Mike Flynn wrote a very long breakdown of last weekend's Boo Williams tourney. So long I'm gonna split it into two posts.
Katie Fiso (2024) is a star for Tree of Hope. She has absolutely no problem playing up a couple years on the 17 EYBL stage, and doesn’t back down. Fiso plays in attack mode, and points and assists are a byproduct of that.
JuJu Watkins has been a place that the conversation starts atop the class of 2023 for over 5 years now, and she never fails to live up to her calling. At 6’0 tall, the Cal Swish maestro conducts the orchestra with plenty of solo performances. Watkins is powerful with the ball, and even made a spectacular one-handed pass as she was knocked to the ground by a defender. She’s a, “How did she do that?” type of magician out there, a walking 30 piece scorer, and a player who just lives in attack mode.
The tournament MVP Award went to Cal Stars powerhouse post Breya Cunningham. Cunningham had to be approaching 30 points in the 17 EYBL Platinum Championship win, and that wasn’t her first such performance of this magnitude. Still only a 2023, Cunningham has some of the best hands in the country regardless, and when you see her making dynamic plays on offense and defense, it’s no surprise she wore out the competition all weekend.
One of the better marquee individual match-ups for Cunningham was with 2022 UConn commit Isuneh Brady and the Cal Sparks. At 6’3, Brady is flat out imposing in the post, with quite an offensive skill set. It’s grown woman business with her in the paint, and even against elite competition, she just would not be denied. It’s scary when you see a kid at this size hitting pull up jumpers in the mid range too. Yes, you can expect to see her on your TV screens in March soon.
Hailing from the Empire State, we would liken 6’6 post Aalyah Del Rosario to the Empire State Building, dominating the skyline even amongst plenty of other skyscrapers. Can you imagine being a guard and seeing that in front of you, or, even worse, hedging that screen you’re coming off? Geeze!