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Four Takeaways from the NBPA Top 100 Camp

2017 NBPA TOP 100

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA; 2017 NBPA Top 100 Games held at the John Paul Jones Arena at UVA. (Photo by Kelly Kline/Under Armour)

Kelly Kline/Under Armour

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The NBPA Top 100 Camp is annually one of the most important events during the summer recruiting calendar because it brings together the most talent of any event before the July live evaluation period.

With many of the nation’s elite prospects going to battle at the University of Virginia, here’s a look at some main takeaways from the event as I focus on the Class of 2018 players in attendance.

1. The battle for best point guard in the Class of 2018 will be the July storyline to keep an eye on

It’s been noted many times on CBT, and elsewhere, that the Class of 2018 doesn’t have a lot of top-end, one-and-done type of talent. While the lack of NBA-level star power might hurt the college game for one season -- with the sport’s heavy reliance on elite freshmen now -- the overall depth at point guard is certainly shaping up to be very solid for the Class of 2018. And that point guard depth will also help college basketball in a major way in the coming years.

Even with a few elite lead guards like Darius Garland and Tre Jones not competing in Virginia, the point guards took center stage at Top 100 Camp. And it made for some excellent individual battles that should set up for a very fun July.

Five-star Immanuel Quickley was perhaps the best long-term prospect among the group, but that title was challenged by a bevy of competitors that included Rivals top-40 prospects such as DePaul commit Tyger Campbell, Ayo Dosunmu, Devon Dotson, Quentin Grimes, Louisville commit Courtney Ramey, Javonte Smart, Jahvon Quinerly and Elijah Weaver. And that’s not even factoring in the top-flight Class of 2019 point guards like Cole Anthony and Ashton Hagans who were in attendance as well.

Beyond that first group, the depth in the class also shined at camp as West Virginia commit Jordan McCabe, Notre Dame commit Prentiss Hubb and TCU commit Kendric Davis were all among the camp’s leaders in assists.

Camps can be sloppy and have moments of uninspired play, but this year’s camp felt slightly more competitive thanks to all of these point guards going to war. Here’s to hoping that these guys continue to play this competitively in July and beyond.

2. Simi Shittu is a monster (with a potentially fascinating recruiting battle)

One of the notable stock risers of this spring in the Class of 2018 has been Canadian forward Simi Shittu (pictured above). Elevating into the top 10 of most major national rankings, the 6-foot-9 Shittu did nothing but backup his lofty status with his outstanding play at the Top 100 Camp.

Far-and-away the most productive player in the camp, Shittu was a complete monster during the entirety of the event. Shittu was a double-double machine who was nearly impossible to keep off the offensive glass. Leading the camp in both points and rebounds, Shittu’s recruitment is going to be fascinating to watch this July because many of the traditional bluebloods are jumping in later than normal for a top-ten prospect.

While Shittu has mentioned schools like Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, Syracuse and UConn during the spring, N.C. State recently offered a scholarship while Duke, Kentucky and North Carolina have all made recent inquiries. Seeing which head coaches -- specifically the newer schools entering the recruitment late -- make Shittu an early priority in July will be something to watch for.

3. Besides Shittu, where did all the big men go?

For as many good point guards as there were at this year’s Top 100 Camp, there was also a noticeable lack of elite post players in attendance outside of Shittu as the Class of 2018 doesn’t appear to have a lot of instant-impact bigs.

There are certainly some top-end talents in the class like Marvin Bagley, Bol Bol and Moses Brown, but with none of those guys playing in Virginia, it meant for a guard-dominated camp. Guards typically dominate the ball in camp settings to begin with, but this year, they really didn’t have much reason to throw the ball into the post.

Five-star big man Nazreon Reid was the most talented 2018 big man in the building, besides Shittu, but he still has a lot of work to do with his shot selection in order to be fully counted on at the next level. There were flashes when the 6-foot-10 Reid displayed frightening athleticism and ability for a player his size and then he would settle for a one-footed stepback from 17 feet away that came up as an airball all within the same minute of play.

Four-star center David McCormack also continues to make strides in his game this spring as he showed post scoring ability that few players in the camp could match. But McCormack only played a limited number of games after playing the previous week in Italy for adidas Eurocamp, so the limited post play was made even worse.

Since the game continues to evolve into more and more of a perimeter-oriented contest, it could mean that we see fewer post prospects, but I have a feeling that this is just an instance of one particular class just not having a lot of high-level big men.

4. Despite last week, Louisville is in great position with regards to future recruiting

Most of the major headlines in college basketball last week were geared around Louisville and the fallout from their scandal. Even with the Cardinals facing so many potential sanctions from that scandal, it doesn’t seem to be slowing them down when it comes to future recruiting.

The team’s Class of 2018 recruiting haul both had solid moments at Top 100 as shooting guard Anfernee Simons, in particular, looked like a solid future ACC presence. With his ability to knock down perimeter jumpers while also attacking the basket, the 6-foot-2 Simons was one of the toughest covers at the event as he has the look of a potential go-to scorer for the Cardinals.

The 6-foot-3 Ramey was also steady during most of the camp, as he showed that he can score and distribute with equal effectiveness.

While Louisville has its backcourt of the future already committed in the Class of 2018, Class of 2019 prospects also seemed receptive to what the Cardinals have to offer. With June 15th being the first day college coaches could directly contact Class of 2019 prospects -- falling right in the midst of Top 100 Camp -- many of the elite prospects in attendance mentioned that Louisville had called for them in the opening 24 hours of being able to do so.

It is still early to tell how that recruiting class at Louisville might unfold but many of those prospects were just excited to hear from Rick Pitino. Judging strictly on prospect perception, there seems to be minimal fallout (if any) from the Katina Powell scandal and Louisville should keep landing high-level players.