McDonald's AA Game: UNC's Little excels at practice; more takeaways

ATLANTA -- Festivities for the McDonald's All-American Game kicked off on Monday morning as both the East and West squads held full practices.

In front of several NBA scouts and the assembled media, North Carolina-bound Nassir Little impressed the invited visitors ahead of Wednesday's game.

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Each year I show up at the McDonald's All-American Game hoping that all the players are ready to compete. Sure, I want to finalize some things in my mind for rankings, but most of all I just want competitive workouts. North Carolina-bound five-star forward Nassir Little got the memo.

Playing for the West squad in the first practice of the day, I thought that Little had the best day of anybody I saw.

Little made a very favorable first impression on several NBA scouts I spoke with and they like the same things I do about him. He's a big, strong wing with 6-foot-7 size, plus athleticism and a non stop motor. He was hitting shots, playing like a man on the glass and I feel really good that we have him ranked higher than the rest of the industry. UNC has not had a player like him in some time and he's the type of tough and versatile athlete they need to make an instant impact.

For much of the last year, Duke commit Zion Williamson has been playing at less than 100 percent health. With a grueling schedule and one nagging injury after another, the 6-foot-6 power wing and social media sensation struggled to stay in tip top shape.

Williamson weighed in at 272 pounds at USA Basketball in October and looked like he might be even bigger than that when I last saw him at the Hoophall Classic in mid January. Here in Atlanta, Williamson looks like he has fresh legs and he's in noticeably better shape and condition. He's always going to be a bigger guy and it's astounding to see the things he can do athletically at his size, but being in top condition certainly helps.

He's not similar to any player I can remember seeing at Duke and I'm really interested to see how Mike Krzyzewski implements him next season.

The player I was asked the most about by NBA personnel was Syracuse-bound forward Darius Bazley. It wasn't a surprise either because he's exactly the type of long, athletic, versatile guy they that they drool over because of upside.

I get liking the upside, but the reason he was catching their eyes and why he's validating himself as a top 10 player is that his skill is coming along rapidly. Bazley is more recognized as a high flyer in transition and a defender who can switch up and down from point guard all the way to power forward. But, he's really improved his jump shooting and I was most impressed by how easily he created separation with a dribble or two to get his jumper.

Over the last year, Bazley has been one of the most steadily improving players in the class of 2018 and I'm starting to buy into him as a kid with legitimate one and done potential.

Clearly a big part of my job is finding out which way players are leaning for school and why. In five-star shooting guard Romeo Langford, I've run across one of the most difficult to gauge players that I've ever covered.

Later on in the week we'll have more on what his peers think he may do when it comes time to choose between Indiana, Kansas and Vanderbilt. Based on some informal polling today, they are just as confused about what he will or won't do as the rest of us are.

Traditionally, kids can be pretty good sources for what their peers are thinking because they talk to each other, a lot, about their college decisions. Langford, though, appears to be just as quiet and soft spoken with his peers as he is with the media. There are still a few more days for his friends to get him to crack, though.

*** Duke commit Tre Jones sat out Monday's workout, so I don't know how he'll look once he hits the floor, but based on their play in practice, Kansas-bound Devon Dotson was the best point guard in attendance Monday. He's tough, he is vocal and he plays in the type of attack mode that Bill Self and Kansas fans will love.

*** I led off my takeaways with notes on Little, but his future North Carolina teammate Coby White was very good as well. White is a scorer pure and simple and he's not shy about letting things go. I'm impressed by his ability to play fast without being out of control. I know there are plans to play him some at point guard in Chapel Hill, but he's so good as a two I wonder if playing him as a primary ball handler would take him away from what he does best and that's scoring the rock.

*** Were I looking for any kind of clue about which direction to go in between current No. 1 R.J. Barrett and No. 2 Cameron Reddish for the top spot in the final 2018 rankings, I wouldn't have gotten it today. Neither of the future Duke teammates played poorly, but if you didn't know they were supposed to be the top two players in the class you would have never pegged them for it based on their Monday play. NBA guys want to see more of a jump shot from Barrett and more energy from Reddish.

*** Energy was not a problem for Kentucky-bound wing Keldon Johnson. I thought his effort was as strong as anybody I saw on Monday and he did a great job of making things happen without being selfish. He's a pretty polished scorer with a nice and balanced three level -- rim, mid range and deep -- game.

*** Others who caught my eye with effort were Moses Brown (UCLA), Darius Garland (Vanderbilt) and Reggie Perry (Mississippi State). Brown lacks strength but the big man was working hard on the glass and was one of few big guys that really sprinted from end to end. Garland was very solid with the ball, made good reads and was slippery in traffic while creating for others. Perry was in a little bit of "feels like leather" (shoot each time he touches it) but he crashed the glass and played with tremendous physicality.