Daquan Davis puts up big numbers, wins title at NBA Top 100 Camp, a superstar emerges from Massachusetts, John Rooke debuts at the Projo, teams to watch at Peach Jam
1. The NBA Top 100 camp took place from June 26 — July 1, and Providence commit Daquan Davis was one of the players selected to attend. The camp included the most elite players in the country, and Davis more than held his own.
The point guard out of Baltimore averaged 15.4 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game over seven different contests. His outside shooting numbers and overall efficiency dipped later in the tournament (he was 9-24 from three the first two days, and 8-31 the final two), but he performed well enough to gain recognition from ESPN’s Paul Biancardi, who grouped Davis in with the best players he watched last week.
Davis played alongside perhaps the best player in high school basketball in Cooper Flagg, a 6’8 small forward out of Maine. Flagg put up 22.4 points and 9.4 rebounds on the week. Flagg was named MVP of the camp, and their team won the championship. Davis was their second-leading scorer.
2. Up next for Davis is a trip to Georgia this week for the Under Armour Association finals with Team Thrill. He will play a pair of games on Thursday against the Riverside Hawks and Houston Defenders, and will hope to advance to the championship round as the weekend progresses. Davis will play on a team with terrific size, highlighted by 6’9 Derik Queen, a top ten player in the class of 2024, and 6’10 Luke Bamgboye.
3. Another riser from the top 100 camp? A.J. Dybantsa, a 6’8 superstar forward from Brockton, MA. Dybantsa just completed his freshman season at St. Sebastian's in Needham, MA where he was already considered perhaps the best underclassman in the country. This summer has done nothing to dampen the expectations after shining at Team USA’s U16 national tryouts and then leading the top 100 camp in scoring at 28 points per game. Dybantsa, who will play at Prolific Prep (CA) next year as a member of the class of 2026, shot 61.4% from the field at the NBA camp last week.
4. Speaking of Massachusetts natives, Bruce Brown signed a two-year, $45 million dollar contract with the Indiana Pacers last week, after playing a critical role in bringing a championship to Denver this spring. It’s been quite a basketball journey for Brown, who at one time was an underrated recruit playing for Wakefield High School in Massachusetts before blowing up at Vermont Academy, playing alongside Tyrique Jones (the former Xavier big) and Marcus Santos-Silva (VCU/Texas Tech) to win a NEPSAC AA title. Brown was dominant in the 2016 NEPSAC title game against Makai Ashton-Langford and Cushing Academy, finishing with 35 points.
Brown was a second round pick after averaging 11 points, seven rebounds, and four assists per game at Miami.
My first look at him came back in March of 2013 when his BABC team took on the Mass Rivals (Live from Newton, MA: Adams, Joseph Lead Mass Rivals to Past BABC, 75-73). In looking back on my article from that game, there were all sorts of blasts from the recruiting past — Kaleb Joseph, Jalen Adams, Bonzi Colson, Terance Mann, and so on, and I had never heard of Brown at the time. It didn’t take long to see that he was going to at least be an impactful college player.
“Bruce Brown is one to keep an eye on. He has the makings of a terrific defender and was difficult to contain off the dribble. He gave Joseph a lot of trouble on one possession in particular, nearly causing a ten second violation — not an easy task against the speedy Joseph. There were instances in which the ball got away from him off of the bounce, but he seemed to relish going toe-to-toe with Adams and Joseph on the defensive end,” is what I wrote at the time.
5. It was good to see John Rooke’s “Thinking Out Loud” column reappear at The Providence Journal after he announced it would no longer be published on WEEI.com.
From his first article at the Projo: “I’ve been privileged to cover the NFL and college football, plus college and pro basketball for 46 years. Another 20 seasons with the Revolution. Spent nine seasons in minor league baseball, got my cup o’ coffee with the Red Sox in the mid-90s. Worked for the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee while calling games for the San Antonio Spurs in 1984.”
“Honored to be following in the footsteps of some great writers in this space through the years, many of whom have become more than just contemporaries or competitors. They’ve become friends, too. Thankful for the opportunity to continue in this tradition of passion with purpose.”
6. Virginia small forward Isaiah Abraham, a top 100 player in the class of 2024, is down to four schools: Providence, Marquette, UConn and Virginia Tech, and is set to announce his decision in mid-July. He was featured in a Closer Look article here. National recruiting pundits are starting to lean toward the Huskies for Abraham. Dan Hurley and Co. have been recruiting him for over a year, and are riding a wave of momentum right now.
7. Providence hosted class of 2025 guard Nigel James over the weekend. He is a six-foot guard who plays at Cushing Academy. James is a shifty guard who just completed his sophomore season at Cushing — a year in which his team reached the NEPSAC AA title game before falling to Kayvaun Mulready (Georgetown), TJ Power (Duke), and Tre Norman (Marquette) in a close one.
James plays with Expressions Elite in the summer. He was offered by Creighton last November, and has recently picked up offers from Xavier, Wake Forest, Rutgers, Minnesota, Marquette, St. John’s and Iowa. He also visited St. John’s and Rutgers this summer.
He had high praise for Providence when speaking to ZagsBlog: “I love Providence… I was there with coach [Kim] English. I was at their practice and it looked really good – their team looks really good with the new coaching staff and everything fits really well there.”
8. The Nike EYBL Peach Jam will be streamed this week. A few teams to keep an eye on: Team Takeover (Abraham, Patrick Ngongba), PSA Cardinals (Nate Guerengomba, Boogie Fland), New York Rens (Naas Cunningham), and Team Durant (Acaden Lewis).
9. If you haven’t listened to it yet, our conversation with Jalen Lindsey on the Friar Podcast was an interesting look back on his experience as an elite recruit and the pressure that brought, how he bounced back from a challenging sophomore year, and all sorts of memories on his time as a Friar.
Thanks for the update Kevin . I look forward to it.