Savon Goodman Can Play

Yesterday Hawk Hill Hardwood gave you a recap of Wednesday's Academy of the New Church game against Plymouth-Whitemarsh. Plymouth-Whitemarsh was led by MVP CJ Aiken, junior forward Jaylen Bond, and senior guard Whis Grant. Today we will look at three of Academy of the New Church's players: junior center Malcolm Gilbert, junior big Roc Christmas, and sophomore forward Savon Goodman.

Malcolm Gilbert- Malcolm is a 6'11 center for Academy of the New Church who I had seen twice prior to this game. He did not get much in the way of touches or minutes in this game. Malcolm's offensive game is raw at this time but he is already quite a defensive presence. In this game, he scored a bucket, had a few rebounds, and at least one big-time block. Again, Malcolm's minutes were limited in this game. He is a player with all kinds of college options. The Hawks are involved with Malcolm, as are a number of other schools. This game was not a particularly strong performance, but the talent, size, and athleticism are certainly there for Malcolm to be a legitimate college center.

Rakeem Christmas- Roc is one of the most highly-regarded post players nationally in the junior class. Christmas is currently looking at five colleges: Florida, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgetown, and Florida International. In this game, he showed glimpses of the talent that has so many college coaches salivating. First of all, Roc looks more like a college junior than a high school sophomore. He is already built to play in the post at the college level. Toward the end of the game, he had a block on the fast break that demonstrated his athleticism and tenacity. He plays with a bit of a mean streak, one that you are likely to either love or hate. Roc was very frustrated throughout this game, and that is reflected in the fact that he only scored five points in the outing. Christmas is likely to be one of those players that is much better at the college level than the high school level due to the very nature of the game.

Savon Goodman (pictured above)- While Christmas gets most of the attention for Academy of the New Church, it was Goodman who starred in this game. Goodman, a 6'5 sophomore forward, won MVP honors for his team in this game, scoring 20 points. Goodman scored most of his points at the rim in this outing, either on dunks or acrobatic layups. Like Christmas, Goodman looks nothing like a high school player. Goodman likely projects as a 3 at the college level, and like Plymouth-Whitemarsh's Jaylen Bond, he will have to continue to work on his perimeter skills. He did demonstrate an ability to put the ball on the court and drive past his man. A number of college coaches, including SJU's Phil Martelli, Rutgers' Fred Hill, and La Salle's Dr. John Giannini, were in attendance. Goodman has a while to go before making a college decision, but it is likely that he will have nearly every school in America interested in his ability. Savon has elite level athleticism and showed an understanding of the game, both offensively and defensively. On one play in this game, he met PW's CJ Aiken a good six inches above the rim. Keep in mind that Aiken has hops and is a solid four inches taller than Savon. The only player in Philadelphia in the junior class that will give Savon a run for his money for top billing was also in attendance. Friends' Central's Amile Jefferson was in attendance for the game although his team was not playing. Savon and Amile are two names that you are likely to hear for a long time.

Photo Courtesy of Scout.com