PHILADELPHIA - The Reebok Challenge is back again this summer at Philadelphia University. On the first day of the July live evaluation period, the Challenge boasted a fine lineup of campers. To nobody's surprise, it was a set of twins from Houston that continued a dominance on the grassroots scene, as
Aaron Harrison and
Andrew Harrison stood out.
The comparisons flew fast and furious from college coaches - was it like having a young Jason Kidd and Chauncey Billups in the same family, or more like Deron Williams and Mitch Richmond?
Opposing coach
Marco Marcos yelled at his team, "they are pros, they are pros" just hoping that it could spark some extra effort out of his guys. It didn't really matter because 2013's No. 4 player
Aaron Harrison came out firing - and hitting - from deep while No. 3 player
Andrew Harrison ran the show and played some extremely tough defense.
Mark Turgeon of
Maryland was there. So were
SMU's
Larry Brown,
Villanova's
Jay Wright,
Baylor's
Scott Drew and
Kentucky assistant
Kenny Payne to represent each of the twins' five finalists.
Everybody in the gym saw the same thing, the Harrison brothers were just playing at a different level from anybody else on the floor. Their pace, their understanding of spacing, movement and high-skill levels make them both complete guards who are much more interchangeable than many believe.
While the Harrisons stood out, a few of their teammates showed promise as well. Both small forward
Wesley Iwundu and power forward Jonathan Motley have high ceilings. Iwundu is a 6-foot-5 slasher who can get to the rim and shows potential as a deep jump shooter. Meanwhile, Motley is thin and quick, and looks like he can develop into a quality stretch four man.
Iwundu reported offers from
Kansas State,
Colorado,
Richmond, Lehigh and Drake and interest from
Georgia Tech,
Texas Tech and
Nebraska. Motley reported that he's heard from
Houston, Baylor, Clemson,
Kansas,
Oregon and SMU among others.
On Wednesday night, there were a pair of guards from the class of 2015 that were tough to miss.
Malik Newman and
Dwayne Bacon both appeared to be physically and mentally ready to take on older competition in front of a crowd of college coaches.
A 6-foot-3 combo guard from Jackson, Miss., Newman is an explosive athlete and highly aggressive offensive player. If he sees a crease in the defense he attacks it, he's quick off the floor and is a dangerous pull-up shooter to three-point range. On top of that, he's got loads of confidence. When asked who was recruiting him his response was simple, "nobody, I'm only going to be a sophomore."
Upon reflection, Newman suggested we check with his high school coach
Wayne Brent, who mentioned that
Ole Miss,
Mississippi State,
Southern Miss,
Alabama,
Arkansas and
LSU were already heavily involved.
From the state of Florida, Bacon is just as impressive as Newman from a physical standpoint. He's actually a little bit bigger. Bacon showed good ability attacking the rim and looked very comfortable attacking from the wing.
Wednesday afternoon,
Indy Adidas" target=new>Rivals.com received multiple emails telling us about wing
Devin Robinson. Those emails couldn't have come at a better time as Robinson is in attendance at the Breakout Challenge and certainly impressed.
At 6-foot-6, he's a small forward with range on his jumper. Now in the class of 2014 at Christchurch (Va.) School, he has athleticism, can handle and is confident in looking for his offense.
Robinson said that his only offer is from Boston, but he's also heard from
Virginia Tech, Richmond, UNC Greensboro, Radford,
Georgetown,
Rutgers,
Miami, Rider and Appalachian State.