SportsPrep Live

Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Unknown Speaker 0:23
Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of sports prep live, prep live, where we unbox the mic and talk excellence in athletics.

Unknown Speaker 0:41
Welcome back to sports prep live. I'm your host Graydon Prescott and this is the third episode of the prep talk, where we will discuss topics that are on my blog, the prep sheet, once again joined by editor in chief of the prep sheet que BKB. Are you ready to go?

Unknown Speaker 0:59
I am looking forward to it.

Unknown Speaker 1:01
All right, let's get right into it. First topic of discussion will be the border league recently took place here in Las Vegas. Yes, I saw you out there. Absolutely. And some of the players that were featured in the border league were Cooper flag, who was the number one senior in the country, Cameron boozer. AJ demand Sta. And Jason Richardson. Were some of the standout Yes. Did you have any notes from that? From the tournament?

Unknown Speaker 1:31
overall impressions? Yeah, I did. One it was good to see there was these guys played against one another in Atlanta over the summer. A lot of these guys. The Jackson or not Jackson, but the Richardson boys Jackson and Jace left Bishop Gorman, lost the Las Vegas area moved down to the Miami area to join up with the boozer brothers, Cameron and Caden, and they all actually played in Atlanta. At the peach jam I believe in and I know that Jays had a really great tournament out there. He did. Cameron had a really great tournament out there, Cooper had a really great turnout. And another number of other individuals. So it was good to see them come to Las Vegas, in the border league tournament, and see that kind of high level talent, high school talent on display. I thought everyone really did a great job. I think I think there were some instances where some players like AJ, who had a couple of great games, but struggled against the explorers, which is Cameron in Jason's team. But other than that one game, I thought everyone each and every game, counting Cooper counting Jace, AJ, Tyrone Stokes is another person that we'll end up talking about. Everyone had a really, really great tournament, and it was exciting to watch, as evidenced by the number of people that were in the gym for each and every game. I mean, it was practically standing room only in there. And some of the best basketball I've seen in a long time, regardless of level.

Unknown Speaker 3:17
Yeah. A one of the games that was highly anticipated was the Columbus explorers with Cooper, or not Cooper, Cameron, Caden and Jace against prolific prep, with Tyron. Stokes, and AJ. That game was close for the entirety of the first half, and then the explorers kind of ran away with it. In the second half, jays had a spectacular game, I believe he had maintained 18 points. And then Cameron did his thing as well. AJ, in that game, struggled just a little bit. But he is younger than those guys. Do you think that had to do with not being as acclimated to the competition? Or do you think he just had an off night?

Unknown Speaker 4:05
You know, they asked Cameron about that after the game, and they have played against one another several times. And AJ reclassed. Yeah. And so he moved from the class of 2026, to the class of 2025. And when he made that move, he became which is the class that Cameron is. That's right. When he made that move, he was instantly hailed as number one number one player in the class. So I felt like during that game, any competitive athlete is going to take umbrage at the fact that okay, this kid comes up he reclassifies into my class, and I'm going to try to put on a show. Yeah, and I do think it happens with all athletes at every level, you have tough days out at the office. And I do think that AJ had a tough day at the office. But I also think some of that had to do with the offense, or the defense that he was facing. Yeah, Cooper, or Cooper Cameron is an excellent defender. He probably second only to Cooper, who was just outstanding, and probably one of the best in all of high school basketball. But Cameron is right up there. And so I think part of that struggle into I think AJ went one for eight had a total of six points during the game. I think part of that struggle was because Cooper is, or I'm sorry, Cameron is not new to this. And so I think he took it as a challenge that, hey, if you're going to be on this floor, and they're going to put you out there as the number one player, you're going to have to prove it time and time again. And so although they're buddies, I do think that Cameron felt like, this is my time to demonstrate that I am still that dude, in the class of 2025.

Unknown Speaker 6:04
Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think I think Cameron probably did take a little bit of offense to AJ, immediately becoming the number one player. Although Aj is a very talented player, absolutely. Um, we saw what he did at peach jam, he led the whole he led the whole thing in scoring, he played two classes up. He you know, he's a great player, he was the Gatorade Player of the Year. But at the same time, you if you're going to reclass he should have been I don't think he should have immediately became number one. Might have been two might have in theory. I agree. But we can prove that on that level. Yeah, absolutely. Another reclass from this year, who reclassed up from the class of 2025. To the class of 2024. Is Cooper flag? Yeah, we've talked a little bit about him. He's on a absolutely stacked team. With Mark bird this year. They got multiple five star players, multiple four star players per team in high school. Yep. And Cooper, it's obvious by how they play Cooper's the head of the snake. He had an outstanding tournament as well. In the championship game, he finished with 20 points, 11 rebounds, seven assists four blocks. Do you think he established himself as the clear best player in high school basketball?

Unknown Speaker 7:25
Regardless of class? Yes, yes, I do. So yes, he did. reclass. And he was also instantly a lot of that number one spot. But in this case, I think deservingly. So you could see, even when he was still in the class of 2025, that he was far and above the best high school player in the country, I had an opportunity to spend some time chatting with his parents. And they kind of told me a little bit of his backstory, how they got him working on basketball at a very early age training him at a very early age. And it really shows he is incredibly skilled on both sides of the ball. He is in the elite level defender, as well as an elite level score, high basketball IQ. So yeah, there's one individual who reclass where I think it served him well. And it was a foregone conclusion that even before he reclassed that he needed to because once you move up, and you have the opportunity to be number one in that class, that just demonstrates your strength as a basketball player. Regard again, regardless of level. So I do think it was an appropriate reclass for him. I think it was a good move. And I do think he is clearly deserving of that number one spot. And it's not even close.

Unknown Speaker 8:56
Yeah. And a lot of people see his big going numbers and they might think, well, he might shoot a lot. One of my biggest takeaways from his games was he does not shoot a lot. He is the nine of 13. I think he was one of the games. It wasn't even nine of 13. He was nine of nine or nine out of 10. He didn't he either missed one shot or no very efficient. He's an extremely efficient player. Incredible shot selection. He doesn't take bad shots. There aren't many shots that he can't make, but he doesn't take tough shots. Right, right. I mean, he's just an outstanding player. I think he's got a very bright future ahead of him.

Unknown Speaker 9:30
Cooper is not only a smart basketball player, but like you said the head of the snake. He's on a super team. He is, McNeely And Asa Newell and Queen. Rob Right. I mean, this team is just stacked. All of them are either four or five star players. And so going into that game against the explorers. They had the explorers number four We're probably the first if you break even though they use halves. If you would break it down into quarters for the first three quarters, they really have the explorers number. Yeah. But Jase, and Cameron Caden, those three really got it going, they helped their team claw back, they got it to within three points at one point in the game late in the game, but you just kind of had the sense that they just weren't going to be able to overcome. It has an incredible amount of talent on that Florida Eagles team, which is the AAU team for their high school, which is my inferred Academy. It again, it's one of the only if you count the Florida he goes and then you count the explorers. Those are probably the two super teams and all of high school and I don't even know that the explorers have their starting five, all of them being four or five star players. Yeah, that's

Unknown Speaker 10:56
true. But what they do is, you know, the explorers play together. They're not very, they're very unselfish. And obviously, you have Cameron and Caden leading that team. They've been there. But the transfers as well Jackson, who has been on the show and his older brother Jase Yes. Who committed to Michigan State over the weekend, congratulations to him. He had an outstanding run at the border league as well as in the EY BL. You know, I

Unknown Speaker 11:24
think for you know, we're here in Las Vegas. And I think it it really hurt has a school that we're going to be an end up talking about a little bit later here on in another sport, but the loss of Jace or the loss for Bishop Corbin in Jace moving away and Jackson, two for that matter. Was is a hole that I don't know that they're going to be able to dig out of in the near future over the next one or two years. Yeah, those are exceptionally talented individuals. And I think you saw what a lot of people felt like Jace was kind of being held back in the in the bishop Corbin system and look, you know, he's playing with indoor behind Junie Mr. Mobley, who also transferred over to Washington in in Utah. But I think you really saw because LV orange, which is the bishop Gorman team was also there this weekend. Yeah, play three times last three times. They're a really young team. Now they are. I think they only have one or two seniors on the team, and everyone else is an underclassmen. And there are some talented kids on the team. But coming in and starting high school basketball on the freshmen or junior or at the junior level. It's just an another order of magnitude that I don't think a lot of athletes can really appreciate until they're there. And having to face off against other seniors, some of whom might be 1819, even 20 years old. Yeah. So yeah, jays played outstanding. And like you said, he committed to the University of Michigan or Michigan State University, Alma mater of his dad, Jason Richardson, who won a championship there, I think back in 2000. So the captain in the family Tom is always got to be happy about that. But I think that's a really big loss for Bishop Gorman. And he showed that over this past weekend, Jason's just an outstanding player,

Unknown Speaker 13:29
he is he's a very patient on the court. And when he gets onto the court, I don't think he strikes you as a person who's gonna come in and say, I'm gonna come in and I'm gonna kill everybody. He doesn't he doesn't strike you.

Unknown Speaker 13:44
I think the word you're looking for is unassuming. He has very, very unassuming and I actually spoke with his mother about that over the weekend as well. And that may have hurt him in the eyes of you know, Bishop Gorman, but he is a dog. He is I mean, he is he has a problem. He is He is a problem. He gets intimated on the court, he can shoot he can pass a high basketball IQ. He's got the same sort of wheels as his dad. He can lead he's got he had several spectacular dunks and alue. He's really fun to watch, but just as you said, you wouldn't know it. If you watched him from the warm up at the game. Yeah, like he starts quietly and then when he gets it rolling, it's just an absolute avalanche.

Unknown Speaker 14:35
Yeah, is transitioning a little bit. Jace last year went to Bishop Gorman. Bishop Gorman's, by far their most most successful sport right now. Is their football program. Yes, yes. About a month ago, I believe. exactly a month ago. We wrote a blog about Bishop Gorman. As in their case for being the number one team in the country. We did, I suppose September 24 21st. I think it was, I think it was the 20th. Okay. So this was either September 20 or September 21. And we wrote in a blog about how Bishop Gorman their case for being the number one team in the country. And our reasoning for that was both modern day and Gorman had played Corona centennial. Yes. Modern day beat them 28 to 14 Correct. Bishop Gorman beat them 56 to 28. Correct. So I think that right there, that was our reasoning for why Bishop Gorman should be the top team at the time they were not. Now they are modern day lost to the defending national champions who were ranked ninth St. John Bosco St. John Bosco and a shout out 28 Zero. And Bosco is now fifth Gorman is now first. What are your takeaways?

Unknown Speaker 15:56
Like you said, we predicted this a month ago. Yeah, you could see it coming. Bishop Gorman is well coached, great athletes. They practice like they are a professional level team. They do. I mean, it is really you know, you see shirts and maybe Nike has some of the shirts, but you see them on athletes a lot no days off. That is the epitome of the program at Bishop Gorman under Coach browner. He has these young men getting ready staying ready all the time in they are never off the clock. They are there early in the morning. They are there in the afternoons practicing they are there in the summer, when it's 115 degrees here in Las Vegas. They might be in shorts and just a helmet. But they're they're practicing. And once they take the field against a high school opponent, you see the clear demarcation line between their practice or their preparation and the preparation of their opponent. From the very first kickoff, this team moves differently, they are faster. Their timing is on point. They know they communicate well, they know where each other is going to be. It's a well oiled machine. And so now we were not surprised at all, that ultimately they were going to overtake the number one spot in high school football because they've been here before, I think through years 2014 2014 2015 and 2016. They were the national champions. Yes, that's right. So this is nothing new to them. It was a different coach at that time, I think Coach Sanchez, but Coach Brown has come in and has really kind of picked up where he left off and even taking the program to even greater heights. So no, I am not surprised at all. That Bishop Gorman has achieved this. I think they're going to stick with it for the rest of the year. They've got a couple of games coming up here. I think they played a night. They have a chance to win state. They've got to be the favorite there. Oh, yeah. Liberty who they've already played this year.

Unknown Speaker 18:03
Liberty is second right now. Right think that when they played liberty, it was like 49. Yeah. So that's the

Unknown Speaker 18:09
one team, quote unquote, standing in their way for winning the state title. But another thing that you know, I was reading about Coach Brown or is he he doesn't take any thing for granted. He prepares against a team that may be unranked. The same way that he prepares for a team that might be you know, ranked just behind them. And it's no plays off. So we were just talking about no days off. He does not let them take a playoff. He is looking for execution on every single play. And over time that is going to wear a defense down Yeah, or wear an offense down when they're playing defensively. So yeah, we're not surprised about this at all. I think that they have a real good shot at winning the national championship again this year, so shout out to Bishop corn.

Unknown Speaker 19:06
I recently I did a I did a segment for Bishop Gorman's YouTube channel. And they have a podcast that will be coming out called BG roundtable. It's Sutton stopped and I and we spoke to Adrienne Harris, who was a wide receiver for the team. He's their leading receiver. As of right now I believe he has racked up 174 yards now with nine touchdowns. He's just this season you just this season. Now he's an Arizona comeback. And then I also spoke to Mike all Ohio. The quarterback quarterback. He is right now the favorite to be the National Player of the

Unknown Speaker 19:45
Year and he's passed for over 2000 yards. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 19:48
I believe his completion percentage is close to 80.

Unknown Speaker 19:52
Yeah, about 77%. Yeah.

Unknown Speaker 19:54
So we spoke to those two, and we asked them what what do we think separates them? From the rest of the field, this was post becoming the number one team in the country. And we asked them what what makes you the number one team in the country? What what separates you? And they told me, it's the practice. It is their execution. In practice, there is not a second that they are allowed to take off. When they are practicing. They practice hard every day. Then they they play their games, they have practice the day after a game, right? They just don't stop working no matter what. They don't stop working. They worked. They've been practicing since January. And they practice just as hard in January as they are right now. Right. And they think that's what separates them from the rest in terms of being the top top top teams in the country, right. Right now their offense is by far the best in the country. They're clicking up about 62 points per game, which is more than anybody else by a wide margin. Their defense is one of the best in the country. They have the best offensive line in the country. And they're led by the quarterback who is the favorite for the National Player of the Year. They're a powerhouse. And it's going to be tough for anybody to beat this team. Coach browner has done a great job. Yes, with the squad, and they have confidence in one another and they believe that they're going to end up national champions this year. And I don't, I don't doubt I can't

Unknown Speaker 21:25
very are really fun to watch a real love for the game. They embrace those tough practices. It will be a spectacular event. If Bishop Gorman and John Bosco are the last to standing at the end of this season. Yeah. St. John Bosco was of course, the reigning champion, as we said before, and they've you know, their coach recently said, you know, after they defeated, Mater day that we're going to be here until someone knocks us off. We are the reigning champions. And even even though they suffered a loss earlier in the year, they are a force to be recognized they are in and I can only envision a team such as bishop Gorman, being able to play these guys to either a potential draw or ultimately defeating them in a contest that would just be one for the ages.

Unknown Speaker 22:22
Yeah, although you can't count out some of the other teams right now. I believe Bosco was ranked fifth or sixth. There are teams img from Florida. There's a couple others. There's a team from California.

Unknown Speaker 22:40
Right now we have on a lot of them. The most influential list is the USA Today High School super 25. So as of this week, Bishop Gorman is number one at nine. Oh, yep. The last game they played Desert Pines here in Las Vegas and the end result was 56 to 12 Seanad Madonna out of Hollywood, Florida, their seventh row. Last week they did not play and then Duncanville out of Texas. You know, everyone knows Texas has a lot of great high school football teams. They are six in a row I had their last result they defeated defeated Mansfield also out of Texas 51 to zero right and then number four St. John Bosco. Again they are seven and one and last week defeated Mater de 28 to zero and then like you said number five is IMG Academy out of Florida who is six you know, and they last played pine forest have also a Florida with an end result of 48 to zero and a major day finally, is that that number six position? Yeah, haven't lost to St. John Bosco 28 to zero which really must have been a tough loss and probably quite a shock to them. Yeah, it

Unknown Speaker 23:53
was, um, Max prep maxpreps would be the second most influential ranking Yes. And they as well have Bishop Gorman is number one Madonna to Bosco third. They're making a they're making a big push on the maxpreps ranking. And then you have img Duncanville and then once again, Mater day number six. Yeah, I again, Bosco Madonna, IMG, those seams are all going to really try to make a push. To get that national championship. Bosco feels like they've been a little bit disrespected rather than you know. They were the defending national champions and they did take a loss early in the season, which is why they're getting dropped right now. They just beat the team that was not formally number one. You can't count them out yet. You can't. You can't count Hall Bosco yet but as as of right now, I don't see anyone stopping Bishop Gorman.

Unknown Speaker 24:50
Right. And this is what's tough about this list is even after suffering just a single loss. It's so competitive that At that single loss can really stunt your opportunity to be in contention for a national championship game. In fact, it happened to Bishop Corman last year. Yeah, he played me today and lost by three points.

Unknown Speaker 25:15
They had a they had a 14 point lead. They go into the fourth. They did I

Unknown Speaker 25:19
do recall that game. I was there, you were there. But that three point loss ended up affecting whether or not they were going to be able to play in the national championship game.

Unknown Speaker 25:33
And I'm sure I'm sure they had that in their mind coming into this season.

Unknown Speaker 25:38
At home, no plays off, right? They were

Unknown Speaker 25:40
at home crowd going crazy. They were up 21 Seven, going into that fourth quarter, and then it just all went down. We also go off. Yeah, so I'm sure they have that in the back of their mind and coach Bronner's doesn't forget anything. So he's, he's had them. He's had them getting it, getting it in since January.

Unknown Speaker 26:00
Indeed he has. Yeah, dude. He has, as we

Unknown Speaker 26:03
wind down here, one more quick thing to talk about is Angel Reese recently. Yes. She was Shaquille O'Neal's for signing to Reebok. And one of the things that she said was, of course, he's very appreciative. And she also spoke a little bit about Caitlyn. Caitlyn Clark, right? And she said that she has no, no hate for Caitlyn or nothing but love for Caitlyn, and eventually will want to play on her team eventually. I don't know what prompted that. But I'm all for it. I don't think they should be. We don't I don't think we should have to paint them against rivalry. Yeah. But, you know, that's all. That's all well and good.

Unknown Speaker 26:53
I do believe that. She honestly feels that way. I do. Yes. Having said that, it is going to be hard for people to forget the last impression of her when she played Caitlyn in the national championship game. And I think a lot of people Kaitlyn fans are not going to so easily forget or get beyond the actions that angel Reese took towards the end of that game. Not that I say it, but a lot of people felt that it was classless much to Caitlin's credit. She said look, it happens in you know, the sports with the guys, the guys do it. So don't begrudge us for for doing it. She's been competitive all her life. In fact, they've played one another since they were both in an AAU. For me the bigger moment over the last couple of weeks was Angel being upset because she there was a list that was put out ESPN of the top potential draft prospects for the WNBA for next year. And Angel Reese came in number eight at number eight on that list. Yeah, we all know who came in number one going away. On every list there is she was number one. But I think that left angel with a bad taste in her mouth. And I think for FERS, we're going to need to keep an eye on that because angel has something to prove this year, even though she won a national championship. I think she still feels like she's got something to prove.

Unknown Speaker 28:32
Absolutely. And we we will be keeping an eye on that. Keeping an eye on that as the season began.

Unknown Speaker 28:38
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Unknown Speaker 28:39
Thank you everybody, for tuning into this episode of sports prep live. This was the third installment of the prep talk. Thank you, KB for joining me once again. My pleasure. And everybody, make sure you have yourselves a great day. And we will see you next time. Sayonara. Thank you for tuning in to this episode of sports prep live. I'm grading Prescott and don't forget to catch all of our episodes on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts and be sure to follow us on Instagram or Twitter at sports rep law. Thank you

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