Four days of exciting hoops from the NY2LA Summer Jam tournament and here is the first group of standouts from 17U level of the tournament.

Tyson Busch – 2027 – PG – Racine Truth

Busch has continued to improve to be one of the top players of the tournament helping his team go undefeated in pool play. He shined with both his scoring and distributing ability. This included scoring 24 points in a game while hitting five threes. Much more than just a shooter, Busch showed great playmaking abilities with the ball in his hands. The vocal point guard consistently showed his ability creating for others with his decision making, court vision, and a very good ability to pass on the move threading passes right through heavy traffic. Right from the start, he was also playing with great defensive intensity playing tough on ball defense.

Khader Diabate – 2027 – PG – Gxfted Elite

In his opening game, the point guard had one of the best performances of the tournament scoring 29 points. The elusive playmaker has a great ability to create for himself while playing on the attack. With his quickness, handle, and change of direction ability, Diabate was consistently getting past his man and into the defense. On the attack, he scored it very effective being able to create his own shot in the mid-range and finishing all around the paint. In addition, Diabate can also shoot the three as well as be a facilitator.

Kobe Drake – 2028 – G/F – Michigan Warriors

It was another standout tournament as he gets named to this standouts list in each of the two July tournament. In his first game of the tournament the 6’5” Drake started it off with a 25 point performance and kept on playing well from there. As well to downhill driving being able to power right through defenders, Drake has also been playing with improved handle this summer. On his drives, the strong bodied wing has a good ability to finish at a very high percentage scoring through contact as well as hitting off balance runners. As well to his high scoring numbers, Drake showed an improved ability to distribute it on the attack driving and dumping the ball off.

Oliver Evans – 2027 – C – Wisconsin Breakaway

Over the course of multiple games, Evans proved to be one of the top post scorers of the tournaments and was key in getting the breakaway to the semifinals. This included him scoring 21 points in a pool play game including 15 just in the second half of the win as well to 18 points in the semifinals. Evans has plenty of size standing at 6’8” with a solid build. He uses the tools very effectively as a back to the basket scorer. In the post offensively, he plays with good physicality and toughness both sealing off defenders to get good position and then finish through contact. When the post got the ball around the paint, he was finishing it at a high percentage but can also step out and hit some threes too.

Jordan Farrington-Coleman – 2027 – PG – Teal Hali

It was a true breakout tournament as he shined throughout in leading Team Hali to win the 17U Association championship with multiple impressive wins along the way. He excelled throughout the tournament including scoring 24 points in the quarterfinals. Then in the championship game victory, he was especially key down the stretch hitting a pair of threes in a minute span to take the lead. Not only did the athletic guard show good playmaking with the ball, but Farrington-Coleman was one of the top shot makers of the tournament including the ability to create his own shot. This was highlighted in the quarterfinals where he hit five threes.

Jensen LePla – 2027 – SG – D Rice Elite

The consistent high level of play helped get D Rice to the Association championship game. He had some big moments in the run to the title game including scoring 15 points in the quarterfinals, 13 points just in the second half of a tight semifinals win and was doing everything down the stretch of a tight championship game with 12 second half points. The 6’5” wing guard has continued to grow all of his offensive tools to be such a skilled and well-rounded scoring threat. Not only has he developed into a knockdown shooter from three but also excels as an aggressive downhill driver using his strong build, is effective in the mid-post, and uses his size and athleticism to finish at the rim.

Chris Retic – 2027 – SF – Jay Academy

It was another tournament in which Retic played at an extremely high level. This included multiple twenty plus point games getting his team to the platinum championship game. This included 18 points in just the first half of game. While he is an incredibly long and bouncy player with good size on the wings at 6’7”, his skills have continued to greatly grow especially with his shot creation. Retic showed a great ability to create separation from defenders with step back jumpers and hit threes off the dribble at a high rate. All tournament he was also getting to the rim for multiple highlight reel dunks a game. It is only a matter of time before the recruitment of Retic takes off.