DC Assault's Take Your Best Shot a Sign of Things to Come
Ron Bailey, Publisher
May 7, 2008 – “We wanted to bring some notoriety to some of the kids we have around here” said DC Assault (AAU) General Manager, Damon Handon, of what drove him to conceptualize and operationalize this weekend’s ‘Take Your Best Shot’ tournament. “With our schedule, we don’t play a lot in the DC/Baltimore area, and people always want to see us and play us.
“We wanted to do this to help the basketball community in this area. We are well respected nationally; we have to use that to highlight the kids here. This is area is on par with the likes of New York, Chicago, L.A. and other places in terms of talent”.
No doubt, as DC Assault, founded in the early nineties by Curtis Malone, Handon, and others, has carved out a name and reputation on the national youth travel team circuit; when people see the name, they assume a talented, hard playing, tough group of players will be presented.
This weekend at Hoop Magic Sports Academy in Chantilly, VA, Assault will do just that, as the organization has seven teams entered in the event, a confab spanning from the 14 and under through 17 and under classifications. Play starts Friday, and continues through Championship Sunday.
A brief overview of some of Assault’s entries is illuminating:
17 and under Gold: “They are progressing well” said Handon of his organization’s flagship squad. “They made it to the semifinals of tournaments they played in, despite having a lot of kids who are from out of town, so it’s hard to practice”.
Junior forward Wally Judge (Kansas State) leads the team, and is rounding into form after only playing the 2nd half of this high school season at Arlington Country Day (FL), leading that team to a state title. Joining him, amongst others, is junior Darryl Traynham, a diminutive, quick point guard that attended Vance High School (NC), where the team advanced to the state final four. Xavier has just offered Traynham, adding to scholarship pledges from Charlotte, Kansas State, Oregon, and George Mason already received.
16 and under Gold: Possibly Assault’s best team, this crew won 40 straight games spanning to last travel team season, before losing in the championship of this year’s LeBron James Tournament.
Of this team, coached by Zach Suber, Handon remarked “I think we have one of the top two 16 and under teams in the country.
Many would not disagree, as the team is chock full of talent. Sophomore forward Josh Hairston has already received a number offers, with Georgetown, UVA, Maryland and Ohio State long being suitors. Other heavies, such as North Carolina, UCLA, and Texas are starting to show major interest.
Sophomore guard Tyler Thornton, ever the team leader, is also continuing to turn heads, as is up and coming backcourt man Eric Atkins; According to Handon, Thornton made “one of the most miraculous plays I’ve seen in my life” by stealing the ball at halfcourt and shooting it, all at the buzzer, while Atkins is “having a great spring”.
Making matters worst for opponents is the bounty of other players at Zuber’s disposal, including up and coming sophomore guard Ced Lindsey – who dropped 28 points in the Pittsburgh Jam Fest’s championship game – and sophomore backcourt man Donte Thomas, a scorer relatively unknown outside of the D.C. area.
15 and Under Gold: “This is the first year these kids have played together” remarked Handon, “and they made it to the final four in Pittsburgh. I’m happy and pleased with their progress”.
Led by Chris Martin and Quinn Cook, “two of the better guards in the country in the 2011 class” according to Handon, the squad leaves him feeling “the future is definitely promising…we have some kids that people might not have heard of and have a chance to become a big time player”.
Take Your Best Shot consists of almost 80 teams, with about 70 hailing from the DC/Baltimore area. That local number, while decent, was short of Handon’s expectations. “I wanted all the local teams to participate” lamented Assault’s General Manager, “that’s what I really wanted. But we will go with what we’ve got and the event will only get bigger and better next year”.
That sentiment – future events will be even better - was echoed by Curtis Symonds, Hoop Magic Sports Academy’s founder and owner: “In the midst of the heavy summer basketball season, Hoop Magic continues to bring great tournaments to the Maryland/DC/Virginia area.
“It would behoove all the ‘Basketball Gods’ to come up and see this as a preliminary of what we’ll put together during a sanctioned event in July”.
Symonds, a sports broadcasting and professional hoops management veteran, was quick to also indicate Arize Ifejika’s work in organizing Take Your Best Shot was indispensable. “We’re very pleased to have a young cat like him hustling in the streets” said Symonds of Ifejika, Hoop Magic’s Youth Tournament Director, “to bring good talent to Hoop Magic”.
Come on down to 14810 Murdock Street, Chantilly, VA and check out Take Your Best Shot. With DC Assault, Symonds, Ifejika and the rest of the Hoop Magic crew’s work, this is the shape of things to come in DC/B’More youth basketball tournament action.
Be sure to read tournament coverage, including all-star teams and championship round play on i95Ballerz.com.