City of Palms Wednesday: ACC recruits shine, Chandler remains must-see
FORT MYERS, FL. – The City of Palms Classic kicked off on Wednesday with some of the best from the region and those nationally descending upon the Sunshine State. Looking back at the day’s top takeaways, it was another strong showing from North Carolina bound RJ Davis, while Duke and Virginia recruits displayed the capacity to immediately impact their future college stops, and Kennedy Chandler remaining a must-see prospect.
CHANDLER IS MUST-SEE
There was plenty of good to takeaway from Kennedy Chandler’s first contest in Florida. For one, I am not sure that there is anyone in America faster from endline to endline than the five-star junior. Better yet, it seems that he has gotten more athletic since the travel season which makes it that much more difficult to stay in front of him. Chandler repeatedly put his defenders into difficult positions off of the attack but also was no slouch on the defensive end where he looks the part of a premier on the ball defender.
It would have been nice to see him make more than just one jumper but a stat line of 25 points, six rebounds and four assists will do. Following his outing, Chandler sounded upbeat about his recent Duke and North Carolina offers. He has already scheduled an unofficial visit to UNC for their contest with Duke late this winter, and is currently working on an unofficial visit to Duke, just as well.
In the meantime, two official visits remain on the docket for once the New Year arrives which will take him to Florida State and Michigan, with the Wolverines dispatching head coach Juwan Howard for his game.
RJ DAVIS TAKES THE RIGHT STEP
Scoring has never been a deficiency of RJ Davis’ which it is what he is valued for the greatest. The North Carolina bound guard was one of the Nike circuit’s top scorers this past summer so it wasn’t a surprise to see him finish with 22 points in his opening session. He scored from each level with precision but impressed the greatest in his passing abilities. It is not like Davis was unable to create for others in the past but showing that he can not only create for himself but also make others better raises the ceiling of what he can achieve in college and beyond.
Davis made a number of timely passes around the basket and looked more than capable of running his team at the point of attack. Don’t get me wrong, he will be first relied upon for his scoring next year at UNC. Alongside Caleb Love, Davis should have the chance to slide onto the ball in spurts and take some of the pressure off of the shoulders of Love which would let the high-flying athlete go and get a bucket whenever he might like, too.
I get that things are tough in Chapel Hill currently but from what we saw on Wednesday, the optimism gained from the early signing period last month was only strengthened further thanks to the progressions reflected by Davis on Wednesday.
