Bounce is wrapping up the 2023 Summit Summer League but doing things a bit different this week than I have in the past.
The league concluded with different leaders across the stat categories with Jackson McGee of Leo leading in points and rebounds, Preston McCann of Mississinewa leading in assists, Owen Prater of Rochester leading in steals and Jackson Hauser of Blackhawk Christian leading in blocks.
Bounce is naming some UNOFFICIAL awards for the league based on my own personal opinion. The league itself didn’t have a champion or award winners, but I am here to pick it up and name my own award winners of a fantastic four weeks that wrapped up this past Wednesday.
So, for full disclosure, these awards are all of my own opinion and not necessarily those of the league’s operators at Flow Hoop.
Bounce has his own opinions and I stick to them fiercely.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
Pure dominance could describe Jackson McGee’s play throughout the league. Even in weeks one and two where you’d be fair to say the Leo senior played “just” really good, he was still such an imposing presence eon the court. In Weeks 3 and 4 however, there is no mistake that McGee was a terror.
He ended the league averaging a second best 18.3 points per game, but scored the most total points as the league leader in points per game did not play in eight contests as McGee did. McGee led the league with 110 total points, the only player to get to triple digits. He also led the league in rebounds, averaging 10.8 as the only player in the league to really even sniff a double double average with the next highest rebounder averaging 8.2 per contest.
Every week, McGee was on his game. If he had a bad game by his terms, he certainly did not do it twice in a night and scored in double figures six times in eight games. His final four games (points/rebounds) were 27 and 8, 18 and 11, 15 and 12, 16 and 13.
BEST BOUNCE BACK
Keegan Combs is going to take this one simply because his week four was phenomenal.
During other weeks of the league, Combs, a South Side senior, was a solid contributor who showed he could rebound a little bit, shoot a little bit and be a quality defensive threat around the rim, using his length really well to contest shots.
In week four, Combs went wild. He shot the ball, not just with confidence and quality but he found ways to make his shot work no matter what he had to play out of. Spot up shot? Done. Curl off a screen? Fantastic. Get closed out on and forced to respot? Handled.
That is the bounce back effect in a four week league to me. Have an ok showing and then go out with a bang? It sure leaves your game on the mind of many people who watched you succeed at such a good level. After hitting two threes in Week 4’s first game, Combs put up a game third best 17 points with 8 rebounds in his second game.
He scored 23 of his 38 points in the league (he played 6 games) and had 11 of his 23 rebounds in the league in the last week alone.
MOST UNDERRATED
This was a tough one because I believe a lot of people in this league really earned respect so to go underrated is hard.
But John Parent of Canterbury takes this one for me even though he was a starter last winter. In his high school role in the past, Parent has been a solid defender and “as needed” offensive player. In the Summit Summer League, Parent showcased his ability to score at all three levels and his defense wasn’t just perimeter oriented. Often he had big, emphatic and momentum swinging blocks at the rim.
Parent was always someone in mind when each night of the league started. By the end of each night, he was always one of those front of mind guys.
Parent finished the league averaging an eighth best 13.8 points while also pulling down 6.7 rebounds per contest.
WHO GENERATED THE MOST INTEREST HEADING TO SCHOOL SEASON?
I guess you could call this the breakout player of the league. Even if they were varsity contributors in the past, many guys really stood out and made us think ‘wow they could really make a high level difference this season.’
Enter Ryker Quake.
The East Noble junior played in this league last year, was usually an afterthought amidst a field of talented and flashy upperclassmen and then went on to have an ok season for an East Noble team that didn’t put together many wins.
But if anyone broke out over this four weeks, it was Quake. He still isn’t one to hit you with a lot of flash but can he ever shoot the ball. More often than not, Quake was keeping his team in games or extending leads with timely triples. He showed a strong ability to move without the ball, maybe be a bit sneaky and then make teams pay for losing track of him. His aggression helped him get to the rim and rebound well too over four weeks but his shooting was certainly the standout.
With 21 made threes in eight games, Ryker Quake has certainly arrived on the scene. And he’s got a pretty solid sports name to boot. His 21 threes (on 39 attempts) was a league high and seven more makes than second place.
NOW YOU KNOW THE NAME
One of the biggest perks of this league is it give us a look at some guys that we haven’t yet seen much of. That could be for multiple reasons, like they aren’t from OTH’s traditional coverage area, they have been a JV guy in the past and, in some cases, they are freshmen who haven’t played in high school yet.
Owen Prater of Rochester is a guy that the Fort Wayne area may not know but he proved they should. The workhorse in almost every game he played, Prater put up monster numbers when you consider he came out averaging 11 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals (a league best 13 total steals). Prater just does everything and even though Rochester doesn’t cut into the area domain much, if ever, you should get to know Owen Prater.
Kyle Hartsough of Lakeland would be the one to mention the most here if he hadn’t made such a big and noteworthy splash early on in the league that led me to delve into him individually before. Yet, he did still certainly raise the level of attention on him.
Jake Stoy of Prairie Heights remained critically involved in most things when he was on the court. As the weeks went on, you could see his confidence rise and his defense became among the best in the league. Stoy read the floor well and found ways to facilitate his team every game even though how he could and needed to facilitate the team changed almost game to game.
Gannon Smith of Mississinewa was one of the few out of area players to participate this year. His change of pace within 10 feet made him difficult to defend at times and his midrange pull up or turnaround became lethal in some games. His Ole Miss running mate Preston McCann was one of our “now you know the name” guys last year from the league and he turned up in big ways again this year, showing off his court vision and passing ability upgrades.
OTH’S OPINION: ALL-LEAGUE TEAM
Jackson McGee, Leo
• As noted in the MVP talk, McGee was sensational for more than 50 percent of the league, outdoing the “really good” he was the first two weeks. His scoring touch from all three levels was impressive, as was his solid rebound outings and his ability to get those boards and go. McGee had great leadership just by being able to start transition plays so well.
Ryker Quake, East Noble
• Quake was what you’d call a game buster. Too many times I typed out over four weeks that the other team did something important only for Quake to thwart it on the other end with a big three pointer. Quake led the league in three point makes and averaged 14.5 points per game.
Qualyn Clopton, Snider
• Clopton was one of the biggest noise makers in the league, especially considering that he has really been the center of attention on a varsity level yet. Expect that to change if he plays at Snider like he did in the Summit Summer League. He was confident, he handled pressure well and put on a solid amount of his own pressure. Clopton averaged 14.7 points and was third in the league in total assists.
Joey Taylor, Churubusco
• Taylor’s ability to get down hill and the speed of his game made him a tough coverage. He would literally just take over game in multi-possession spurts. His 14.5 points per game was tied for fourth in the league while he shot 61 percent from inside the arc. He also averaged 4.3 rebounds and had a league fourth best nine steals.
Jevon Lewis, Wayne
• Lewis came in starting in week two and was a high volume performer every game. He did get one game winner in the Elam Ending format to put a cap on his six game stretch, where he averaged a league best 24.3 points per game. He also managed to be fifth in the league in assist despite not playing the first week.
These opinions represent those of Bounce and Outside the Huddle. No opinions expressed on Outside the Huddle represent those of any of our advertisers. Follow Bounce on Twitter at Bounce_OTH
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