BAILEE SYNATSCHK
I had a blast covering the Girls Jr Phenom Camp and was overly excited at the abundance of potential I saw in so many of the players in attendance, most of which I have never seen before. I started covering girls' basketball in Texas over 15 years ago because I felt they weren't getting enough attention while I was running across the country coaching my own daughters.
My youngest has been playing in the WNBA for almost 10 years while the oldest, who was more skilled, told me in high school she didn't want to continue playing after hurting her Achilles, she's now an attorney and I tease her by saying "I guess it worked it out after all"
Here's the deal, everyone is different and has different paths, keep working on your game if this is what you want, I have seen players get cut in the 9th grade that wound up playing at the next level, some at the highest of the next so here is my first article as I'm starting with the youngest and working my way up, high school players will be
on my website
Bailee Synatschk (2032) is "long and athletic" which I call the base and it's a profile I love to evaluate. One thing that immediately stood out was her "playing the passing lane" another thing I love to see and handle the ball afterward. She also rebounded and went coast to coast to score yet she took the defender off the dribble and showed nice body control on her finishes
Campbell Baldwin (2033) is an athletic guard that already understands how to use her athleticism on both ends. Her "on the ball" defense helped create turnovers, her lateral movement and recognizing when to switch stood out, so did her ballhandling in the open court and she handled the ball while being pressured. She rebounded and attacked the basket strongly for buckets
Jaslyn Kuluwaimaka (2033) had me smiling off the top as I tweeted about her intensity and one thing I love is seeing things you can't teach. She falls into a category I hashtag #sizedontmatter because she can play and her ability at this stage to create her shot to get it off or attack the basket is ahead of her years, so is her understanding of "positioning" to outrebound taller players
Khaila Key (2033) has the right last name because she's already "unlocking" many things on the court. Her ballhandling and court vision are definitely going to create problems as her "on the court" progression" continues but peep this, she's already showing the "step-back". Her first step is deceptive as it enabled her to get by the defender to score and she has quick hands which got her some steals
Tegan Jensen (2033) did a good job creating her shot and I can tell she's been watching her older sister based on her mannerisms. Her pull-up jumper in the set was nice, she even showed it in transition but her playing within herself and not forcing anything also stood out to me. She also attacked the basket and finished plus her defense was solid
