LaDarius Brandon has yet to establish himself as a first Division I prospect, but that isn't stopping him from showboating like one.
Brandon, a talented quicksilvery 6-foot-2 junior point guard currently averaging 13 points-per-game for Northern Vance (N.C.) High, was competing against some of his nation's top recruits late in 2011 when he found himself matched up against David "D.J." Blanks, a senior guard star at Akron (Ohio) St. Vincent-St. Mary's High, the school which one LeBron James made famous.
Blanks also happens to play for LeBron's King James Shooting Stars AAU program, and is rumored to be considered right on the border of the Division I talent field.
Over the course of a heated game, Brandon and Blanks slowly transformed an overall scrimmage into a point guard tet-a-tet. Then, Brandon befuddled Blanks so badly on one drive that the Ohio teen fell flat on his behind, watching Brandon streak toward the hoop virtually uncontested for an easy bucket.
That's when it happened: Brandon pointed at his vanquished defender, calling him out for being taken down on the court.
To call the point a playground move -- and a pretty classless one at that -- is an understatement. For Brandon to have resorted to that kind of behavior in a national showcase, where coaches and recruiters from schools across the nation were in attendance, couldn't have looked good for himself or for Blanks, either. It should also be noted that Blanks' scrimmage squad also went on to win the game, 76-64.
Still, Brandon's mother said she wasn't surprised when told about her son's alleged antics on the court.
"That sounds like him," Brandon's unnamed mother told a Prep Rally source.
If it does sound like him, maybe Brandon should think twice the next time he drops a defender. As impressive as his moves on the court often are, his celebration may be undoing many of the positive impressions he could be leaving with recruiters.
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