What happened on June 1st and 2nd at the Ladera Sports Complex?

The silver mercury busted out the thermometer all over because it was this particular tournament for the ages! It’s that manifest fun, uber next level comp, that brings out bombastic side eye from competitors in search of that W.

The Hype Her Hoops team organizers know how to assemble the perfect melting pot of competent refs, concession stands, and schedules. Other venues commonly treat you like Hansel and Gretel milking you for nickel and dimes.

Nah, it’s not 1812 people, just give the people competitive and thrilling rolling coaster action value to behold inside the mega big complex. It houses so many courts where ballers are at each other’s necks for respect in a good way!

Women’s basketball has started to really take off! HUGE industry names like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are energizing the base with their rivalry out of college. I constantly hear from youngsters who want to play for Dawn Staley at dominant South Carolina or at other top programs like UCLA.

It’s the stuff of what dreams are made of.

Young women train like fiends in hoping to attract recruit attention to get mad respect while chasing the precious, that imaginary ring that comes with being known as the best of the best AAU squad and prospect/player!

These awesome HIGHLY MOTIVATED young ladies offer their sweat, blood, and tears to the basketball gods. Why? That shot to feel their name burning in the streets, which leads to offers to play for a D1, D2, NAIA, which in turn leads to scholarships.

My readers often tell me that I’ve so often found that next up transcendent talent over the decades. I don’t like to disappoint my readers, so read on and I’ll share the future of basketball indeed!

The frenetic action of this particular crazy dope competitive Heat Check tourney deserves an all time feature from your humble writer E-Woods.

Knowing how great the talent would be I decided to rock my SLAM NBA Draft 96’ shirt. That draft that saw Kob, Starbury, Ray Allen, Shareef, Nash, et al drafted into the L.

Those ballers I just mentioned who killed it in the NBA are really like that E-Woods? Really? Yup!

Let’s now rewind to the FUTURE. It’s been easy for me your humble writer to see a player who will be a legend in the future. I have been finding the heat.

So let me share how they were killin’ it at the Hype Her Hoops Tourney Heat Check.

Eliminate barriers to your imagination like my dear friend Rayah “Buckets” Marshall did in her dreams in her college career at USC. Youngsters look up to Rayah because she helped lead the Trojans to the NCAA Final Four with our friend Juju Watkins.

I feel some of the players from this Hype Her Hoops Heat Check tourney as they grow up could do what Rayah did. Really.

I once took the all the lyrics from the song Dreams and Nightmares by rapper Meek Mill and infused them into writing about the uber athletic Rayah who had been dunking crazy hard with 10 foot basketball rims since 6th grade. No joke.

That is also the major unconventional lyrical device I’ll use in this story to describe the players, that next level poetry hoop writing. That’s what the reader can come to expect from me, E-Woods.

That’s why I purposely picked a Kendrick Lamar Future, Metro Boomin song that has inundated airwaves and earbuds lately called, Like That. I’ve implemented a clean version re-imagined.

I’ve personally listened to this song non stop 1,000s of times and feel I can use it to paint a picture of great upcoming players that could one day be like Juju Watkins whom I’ve known since junior high.

Juju was raised in Compton like Kendrick Lamar. Rayah grew up across the way in South Central LA next to USC where I taught young school kids in the late 1990’s.

Kdot represents the best lyricist of the highest order like Juju is the best freshman best ball player in the country.

Celebrating Black excellence has always been something that I feel we should as a country celebrate. I can help do that by singling out a poet/rapper who has received a Nobel Prize for vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes.

So buckle up and peep these four 6th grade players and others I sense that are beyond great. They remind me of my friend Kaleena “Special K” Smith, the #1 freshman in the country.

These four 6th graders could be on that level of incredible players in their own way by the time they’re freshmen in high school.

8 am, I’m walking in the Ladera gym and the 1st thing I spy with my little eye is the prodigy fam bam Tati Griffin from Team Taurasi killing it with jumpers from the outside without the aid of her teammie Special K.

She has this burning in her steely eyes and says with her face “Time to fire up my shot!” Good luck stopping her and her ultra caring coach Dre, the coach of Team Taurasi who has been on a roll lately with some talented players across the board.

https://www.instagram.com/tea__time12?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I wade through the crowd dapping up friends and wishing dozens of my peoples good vibes like 6-7 Imani McGee who played quite well in the WNBA and would text me sometimes.

You can’t believe how good Destinee Benway, incredible 8th grade player from J-Kidd Select is. She put her wet outside J on all these other team’s nose. D-Money don’t miss cuz she that pure shooter from the A-Z.

All these teams want to be in the middle court in the ship game. It’s so heavy to be champion queen of the Heat Check chasing the precious. You feel icy and clean coming in 2nd place, yup it’s like that at the Hype Her Hoops ish!

I see 6-2 London Douglas annihilating everything in front her. She’s the ultimate rebounder, passing big, and emerging star that already has a phenom resume. Her heart of a lion helped her as a 6th grader team up with her big sis Sydney to beat older T-Ware League participants.

Let me phrase in a way everyone can understand - London I believe has UP NEXT potential and will be the face of hoops in her age group. I think of London and these Kdot lyrics come mind:

“It's up, lost too many soldiers not to play it safe!”

https://www.instagram.com/londy_ride?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Here’s a story that includes her big sis Sydney and the The T-Ware League:

https://californiapreps.rivals.com/news/t-ware-pro-am-league-mecca-of-respect-for-sisterhood

I roll up on super friendly faces I ultra respect like Laura Govan who knows the game so well. She is Iza’s, Alijah’s, and Hamiley Arenas’s mom. Hamiley says of the tourney, “The talent is here, environment is amazing. The whole tourney is amazing! Her trainer Zech is amazing!”

Real talk about another great young upcoming star on Why Not team? I’m feeling Oyinkan “Yinks” Iriafen’s tough play. Her older sister Kiki is a star and future W baller. They are a fam close to my heart.

Dad Harrison and his baby girl Yinks are ready to prove she’s that legit player. Feel these lyrics on her:

“Once I sell this low, that's a million in a week!”

Jadyn Van Horn? She’s “The Take Over!” 100. Of course this sweet kid with massive game is way too humble to hype up herself, but these Kdot lyrics do her poetic justice:

“I'm a different baller no, we not the same kind.”

https://www.instagram.com/jadynn_6?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Jadyn is about the best 6th grader in the entire country and is already talking and taking visits to ACC, SEC, BIG 10 elite high major programs as they’ve completely taken notice of this dynamic phenom guard!

Alanah Camacho is still killing for Team Why Not, blowing past everyone, ready to make that separation to be the best in her class no doubt!

https://www.instagram.com/alanah.camacho2?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Another 6th grader I really appreciate sharing about is Rhyan Allen. Her attention to detail is something out of this universe. She didn’t go to this Hype Her Hoops Tourney, but I wish she did.

Rhyan is a 12 year old at 5-9 with the unique freakish ability to dunk a basketball with a 9 foot rim and put her head in the rim. And she is a true dazzling ball handler of near Special K ability.

Rhyan has a Zia Cooke (LA Sparks) “tuff body” already, like you find on an elite SEC athlete like South Carolina’s MiLaysia Fulwiley. Rhyan is ultra fierce like USC commit Kennedy Smith whom I’ve felt lucky to know since she was very young.

Rhyan has this amazing point guard IQ that is Kaleena like and she’s an emerging sharp shooter from outside with an already killer mid range game. She has this amazing swag and describes herself as “ruthlessly driven.”

I highly recommend going out to see Rhyan. She has already been getting recruitment at the highest level from programs that she is interested in. Incredibly she already plays and helps lead a good 17U team. The lyrics that seem to correlate to her are,

“Fore all your dogs gettin' buried, That's a K with all these nines, he gon' see Pet Sematary.”

https://www.instagram.com/rhyan.manaia.bell.allen?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I was completely blown away by Ze’Ni Patterson of J-Kidd Select. She seems Jordan Lee like, and her twin sister Zion is really emerging and good too. These lyrics ring in my head:

“young baller sellin' moves, is you like that? the money, power, respect. The last one is better”

https://www.instagram.com/zeni_patterson?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I loved catching up with my guy Armando Pazos, director of J-Kidd Select who had a mad talented teams in the gym, classy teams that I have mad respect for.

Ultimately, it was Why Not’s day, and there are so many kids that I adore on that 17U squad - Julia, Cydnee Bryant, Amaya Williams, who just got offered by Memphis. Super Amaya reminds me of these Kdot lyrics no doubt:

“Gotta devour baller, I learned that in the jungle”

The list goes on and on. I love this team with all my heart for how they play. Lizzie Spaight, I just appreciate Lizzie big time because she just killed it all day like these lyrics:

“Okay, let's get it up, it's time for him to prove that she’s a problem.”

Lizzie was and is a problem. Team Why Not earned these Kdot lyrics from the song, Like That:

“Ball like I won a championship game.”

Why Not did win the ship center court.

I loved watching Open Gym Premier, The Grizzlies, Team NorCal, Bay City, Genesis, HDE, Team Reign, WOE, OC Rhythm. NBBA balled out too.

Team G impressed me so very much, they are crazy dope as led by dynamic 8th grader Amel Cook. She does it all, defense, offense, passing, inspiring her team.

“All these pointers on me baller, you know it's game time.”

https://www.instagram.com/melirock_5?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

There is another very impressive baller for Team G, coached by Van Girard. That fire, fire young baller is Makena Ramos. She’s a tall and ultra skilled 6th grader who I’ve seen keeping up with D1 Ivy League ballers that allow her to train with them.

Makena is being respected by elite high majors and will be going to visit Ivy League schools. She is a menace to try to guard and she locks up the comp. Feel these lyrics that rep her vibe:

“Ayy-ayy, let's get it, sis!”

Makena is just so mature and fun to be around, like my guys the Lopez twins who scored perfect SAT scores in junior high. One of the twins was a Rhode Scholar!

https://www.instagram.com/makenaryden?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Coach G of Team G is this phenom trainer, mentor, and coach that gets his players ready for so much success!

https://www.instagram.com/coachg247?igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

I saw so many teams in The Hype Her Hoops Heat Check, so many impressed me. Troop West 17U really stood out. They just refused to get beat by rosters with high major talent.

You have to love that level of belief in themselves. Coach Steve Garcia is a coach for that organization. He’s an incredible coach, trainer, and person!

I could go on and on detailing so many other players, so many other teams! But let’s cut it here, go seek out for yourselves some of these players I’m describing. I’m sure to hit more worthy players to write about!

I felt the energy from all these great teams participating in this exciting Hype Her Hoops tourney. Here’s another story I did last year on their great tourneys!

https://n.rivals.com/news/marlon-well-s-heat-check-tourney-chasing-the-precious-

Popularity for women’s basketball is gaining speed like a speeding bullet! We might all take a seat and put on some Kendrick Lamar music as we bop out to some “Like That.”

For surely if you’re all in helping youngsters as a mentor, writer, or basketball insider like I am, you see that this really is just the beginning of what Kobe Bryant wanted to build.

It’s also inspiring to see my friend Jamal Crawford being so supportive by interviewing Dawn Staley, funding Jayda Curry’s basketball camp equipment, and going online to cheer on so many great female ballers. 100!