C.M.U. Team Camp: Top Teams

(Arthur Hill's Jalen Bland played well at CMU)

(Sammy Burton has big plans for Oak Park)

(Jay Willis can play inside and out for Lumen Christi)

The Championship game featured two Saginaw Valley League teams, with Arthur Hill coming out on top over Mount Pleasant. Arthur Hill's toughest battle came in the semi-finals against a scrappy Oak Park team. Oak park rallied from 16 points to cut the lead to 1, but the Jacks were able to regroup and put the game away with two big buckets from Maurice Jones and Omari Humes.

Mount Pleasant snuck past Toledo Waite in the other semi-final. Mount Pleasant didn't have the hottest start of the camp as the Oilers dropped their first three games, but come bracket play Trey Zeigler put his team on his shoulders and dominated the competition.

Below are a listing of the top 5 Michigan teams from the CMU team camp:

1. Arthur Hill- an easy pick for #1 because they won the championship and were without three starters, however they did have Maurice "Pookie" Jones and Omari Humes and that proved to be enough. Coach Greg McMath has spent the last two weeks developing his bench and that bench is looking pretty talented, particularly Jalen Bland (So.), Kwincy Tucker (Jr.), and Dell Simon (So.) All three players came up with big plays as the Jacks stomped through the bracket.

2. Mount Pleasant- yes, the Oilers did take some losses early on but they put it together late Saturday. Trey Zeigler had his plate full in games, since he has to put up most of the productivity as well as being the coach on the floor. To credit the rest of the team, they do come up with plays and points when they were needed.

3. Oak Park- first things first-the Knights have a chance to be real good this year. They lack a true big man but Kallante Miller is physical enough to make up for it. Sammy Burton continues to play well as he matures into a"take care of the ball" point guard. Oak Park excelled at running the floor and scoring in transition but they struggled hitting jump shots when teams zoned them.

4. Forest Hills Central- nothing fancy in terms of size or athleticism but they played hard, had a deep bench, and could score- primarily combo guard Joey Saladino. Central has the ingredients to have a successful season.

5. Jackson Lumen Christi- this football powerhouse might be able to make some noise in the basketball world. Lumen Christi has five players that stand over 6-5. At times they are too impatient offensively and force shots but they get after it hard on the boards.