Dennis Smith Jr. put on a show at the Super 60 Showdown in North Carolina. / Kelly Kline, Under Armour
KNIGHTDALE, N.C. – Thirteen miles east of North Carolina’s Capitol Building in a rural area off to the side of Old Knight Road, 60 of the top high school basketball players in the region gathered in Knightdale High School’s gym Saturday for the Super 60 Showdown, one of state’s premiere showcase events.
From NCAA bracket help to dunks you have to see to believe here’s what we learned after eight hours of straight hoops.
Either way a Smith would’ve been dunk champ
Garner (Garner, N.C.) forward JaShaun Smith’s vicious cock-back dunk may have earned him the Super 60 Showdown dunk contest trophy, but Trinity Christian (Fayetteville, N.C.) point guard Dennis Smith Jr. threw down the best dunk of the day.
Word of God Academy (Raleigh, N.C.) point guard Jalen Harris threw Dennis a lob off the side of the backboard, he caught mid-air and threw down a windmill.
For his trouble, Dennis received the only perfect score of the contest, but he never officially entered the contest so JaShaun got the nod.
Check out Dennis’ sick dunk below.
Patterson the marksman
Victory Christian (Henderson, N.C,) point guard Deshawn Patterson knocked down 11 threes in the championship round to earn the 3-point contest title. He beat Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, N.C.) guard David Caraher, a Butler commit who knocked down six treys.
“The shooting,” Patterson said. “It speaks for itself.”
Smith can see inside the rim
OK, so we didn’t see him actually get up and look inside the rim, but E.E. Smith (Fayetteville, N.C.) shooting guard J.J. Smith put on an aerial display that would’ve made leapers on any level envious.
Smith had his forearm well over the rim on a handful of creative dunks at the Super 60 Showdown.
Is it really a stretch to say that the 6-foot-6, freak of an athlete can get up high enough to take a quick peek inside the rim?
We think not.
Play of the day
Quality Education Academy (Winston Salem, N.C.) wing Tremain Lawrence trailed in transition, caught a pass once he hit the middle of the paint, took off and threw down a dunk so hard that he seemed to go through Apex (Apex, N.C.) guard Ian Boyd, who slid over into defensive position a bit too late.
The poster naturally prompted a deafening “Ooh” from the crowd.
Well played Tremain Lawrence, well played.
Killeya-Jones remains objective with NCAA pick
Virginia Episcopal (Lynchburg, Va.) forward Sacha Killeya-Jones knows most people won’t believe that his pick for the 2015 NCAA national champion is objective, but he promises that there was no favoritism involved when Virginia turned out to be the last team standing on his bracket.
“My Final Four picks were Kentucky, Arizona, Virginia and Iowa State,” Killeya-Jones said.
And why do the Cavs eventually emerge victorious?
No, it’s not because he’ll be suiting up in Charlottesville, Va., in 2016.
“I don’t think that a lot of these teams are used to playing at Virginia’s pace,” he said. “As long as we do what we do best, play defense, I think we’re the favorite.”
Follow Jason Jordan on Twitter: @JayJayUSATODAY
