Favors, Wall Dominate TOC

Derrick Favors and John Wall were the big winners at the Bob Gibbons Tournament of Champions this past weekend in North Carolina.

The 6-foot-9 Favors paced the Atlanta Celtics to a 72-62 victory over Team Breakdown in the U17 championship game despite 29 points from Kenny Boynton. Favors tallied 20 points and may have had a triple-double had official stats been kept, according to Tim Stevens of the News & Observer.

"I'm legendary now," Favors told Stevens after being voted the tournament's most valuable player.

Favors is ranked No. 1 in the Class of 2009 by Scout.com and Gibbons.

"He is at a different level," Dave Telep of Scout told Stevens. "There are other elite players, but he is something special.

"There was some separation between him and all the other guys."

Favors says he's considering Kansas, Duke, North Carolina, Memphis, Kentucky, North Carolina State, Georgia and Georgia Tech.

**Wall, a 2009 PG out of Word of God Christian Academy, has been compared to Memphis PG Derrick Rose, the potential No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

During one game, Wall bounced an inbounds pass off an opponent’s back and skied for a slam dunk. He lists N.C. State, Kentucky, Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Virginia among others

**Dominic Cheek, another 2009 star from Jersey City St. Anthony, lists Wake Forest, Texas, Connecticut, Virginia, Kansas, Rutgers, Seton Hall, and Pittsburgh among his possible destinations.

**Tobias Harris, a 6-8 sophomore from Half Hollow Hills HIgh in Dix Hills, N.Y., led the Baltimore tTars to the Championship Select game at Bob Gibbons, losing to Boo Williams. Harris averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds on the weekend.

He is considering a number of schools, with Rutgers being the first to offer.

"Kansas, Louisville, Wake Forest, Miami and Baylor have been showing strong interest," said Torrel Harris, Tobias' dad and AAU coach.

(Photos courtesy Rivals)

Comments

[Dre]

Boynton dominated the tournament far more than John Wall. If not for a late defensive switch onto the afforementioned Cheek, Team Breakdown wouldn't have even reached the Finals.

Boynton carried his team offensively throughout the Tournament of Champions, but particularly as Brandon Knight played sluggishly throughout Sunday.

In terms of Favors, he is very likely to stay within Georgia (Felton is in the driver's seat).

In terms of Wall, his mother would like him to play for Sidney Lowe, but Dwon Clifton [his 27 year old AAU coach and an ex-player (Clemson/UNC-G)] runs his recruiting now. Given the problems brewing at NCSU, Wall will likely land at Memphis.

[Adam Zagoria]

Dre,
Thanks for the post. Can you shoot me an email when you get a chance at zagoria@northjersey.com. Thanks.

[Connell62]

Dre,

What makes you say that Felton is in the drivers seat with Derrick Favors? Is that your assumption? Word here in Atlanta is that GT is also in a very good position with him. He grew up a GT fan. UGA is definitely in it with him, but they're far from being in the drivers seat.

Please do share if you have additional information.

Shane

[Dre]

Shane,

Favors is one of the nicer kids in his recruiting class, but it can be difficult to get a straight answer out of him, as he has a tendency to tell publications in each venue he visits the answers he believes they want to hear.

I spoke with him twice in the last month and he didn't dismiss the notion that coaches feel it will be very difficult to get him out of Georgia. Hewitt is an excellent recruiter and, as you said, he grew up a Georgia Tech fan, but the perception is that Felton has made major inroads (Trey Thompkins has certainly helped) in Favors' recruitment. In Akron (King James), his AAU coach (Atlanta Celtics) indicated that he knew where Derrick was going to choose, but was unwilling to disclose it at that time.

Realistically, this is a two-horse race and I expect Derrick to take his time, but, at this stage, UGA is in the lead.

[Connell62]

Thats the feeling around here as well, that is a two horse race. A lot has been made of the Trey Thompkins/Favors friendship, but I think that is overblown really. I've always felt that it was 50/50 with regard to GT/UGA landing Favors, but I still don't think that UGA is leading.

Honestly, I think that GT has more going for them. His family would be able to see every game with a short drive, Hewitt has a great track record with lottery selections (Bosh and T. Young), and we play in the ACC.

Not to doubt your insight, you seem well connected, but at this point, I'm not prepared to claim that UGA is leading. At least I hope that they aren't.