Harmon is Raising Ballou's Game, Hopefully Interest
Ron Bailey, Publisher
Senior tranfer has Knights poised for big things.
December 23, 2009 - Having reached D.C.'s City Title Game for the first time ever last year, and returning the majority of that squad this season, many penciled in the Knights for an end of season return to the Verizon Center, where they quite likely could again face DeMatha, one of the best teams on the East Coast. Those expectations followed Ballou before the addition of a player that has upped the stakes.
Enter Zalmico Harmon, the senior, 5'11", 180 pound point.
Ballou's (7-1) lone defeat so far came in California's Mission Prep Christmas Classic today, an event the Knights were likely a Zalmico injury away from winning.
"We were up by 10, in the first half" shared his father, AAU coach, and an assistant at Ballou, Mike Harmon. Zalmico went down with an injured ankle, and almost immediately the Knight's fortunes went South, as they found themselves down by two early in the third quarter.
Illustrating the younger Harmon's importance to Ballou, he re-entered the game in the second half, and despite facing constant harassing pressure by Taft - one of the best team's in Los Angeles - immediately stabilized his team. The contest was nip and tuck until its conclusion, which saw the Knights fall by three, 65-62.
Further proof of the kid's impact was Zalmico's performance against National Christian earlier this month, where this writer witnessed him utterly control the tempo in a 66-55 victory. Harmon dished, scored, and ran the team.
Zalmico Harmon has brought stability to the Ballou Knights.
Averaging around 16 points and eight dimes a game, Harmon has, as another Ballou assistant, Doug Dormu this week noted, "brought a lot of leadership to the squad. A lot of balance. What a point guard does".
Part of that is leading by example; Zalmico is the first to attend voluntary early morning workouts at his Southeast, Washington, DC high school. Of those sessions, he recounted after the NCA game "I've just been working hard, getting up early and running. Then I do full court drills, pull up drills, a lot of stuff".
Zalmico's presence has clearly benefited the other players, none more than Donte Thomas: One of the most explosive scorers in the Washington/Baltimore region, Thomas, as Dormu stated "Can play off the ball a little bit (now), not be so tired. He (Thomas) can play defense". Actually, the entire crew has strapped more, taking a cue from Harmon - the Knights have notched about eight swipes per game according to Dormu.
Locking up defenders has long been a strong point of Zalmico, who did the same in scant playing time for Bishop O'Connell (VA) the three previous years. The problem was his offensive and floor leader skills were never spotlighted. And a knee injury last year didn't help.
Those limited school year minutes didn't aid Harmon's AAU team, God's Glory, in providing him recruiting looks. Resultantly schools haven't approached him as they probably should, leaving his father to share "To be honest, some (NCAA) DII's (have been interested). Jacksonville University called me the other day. Lehigh asked for his paper work".
Teams in need of a tough floor general, one with a 3.75 GPA who is qualified for Division I play, will have a plethora of opportunities to scout him, including a mid-January return to Baltimore, where Lake Clifton awaits again. In addition to the Lakers, a team with one of the most hotly recruited seniors in the country, Josh Selby, City College also is on tap during Mayor's Cup action.
Furthermore, during the 28th-31st of this month Ballou plays in Little Rock, Arkansas's Heaven's Best Tournament, and Scott County, KY will welcome the Knights January 21st-23rd for the Toyota Classic. Those events are of course in addition to DC Interhigh Athletic Association action.
If he continues to go under-recruited, college coaches walking around AAU/travel team tourneys lamenting the existence of pass first, floor leader point guards will only be able to blame themselves. One exists in Zalmico Harmon.