Flyin’ to the Hoop
What: Prep boys basketball event featuring 31 teams and 18 games
When: Saturday through Monday
Where: Trent Arena, Kettering
Tickets
$10 per day general admission; good for all games
$20 per day reserved seating
$25 general admission three-day pass
$55 reserved seating three-day pass
Contact info: (937) 704-9670, ext. 130, or flyintothehoop.com
Brandon Knight’s skills on the basketball court are well noted. The senior at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., already has a national player of the year trophy in his case.
What’s more, Pine Crest coach David Beckerman said Knight won’t need basketball to be successful.
“He’s a great player, but he has a 4.2 (grade-point) average in the classroom,” Beckerman said. “He could probably go to any college he wanted without bouncing a ball.”
Knight, a 6-foot-3 guard and the nation’s top-ranked prep recruit in the Class of 2010 according to Rivals.com, will be one of the elite players on display at this weekend’s Flyin’ to the Hoop boys basketball event at Fairmont High School’s Trent Arena.
With college favorites expected to be Connecticut, Kansas and Kentucky, among others, Knight is an example of the type of player tournament director Eric Horstman likes to draw to the eighth-year event. With a mix of local, statewide and national teams, Horstman said, local fans can glimpse players who could become college and pro stars from Saturday, Jan. 16, through Monday.
Knight, observers said, is as good a player as one could see. He has helped Pine Crest to two consecutive Class 3A Florida state titles, and last season he averaged 31.8 points, 8.7 rebounds and 5.6 assists per game while becoming the third junior to win the Gatorade National Boys Basketball Player of the Year award (joining LeBron James and Greg Oden).
“Most people focus on (Knight’s) offense, but he is outstanding defensive player,” Beckerman said. “He’s great in transition, he sees the whole floor, and there is no fat on that kid.”
Beckerman said Knight has started for Pine Crest since the eighth grade and has taken an expanded role with a more inexperienced team this season, as Pine Crest has started 12-2. Pine Crest is scheduled to play twice at Flyin’, against Princeton at 4:45 p.m. Saturday and against Jefferson, which features 6-10 center and Michigan State recruit Adreian Payne, at 1:15 p.m. Monday.
Pine Crest labels itself a private, all-faith college preparatory school with 1,600 students from pre-K through the 12th grade.
Knight will be one of 10 of the nation’s top 100 recruits to play at Flyin’, but he is the highlight.
“He’s a pure point guard, and he makes people around him better,” Beckerman said.
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