MORGANTOWN — While Oscar Tshiebwe and Miles McBride are the main attraction at today’s Scott Brown Classic at University High, the WVU signees will have a chance to go up against other Division-I talent before playing for the Mountaineers.
Tshiebwe and McBride will play for Employers’ Innovative Network, coached by UHS’s Joe Schmidle. Tshiebwe’s Kennedy Catholic teammate Mattia Acunzo, a Toledo commit, will also play, but the rest of the roster is comprised of some of the top seniors in the state, though none garner Division-I interest.
The opposing team, Midstate Automotive coached by Fairmont Senior’s Dave Retton, will feature a group of Huntington Prep and Teays Valley Christian prospects, led by Quinn Slazinski, who is headed to Louisville.
Slazinski, at 6-foot-7, is a 3-star power forward according to Rivals.com. He holds offers from Cal, Georgia Tech, Houston, Oklahoma State, Rice, TCU, Texas A&M, Wake Forest and Xavier.
Perhaps the most physically similar player Tshiebwe will face in the post is Teays Valley Christian’s Anderson Mirambeaux. Tshiebwe is 6-foot-9, 250 pounds, while Mirambeaux stands at 6-foot-7 and weights 275 pounds.
Mirambeaux is headed to Morehead State.
Other frontcourt players that could matchup with Tshiebwe include Beckley Prep’s 6-foot-11 center Harry Morrice, who is undecided
McBride will go up against the likes of Huntington Prep’s Greg Tribble. Like McBride, Tribble is a Cincinnati native and holds offers from Kent State, Morehead State, Stony Brook, Toledo and Youngstown State.
Huntington Prep also features Alex Dutranoy, an uncommitted guard with Division-II interest.
Both rosters are filled with players who have yet to make a decision on where they want to play next, but many have Division-II and Division-III interest.
Schmidle knows that all-star games are a chance for players to showcase their abilities in front of college coaches, as well as an award for high school success. With just one practice, figuring out matchups and roles is the biggest need he wants to stress.
“The smartest thing to do with that practice is see what skillset each kid possesses,” he said. “You need to figure out who you think will play well together and make sure you’ve got bigs, shooters and rebounders. They aren’t doing any plays and even if I took the time to make them, they aren’t going to listen to me.
“I tell them before that this is about them, not me, but I know this group will still want to win.”
Down in Beckley
Trinity Christian’s Briston Bennett scored 12 points and Daniel Woods had eight in the Scott Brown Classic in Beckley.
