Emilee Skinner
Lexi Blue and Brynn McGaughy give fives warming up for Team 3SSB Select. *All photos courtesy of @3SSBGCIRCUIT.
TREVISO, Italy — This summer Adidas really stepped up its investment in creating an elite experience for some of the best female high school players. Adidas Basketball in concert with the 3SSB League brought girls to the EuroCamp for the first time.
A lineup of 20 players from the USA joined a similarly sized group of players from Europe for a four-team round robin event in Treviso, Italy. The entire group participated daily camp sessions before competing each evening.
There was no shortage of talent. After multiple camp sessions, practices and games here’s what I learned coaching these players in a truly unique environment.
PART II – TEAM 3SSB SELECT
What Goryanova may lack in size she makes up for in every other area of the game. Her vision and passing ability, whether at the point or on the wing, was unmatched. She has a fiery disposition on the floor that is infectious. As a scorer she both shot the ball from deep and used change of pace to get to the rim.
Berry proved to be a sparkplug for her team, bringing authentic energy to the floor. After battling some allergies she capped off the trip in the championship games with a terrific game. She was disruptive defensively, created extra possessions for her teams and in short shot clock situations she was unafraid to make a play.
The thing about Blue’s game is that she already has a pro scoring skill, her quick catch-and-shoot, but this time in Italy really showed she’s just scratching the surface of what she can be. Her length and quickness showed and she really impressed by pushing past her comfort zone to try and get to the basket and play through contact. She also brings positivity to every one of her teammates.
There are players with length and then there’s Roberson. What was awesome to see in this setting was that she didn’t rely solely on her length. There was a real effort throughout the trip to show she could be physical and impactful in traffic. Her growth playing off of two feet and powering up was impressive. She decided to sprinkle in some trail threes while she was at it.
Byles was selected as one of two Future Stars by Adidas, awarded to standouts among the youngest players in the event. Byles has a terrific straight line scoring skill set that was a perfect fit for punishing defenses on the back side. She has the size to finish through a bump and the footwork to elevate and score in the midrange if you overreact to the drive.
Sneed has long been known as a defensive stalwart. And with the amount of ball screen action to defend here, her team needed that. But she was also a confident pace setter for her team. When she was on a patient attack she showed the poise to finish in traffic and get her team to relax and play smooth.
They say it’s not who starts but who finishes and this was more than just coach speak. Skinner was asked to come in at all three perimeter positions and lead and this tough, slashing guard did just that. Her physicality and ability to change roles with each personnel group was impressive and a big part of her earning All EuroCamp Team honors.
McGaughy started the EuroCamp competitions like she was shot out of a cannon, being aggressive and creating early offense to set the tone for 3SSB Select. She played the wing and forward spots here. Her ability to elevate and score in traffic stood out and she responded really well to challenges to be a rebounding threat on both ends.
Oliver is sneaky good. Watching film you see the countless ways she impacts winning and losing. Standing 6-1 she was far from the biggest forward in the competition but her strength and I.Q. allowed her to be factor. The ball never sticks with her. She’s always looking for the best option and as time went on she got more assertive finding her opportunities too.
To be limited to only non-contact drills for over a week, Prince showed incredible focus and maturity. Returning from injury you can tell she’s ready to go and she certainly will make an impact. We saw glimpses of her passing and scoring and she made it to the finals of the 3-point shooting championship too.
Chris Hansen is managing editor of ProspectsNation.com and serves on the McDonald’s All-American and Naismith Trophy selection committees. He was a co-founder of and the national director of scouting for ESPN HoopGurlz from 2005 until 2012 and is the director of the Check Me Out Showcase and ELITE is EARNED events. He can be reached at chris@chrishansenbasketball.com.
