NEW YORK, NY - On Saturday, eighteen of the top freshmen and sophomores in New York City were selected to participate in The Best of the Best Top Ten. The event was an invite only work-out at Michael Jordan & Carmelo Anthony's exclusive gym, Terminal 23 in Midtown Manhattan.
During the four hour intense training, the players got strength and conditioning from Eric Harris who played high school ball at St. Raymond under Gary Deceaser and then was defensive player of the year at Minnesota, taking them to the final four.
Offensively, the players received instruction from renowned celebrity basketball trainer Jerry Powell who's worked with numerous Division I and NBA players including Rajon Rondo, Ron Artest, Jermaine O'Neal and Danny Green.
The The Best of the Best Top Ten is the brainchild of Bernard Bowen, Chad Babel, Kashif "Cash" Pratt, Jeff Chen and Max Saidman and was designed to give elite NYC freshmen and sophomores a proper basketball foundation so that their talents can reach its full potential.
"One day in this beautiful gym we said, what can we do for the kids," said Bowen. "That's when we decided to bring in the top ten freshmen and sophomores and put them through an intense workout and here we are today.
The players were surprised by what they learned from the work out. "I thought it was just going to be another all-star game but they really worked us out," said 6'6" Jordan Tucker one of the standouts from White Plains HS.
PARTICIPANTS
Freshmen
Sidney Wilson (St Raymond)
Isaiah Washington (St. Raymond)
Donald Flores (St. Raymond)
Jordan Tucker (White Plains)
Jalin Suber (Thurgood Marshall)
Deondre Bourne (Lehman Prep)
Zach Bruno (Xaverian)
Marquis Watson (Bishop Loughlin)
Tim Thomas Jr. (Commonwealth Academy)
Sophomores
Caheim Brown (St. Raymond)
Ty Jerome ( Iona Prep)
Christian Wilson (Holy Cross)
Gianni Ford (Boys & Girls)
D'juan Taylor Hodge (Thurgood Marshall)
Nick Simmeon (South Shore)
Bryan Assie (Thurgood Marshall)
Gerald Williams (Westinghouse)
Pedro Marquez (Cardinal Hayes)