Every year there seems to be a handful of uber athletic high flyers from the high school ranks that play the game of basketball from above the rim. Long gone are the days of the slow footed back-to-the basket centers and prototypical textbook style jump-shooters that could barely jump over a phonebook. Today’s crop of up-and-coming ballers appear to be bigger, stronger, and have way more hops than we competed against growing up.
Take for example Deuce Bello, the Greensboro, NC native that has turned dunking into an artform during his high school career. Bello has always been a high flyer who has been featured on ESPN’s SportCenter too many times to count in his sophomore campaign. Probably his most memorable dunk was when as the 17 year old junior at Westchester Country Day, pulled off a sweet Eastbay Funk Dunk during live game action.
His dunking prowess has begun to reach legendary status after besting some of the HS ranks’ elite players to win the dunk contest at the 2011 Elite Boost Mobile Game. He amazingly finished off a windmill jam while jumping over HS teammate Quincy Miller to take home the crown.
But don’t get it twisted. Deuce is rapidly developing into one of the premier prospects in the 2011 HS Class. While at first just known for primarily dunking, he has improved ball-handling and shot selection to earn him a Top 50 ranking in the talented ’11 Class. Many high major collegiate coaches agree since he fielded a number of Division I scholarship offers from Louisville, Florida State, Oklahoma, and Wake Forest before committing to play at Baylor alongside fellow elite level recruit and HS teammate Quincy Miller for next season. Both players, along with the returning Perry Jones III, will form quite a formidable trio in the Big 12 in ’11-’12.
Blessed with through the roof athleticism, I marvel when watching just how easily Bello gets up, and stays up with incredible hang-time, then finishes with authority numerous times during high school games. While to this point he clearly favors his right hand, Bello has the potential to develop into a premier NBA prospect, if he sticks around the Baylor campus for a few seasons.
Check out Deuce Bello’s amazing HS career mixtape:
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
