thin but has a high basketball IQ and lots of upside as he fills out.

Polley said that his first offer came from UAB and that he has interest

from Maryland, Florida, Miami, UCF and

USF.

Finally,

we'll end Saturday's coverage with a quick run through of some of the other

players who caught our attention in the 16U division.

For Team Melo, 6-foot-4 wing Montez Mathis is an impressive looking

2018 prospect. Well built and athletic, Mathis is tough with the ball and

attacks the rim relentlessly . ... The Playaz Basketball Club 16's shook off a

slow start to knock off the Alabama Challenge and six-foot combo guard Jamir Harris intrigued. A good jump shooter with strength, he's looking to

transition to more of a true point guard and listed offers from Seton Hall, Creighton and USC to go with interest from

Oklahoma, St. John's and East Carolina. ... King James combo guard Markell Johnson is a big time athlete who is offensively gifted. Though he can be a

bit wild at times, the 6-foot-1 2017 prospect can attack the rim, has good

strength and should be a more than respectable enough jump shooter. Like many

young players, he just needs to learn to play with consistent effort and that he

can't win by himself. ... One of the top 25 prospects in the class of 2017,

6-foot-10 Floridian Mitchell Robinson of Alabama Challenge can really

run the floor. He alters shots, hits the glass and looks to have good enough

hands. Unfortunately he wasn't the beneficiary of lots of touches while we

watched. Robinson said he thinks that UAB and DePaul have offered.

For Team Penny, 2018 shooting guard T.J. Moss and 2017 combo guard

Khalil Garland impressed. Standing 6-foot-4, Moss is a quick and athletic wing

from Memphis (Tenn.) East who plays with ridiculous energy. He hit some threes

and attacked the rim. A skilled ball handler, Garland's game is all about tempo

and controlling it. He's comfortable going to his right or left, is pushing

6-foot-4 and the Little Rock (Ark.) Parkview product can be a primary scorer or

playmaker. ... Jordan Poole of Playground Elite has a great looking

jump shot and good ball skills. The 6-foot-2 2017 guard plays a lot on the wing

but looks good enough with the ball to project as a point guard. He listed early

offers from Illinois-Chicago and Wisconsin-Milwaukee to go with interest from

Creighton, Drake, Connecticut, Wisconsin and

Marquette. ... For the PSA Cardinals, big man Mohammed Bamba

is already a well known product and one of 2017's premier big men. He ran the

floor, showed touch around the rim and the ability to dominate as a shot blocker

when he wanted but didn't play with the intensity that he could of scoring 15

points. His PSA and high school teammate at Westtown (Pa.) School, 6-foot-4 wing

Najja Hunter scored all of his 15 points in the second half. A lanky

wing with athleticism, Hunter can also knock down a jumper and looks to have

good upside.