Future Gopher Royce White along with hopefully future Gopher Rodney Williams (pictured right) at the Nike Global Challenge. The two were members of Team USA-1 which finished 2nd in the eight team tournament featuring high school studs on three USA teams and five global teams.
In the three games played over the recent weekend White seemed to have a solid tournament starting all three games, averaging 9.7 ppg and 4 rpg. Williams started the first two games and finished with just 8 total points (all in championship game) and 6 total rebounds (according to the info I was able to gather).
AAU tournaments such as this usually get very little press and do not provide you with much for stats. In this case we are fortunate that OregonLive.com covered every game with stats and even Slam Magazine Online had a story on the championship game.
What to me is most notable in all of this is the exposure and experience the White and Williams are getting this summer as two of the best high school ball players in the country. These kids are getting to play with and against some other super talented kids which inevitably makes them better. Here is the roster White and Williams are playing with.
Player | Home | Rivals Stars / Rank | School Committed |
Tommy Mason-Griffin | Oak Hill Academy | 4-star (72nd) | Oklahoma |
Harrison Barnes | Ames, Iowa | 5-star (6th for 2010) | offers from everyone |
Phil Pressy | Dallas, TX | 4-star (38th for 2010) | interest from everyone, including Minnesota |
Jamil Wilson | Racine, WI | 4-star (60th) | Marq, MSU, Wis, Pur |
Roger Franklin | Duncanville, TX | 4-star (76th) | AZ, Ind, OK, USC, others |
Mason Plumlee |
Arden, NC | 5-star (25th) | Duke |
Alex Oriakhi | Titon, NH | 5-star (21st) | UCONN |
Demarcus Cousins | Mobile, AL | 5-star (6th) | UAB |
That is an impressive roster with four other 5-star kids and players committed to Duke, UCONN and Oklahoma.
Should be invaluable experiences for White, making him more prepared to dominate when he steps foot onto the Williams Arena floor and assuming Williams gets his grades up he too will be better prepared to contribute from day one.