Ener-Gel AAU Basketball

[The Burgh]

The local Ener-Gel AAU basketball team has enjoyed plenty of success the past two years with an overall tournament record or 38-9 and the list of players that have played on the Ener-Gel team has been impressive.

1. Luke Gallaher - Forest Hills (receiving D1 interest in basketball, baseball, track and even football)
2. Ian Vescovi-Cambria Heights (UPJ)
3. Kevin Stapleton - Indiana (UPJ)
4. Shane Cafferty - Central Martinsburg (IUP Football)
5. Kevin Snyder - Indiana (Juniata)
6. Joe Dziabo - Penn Cambria (Mount Aloysius)
7. Jesse Reed - Greensburg Central Catholic (has offers from St. Francis and Robert Morris)
8. Kenny Gibbons - Shade
9. Jacob Fleegle - North Star
10 Aric Gresko - Penns Manor
11 Cameron Norris - Harmony
12 Erik Welteroth - Harmony
13 Tyler Jenny - Glendale
14 Tanner Thomas - Forest Hills
15 Craig Ciranni - Homer Center
16 Joel Redfoot - Hollidaysburg
17 TJ Keefer - Hollidaysburg
18 Zack Vigneault - Central Cambria
19 Chris Duzinski - Latrobe

There are at least 13 current or soon to be 1000 pt scorers on this team.

[carom]

That's a pretty impressive list. Nice to know that some kids are committed and take the opportunity to expose themselves to failure with the realization that success at any level is not far behind. Don't stop, someone is always watching. May be the area is not so devoid of talent? Where are you WPIAL Titan? What's your pedigree?

[WPIAL~Titan]

Nice list of players...FOR THAT AREA...and I underscore that. HS boysL hoops in western PA IS WEAK in terms of turning out D1 players. I include the WPIAL in that assessment.

[Prince Sidewinder]

Not a Division 1 player on the list. Nice list for the area as WPIAL noted but seriously only for this area. The first player mentioned Gallaher, I heard a college baseball coach went to see him play a high school baseball and he didn't show up for the game, instead went to an AAU basketball game. Apparently does not have much concern for teammates.

[Manfred]

Since his last 9 at bats this past season included 8 K's, looking, I don't think he was too concerned about some baseball scout.

[WPIAL~Titan]

From what I have heard and seen, Gallagher's best sport is probably Track and Field as a jumper. He could be a small D1 or D2 athlete in track, plus he has a lot of untapped ability as he just joined the team last spring. My sources say that he's a D2 player at best, probably D3 in hoops and baseball.

Watch for this name: Geno Thorpe a soph at Shaler Area. He will be something to watch this season, and may be the most talented player I have seen in western PA since Doug West. Thorpe attended Shaler Area K-8th grade, then went to Shady Side Academy last season. He returned to Shaler this fall.

Check out the video of Thorpe (he's #23 in the video), especially the dunk starting at around 3:43...Keep in mind as you watch it that he's a FRESHMAN, and that he has grown to 6'3" 175-180 and has gotten a lot better since last winter. You just don't see that kind of athleticism in western PA HS boys' hoops. he is already a big time recruit, and could be a top 10-15 player in the country when he's a senior if he continues to develop.

[Crimson09Crazy]

Better then Blair? I know he was only rated as #50 in the country, but he was obviously a top 10 freshmen once he got there.

DeJuan Blair and Herb Pop were both big time players out of Western PA...
Lance Jeter was pretty good too, I think Toddy Thomas could have played Shooting Guard in the A10, and I have been very impressed with TJ McConnell out of Char Valley. He's been the best guard I've ever seen out of Western PA since I have been watching Basketball. Duquesne got a steal and he could start and average double digits points for 4 straight years.

[Crimson09Crazy]

Watched the highlights good looking player.

Interesting thing for Basketball in this area, McCort has two freshmen that are going to start right away and these two kids led their AAU team to a National Qualifier. They also won a huge tournament at the Carrier Dome and one kid is 6-2 and has been dunking since he was 13.

Really Not Bad for the District 6 area.

[WPIAL~Titan]

Thorpe is a combo guard, so I wasn't comapring him to a post player like Blair. However, some publications already have Thorpe as a Top 10-15 player in the class of 2013.

I draw the comparison to Doug West from Altoona Area HS ('84). He is the same type of player, only West was a little taller and a little stronger than Thorpe at this stage, but Thorpe has better skills and could play PG, whiel West was strictly a 2 guard. West was before your time, but trust me, he was the most athletic, talented 2 guard I've seen from western PA HS boys' hoops in the last 30 years. He went on to become the 4th leading scorer all-time at VillanovaU, and had a 12 year NBA career.

If Thorpe improves his strength in the weight room, polishes his fundamentals, works on his left hand, and improves his outside shot, he will be the highest rated player to come out of western PA/Pittsburgh Metro in a long time. TJ McConnell is an solid player too, and should do OK at DuquesneU but Thorpe is so much more explosive and physically gifted than him. McConnell was a mid-level D1 type player, the top tier teams wouldn't have even given him a sniff. Thorpe will get looks and offers from big time programs, not just mid-level A-10 teams. As you can see on the video, he's the real deal.

[The Burgh]

WPIAL Titan - if your "sources" tell you that Luke Gallaher is "probably Division 3 in Basketball and Baseball at best" I would suggest you find better sources. Luke was already offered a Division 1 scholarship for baseball, but he declined. He as evaluated by Major League baseball scouts in 2009 and was ranked as the 9th best player in PA in addition to being the fastest player. As far as basketball, he also played for Tim McConnell's Pittsburgh Elite team and Tim told him that he compares very favorably to his own son TJ.

This source says that Luke Gallaher is "probably low Division 1 in both baseball and basketball". As the reigning state high jump champion, it's obvious that he is getting plenty of attention from Division 1 programs.

If Luke would concentrate only on one sport, he certainly would have terrific "upside", therefore I believe you eventually see Luke playing basketball at the Division 1 level.