You can officially sign me up to be the driver of the Aaron Bright bandwagon. In a tournament that featured over 30 DI prospects, and some of the top high school talent in the country, Bright led his Bellevue team to the tournament championship.
Aaron Bright (Bellevue):
Here is a great piece from Rivals about Bright's performance in the semi-final round victory over Bishop O' Dowd
Aaron Bright- It's hard to understand what the high majors are waiting on with this 2010 prospect. With only an offer from Eastern Washington, Bright is not just a high major prospect. He is a high major prospect who is a winner. Great going either direction, Bright is strong and quick with the basketball and guarding the ball. He gets the ball in the hole without being a high volume shooter. And he has the toughness and decision making abilities that make a team gravitate to his leadership.
He finished with 26 points on 8-13 shooting, 3-7 from three, 7-8 from the line, three rebounds, one steal, four assists and three turnovers.
Am I the only who immediately thinks of Gerry McNamara when reading this? It sounds like Bright is not only an elite level player, but he is also a tremendous leader and teammate. In the championship game, Bright matched up with Andrew Bock and his Eisenhower teammates. Bock is committed to to Creighton, and was actually a participant at the Gonzaga Elite Camp this past summer. Bock averaged 20.8 points per game during the tournament, but was held to only 9 points in the championship game. On the other hand, Aaron Bright was terrific in the championship game, as he scored 18 points in the victory. It's time for Coach Few and the rest of the staff to offer Aaron Bright and lock him up for the class of 2010.
Terrell Stoglin (Santa Rita):
While Aaron Bright and his Bellevue teammates were on their way to a championship performance, Terrell Stoglin didn't share the same fortune. After beginning the tournament 1-1, Santa Rita fell to both the Bellarmine teams in the tournament.
Rivals had this to say about the great individual match up between Terrell Stoglin and Abdul Gaddy.
Terrell Stoglin- (30 points on 9-29 shooting, 7-22 from three, 5-6 from the line, nine rebounds, five assists, two turnovers)
Obviously, Stoglin didn't have an efficient shooting game, but the junior's run in the fourth quarter was impressive. The lefty sank four three-pointers in a row to start the quarter to give his team the lead.
Stoglin, a stocky scoring guard from the point position, had several schools watching him, including Oregon State, San Diego, California and UNLV. Texas A&M, who Stoglin considers his leader, watched him earlier in the event. Along with Texas A&M, Stoglin lists Gonzaga, Maryland, Kansas State, San Diego, Wichita State, Georgia Tech, Oregon State and Penn State on his school list. Out of these schools Stoglin claims offers from Maryland, San Diego, Texas A&M and Penn State.
Wanting to play the point in college, Stoglin will have to improve his foot speed to play the position at a high level. He does, however have both a feel for getting his shot off from behind the arc and passing the ball in transition. Making things happen off penetration, however, is not his strong suit.
Despite the poor shooting performance in this game, Stoglin put together a fantastic game against arguably the top PG in the 2009 class. However, Stoglin couldn't keep up the production against Bellarmine Prep (CA), as he was limited to 12 points in the 66-41 loss. I like Stoglin a whole lot, but something about the winning attitude and consistent production from Bright has me smitten. Both would be great options for the Zags, and it might be nice to have Bright redshirt for a year to get stronger, and have Stoglin play as a freshman.