I arrived Saturday morning in time to watch the Breakers take on Starrett City. The Brooklyn squad was without their best player Lavance Fields but that didn't matter. While Starrett got key contributions from wide body Kavon Lynch, former Sheepshead Bay star Steven Jackson, and speedy guard Kevin Weeks, the victory for Starrett was essentially a showcase game for Saiquan Stone. He not only led his team in scoring but ran the point beautifully, finding teammates for both lay-ups and open jumpers, making great decisions whenever Rhode Island tried extending pressure and getting key rebounds against the Breakers' 6'8" Providence recruit Jonathan Kale.

Rhode Island played tough in both its loss to Starett and its win over NYC Finest and featured two major college prospects both from St. Andrews High in Barrington. Kale is very similar in both his size and playing style to Brentwood's John Garcia. He doesn't run the fastest or jump the highest but he has exceptional timing and rebounds well in traffic. While Starrett's quick defense caused him to rush in the post at times, he showed good feet and a nice soft touch around the basket. The other major college prospect is 6'3" guard Rakim Sanders, who's just a sophomore. He's strong and explosive and in the two games the Breakers played he showed shooting range from the arc and a soft touch from middle distance. Several times he pulled up at the foul line and against good pressure was able to rise up and make tough shots and clutch shots. Expect to be hearing much more from Sanders in the next two years and beyond.Finest got a strong performance from heady guard Derek Williams but could not overcome the size and quickness of Rhode Island.

Of course the highlight of the weekend was the arrival of the Playaz. Coach Salmon brought two teams, each of them loaded for bear. Jimmy did "mix and match (he even split Patterson Catholic's junior twins Jerrell and Terrell Williams) the nucleus of the " black" team included seniors such as Brandon Costner, Chris Andrews while the "red" team had a trio of super juniors in wings Wayne Ellington and Gerald Henderson as well as point guard Luis Guzman.

The black team kicked off their Saturday sweep with a win vs. a tough LPAC team in which Costner and rapidly improving St. Joseph's (PA) recruit Alvin Munafaya got them going with good work inside while Andrews, the Seton Hall Prep star who will attend Yale next fall showed off an improved outside shot to go along with his ability to push the tempo on offense and hawk the ball on defense. LPAC played tough thanks to strong games from 6'5" Luis Figueroa as well as Owen Brow the 6'3" swingman from Morris High in the Bronx. Brow is one of the PSAL's hidden gems because he plays in the league's "B" division. He was impressive in leading Morris to a birth in that league's finals as a junior, and was even more so against some athletic players Saturday. He scored several key baskets, both in transition and with his jumper, he defended well and gave his team needed help on the boards. Against the kind of athletes he does not normally see at Morris, but gets a chance to compete against at IS8, he more than held his own, and showed once and for all that he deserves D-I interest. It's worth noting that Brow has been invited to this week's James P. Sullivan Exposure Games at Riverbank Park. According to the rosters at PSAL.org he is playing for Bronx-Manhattan team "4". If a local low or mid major can get involved with this kid early they may have themselves a steal.

Playaz "Black" also had an impressive win over New York Elite in a game that saw the Long Island based team hang tough against the Garden Staters thanks to hot outside shooting from Kareem Brown (a native of New London Connecticut) Christ the King's Niko Scott and 6'3" junior Paye Kabba who has come from West Africa to play for Our Savior New American. Like Rakim Sanders, the wiry strong Rhode Island star, Kabba stands about 6'3", gets tremendous lift on his jumpshot and shoots it accurately. He also has the makings of a good finisher at the rim an is an energetic defender. Once he gets experience look out. OSNA will have another major college prospect on its hands.

The Playaz "red" team was the group that helped provide the most excitement, thanks largely to the play of their two wings Henderson and Ellington. Both kids play for Philly's Episcopal Academy, both are long and explosive and both play with great poise and confidence. In their win on Saturday against JYO Ellington dropped 43 points and his team needed every one of them as the Queens team mounted a furious rally after falling behind early. Cameron Tyler and Vic Morris brought them to within 3 points late in the game but every time the Red Playaz needed a basket Ellington got it for them. And in doing so, he displayed a very complete scoring arsenal, hitting deep treys, jumpers from the key, and drives all the way to the rim. He also made every free throw as JYO tried to lengthen the game with fouls.

That game, as well as the subsequent matchup Sunday against the Gauchos also provided me with an opportunity to watch Passaic Tech's 6'9" wide body Hashim Bailey. He has a sturdy frame, decent hands and a pretty good touch around the basket. Also, for a player with a wide body like his, he's got good quickness off his feet which he showed with a nice tip dunk off an offensive rebound. Reports indicate that he will need a year as a post-grad to qualify academically and if he can use this year and next to improve on the court and in the classroom he will certainly be a contributor at the highest level of college basketball.

The game Sunday between the 'chos and the "Red Playaz" may have been the best match up on paper but it didn't pan out way as Ellington and company took control early and did not let the Gauchos up for air as they had JYO the day before. Guzman, who was not with them Saturday provided a great complement not only by getting the ball up to athletic wings Ellington and Henderson quickly, but with a deadly accurate jumper that he made when his teammates kicked it out to him off penetration.

Even though the Gauchos struggled defensively and the game was never close, two players established themselves as perhaps the most improved ballers in the city. Antonio Pena scored 31 points using a variety of moves both facing the basket in the post. For me, the best move of the day was a simple one where he got the ball on the low block against Bailey, turned to face him and rather than force his way to the hoop and risk a charging foul, he used a hard jab step that got Bailey just a little bit off balance and then floated in a tough fade away jumper just over Bailey's outstretched hand. When his high school career began Antonio was primarily a rebounder, but now he's on his way to becoming a versatile scorer who will cause major problems with his quickness for power forwards and perhaps with his strength for small forwards .

Rice's Edgar Sosa put on his usual great outside shooting show, and showed continued improvement finishing at the rim and as a passer. It is difficult given his shooting and his "scorer's mentality" to project him as a point guard but he's certainly becoming poised enough and good enough defensively to be considered a "combo guard" rather than just a "2"

As good as the weekend's action was, keep in mind that the best is yet to come in the playoffs. The Playaz will be back with two talented teams and New York's best will be looking to defend their turf. This IS8 classic shapes up to be the best ever and, to paraphrase Pete Edwards, pretenders will be exposed. South Jamaica will be the place to be for hoops fans and we are just getting started.'