GARDNER, Kan. -If a coach wanted to see the No. 1 player from each the 2015 and 2016 class to kick off April's live evaluation weekend, then he needed to be at the Under Armour Jayhawk Invitational in suburban Kansas City on Friday night. 2015's
Malik Newman and 2016's Josh Jackson were both in the house. Both put on shows, but 2015's No. 3 player
Diamond Stone stole their thunder a bit with an impressive night.
Stone goes off
You don't have to watch for long or be an expert to figure out that the Milwaukee (Wisc.) based Young Legends want to feed Diamond Stone the ball as often as possible. It is a plan that makes sense. After all, Stone is the No. 3 player in the class of 2015 and knows what to do with the ball when he gets it.
The Young Legends game against 2016 No. 1 Josh Jackson and One Nation turned into a long and drawn out affair thanks to aspiring college refs blowing their whistles any chance they got. But that didn't stop Stone from looking awfully impressive while racking up 36 points and 16 rebounds to lead his team to a win.
The 6-foot-10 junior is a throwback post player who understands how to use his size and skill. Stone has done an excellent job of getting into shape and he showed some added explosiveness while going to the rim. He made mid range jumpers, he used fakes and spins near the rim and then stepped to the free throw line to make a boatload of free throws.
Anybody hoping to figure out who leads for Stone is going to be in the dark. He declined to speak specifically about any schools but in the crowd watching were the likes of Bill Self, Kevin Ollie, Scott Drew, John Thompson III, Larry Brown,
Because of NCAA rules that require no games tip off after 10 p.m. at a live period event, the game between KC Run GMC and MWA Elite had to be shortened so that the evening's final game could tip off in time. Despite only having 26 minutes of running clock to work with and his MWA squad struggling a bit, 2015's top player Malik Newman went to work.
The 6-foot-4 combo guard combo guard from Jackson (Miss.) Callaway backed up his status as the top player in his class while showing off the complete arsenal offensively. Newman has always been a prolific jump shooter and he hit a few from deep. Most noticeable, though, was his added strength and explosiveness. Newman has never lacked for explosion, but more physical maturity has been very good to him in the athleticism department.
Whether or not his added strength and burst have anything to do with it, Newman seems to be more confident attacking the paint via the dribble. His first step is both quick and strong and he looks comfortable driving right or left.
Like Stone, Newman declined to discuss specific schools. Mississippi State's Rick Ray didn't miss a single game Newman played during last July's live period and he was up front and center for him on Friday night. Kansas, Connecticut, Baylor, SMU and N.C. State had their head coaches watching and Kentucky had an assistant on hand.
One of the schools of thought is that Newman and the previously mentioned Stone have discussed being a package deal in college. Part of Saturday's plan is to get a better feel for how likely that may be.