When I first saw Daneichka Canales at the DFW Elite Fall Finish Camp o Friday, I had no idea she was a 2012. Heading to the 9th grade, yeah maybe as several younger players were in attendance. The first thing that impressed me was her speed and the ability to get to the basket anytime she wanted to. Diamalisse Barcelo also appeared to be young as I watched her go through the drills. She had good size and footwork however something was missing during the drills.
Whatever was missing was quickly found during the games played on Saturday and Sunday and she saved her best for one of the best teams in the tournament, DFW Washington, as she simply went into beast mode scoring on a variety of ways inside and out along with quickly making me do an about face as I was impressed by her arsenal of offensive weapons, remember my saying, it's not what you do, it's who you do it against.
Finding out those kids were from Puerto Rico reminded me of how Carla Cortigo took Houston by storm when she arrived. She took Bellaire from being a good team to a legitimate contender and made it the cool school to go to in HISD for GBB. Pictured above, she drives against fellow 2005 graduate Takia Starks as both represented Houston in Big 12 from that star studded class. I'm sure the question many want to know is do I believe these kids can play at the next level. The answer is yes and though they might not be clones of Carlo, both bring something to the table and have the ability to play somewhere.