43 Photos have been added!* DFS at the Capital Classic (PHOTOS)
Dorian Finney-Smith, a 2011 VT signee and Tech’s highest ranked recruit in almost 30 years, scored 16 points in 21 minutes of action as the US All-Stars pummeled the Capital All-Stars in the 38th annual Capital Classic in Upper Marlboro, MD. The Washington Post credited him with 9 rebounds to boot.
Dodo was the highest ranked recruit in the game according to most recruiting services, and showed flashes of what excites many Hokie fans. His first hoop was a coast-to-coast drive and finger roll layup. He knocked down his first triple. DFS added another bucket and 2/4 from the foul line. He closed the half with a tip-in dunk to give him 9 points at the half. Dorian also got the biggest laugh, though at his expense – he clanked a dunk off the underneath part of the rim on a breakaway, sending the crowd and players into a hardy laugh. I hope it was a 12-foot high rim because he was well short.
Dorian cruised through the second half in the blowout. He showed a great spin move off the dribble to score in close. Then he beat his man with a great ball fake, went baseline, elevated to dunk with one hand, got fouled and had the shot partially blocked, but finished the shot and converted the 3-point play. Dodo added two more free throws to finish with 16 points by my count. He was 5/7 from the line, 1/2 from 3-point range, and approximately 5/11 from the field.
Dorian showed a lot of versatility. He played the wing at times, but also had to guard the Capital All-Stars’ center, a st. louis recruit who was listed at 7-foot but was closer to 6’9″.
While there wasn’t much intensity in the game, and DFS seemed to be conserving energy, here’s what I noted in my first in-person viewing:
- Explosive leaper (despite the missed dunk). Check out the lead photo in this article and on Flickr. Dodo is up there with the birds. He’s going to posterize some guys. Not a Deron-like leaper, but he will be fun to watch. Roll the highlights.
- Good penetrator. Can handle in traffic. Probably not good enough to bring the ball up the court, but what 6’7″ guys are other than Magic and Penny.
- Needs to work on his outside shooting. I only got a small sample size, and I’m biased by what I’ve heard, but this isn’t his strength at this time. Didn’t get to see him shoot a midrange jumper. Haven’t looked at the photos I took, you can see he leans back too much on his jumpshot (same issue Erick Green has).
- Solid rebounder, especially on offense. Really attacks the tin. If teams don’t check him, he’ll be flushing missed shots. Positions himself well on defense and puts his body on his man. Aggressively goes after balls coming towards him, but wasn’t that active chasing down misses that weren’t right at him. Needs that mentality he owns every miss. But again, this was an all-star game.
- Since this was an all-star game so I won’t even bother accessing his man defense, but he did battle the big man for the other team.
- He’s very tall (legit 6’7″ – look at the photo of him next to me – I’m 6’1″ and he towers over me) and very smooth. Great athlete. Looks like the real deal but I’d like to see him in a meaningful game where the intensity is there. Seems like a team player, too. Actually passed the ball some (90% of the guys didn’t).
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