Tino Thomas highlight

National Disgrace ( Plight of the inner city athelete)

I am sure by now everyone has either seen or heard about the documentary " National Disgrace" highlighting the many problems in DPS (Detroit Public Schools ). We have all known that for years children were just passed along to the next grade in most major cities school districts not just Detroit. That is why there are so many " Playground Legends" in Detroit, Chicago, New York and Atlanta. Top talent from these cities more often than not can not make it in college. I have talked with several colleges over the past two years and they will tell you we don't even waste time recruiting those districts because they can't adapt to the college life. So as a former inner city athlete I challenge the High School and travel coaches to really tighten up on there athletes. NCAA has basically made it impossible for you to get into college on scholarship with the bottom of the barrel eligibility standards that the schools have put into place. So lets all do our part stop allowing these kids to give little to no effort, don't bring them up believing that they will get a chance to make up an assignment that they just ignored or chose not to do. Let's no go to the teachers and ask them to change a kids grade so that he can help us win because most on the time the kid will end up loosing.

Detroit Spartans 14U highlights

This is why I feel that the Spartans have the best, fastest and most aggressive back court in the state. Just look at this video and funny thing is half of these kids are 13U.

http://youtu.be/qLsGrlTMhIg

The Silent Storm ( Cedric Moten) Flint Southwestern academy 2015 Travel Team: Detroit Spartans

The Detroit Spartans (14U) have quietly assembled the most talented back court in Michigan. They are a fast and aggressive unit if you play soft or are afraid of contact they will expose you. I believe the piece that took them to new heights is the addition of Cedric Moten (Flint Southwestern class of 2015) he may not be as flashy and explosive as the rest of the guard on the Detroit Spartans but he has been the most consistent.  I have watched this team play about 10 games this year and every time they need a basket or a stop it is most likely Cedric Moten that comes thru for them. The team can go 5 deep with guards and all 5 of them would start on most national travel teams, so it is refreshing to see kids with this much talent play together as a team. Every time a team tries to play a zone defense to take away the speed and strength of the guards I have seen Cedric Moten leak out to the perimeter and began to knock down 3 pointers with consistency. If there is a down side to Moten it is his tendency to reach instead of sliding his feet. I personally feel he is in the top 10 players statewide and I am sure the Flint high school coaches won’t disagree. So this summer look for the Detroit Spartans to make a run at several national events. I spoke with the Head Coach DeShawn Bean and he assured me by this summer people will be very aware of these kids, he has purposely cut back on the amount of games the team is playing this spring to give them time to gel and give his bigs time to develop and be ready to contribute to the team. As of right now I would project Cedric Moten as a mid-major prospect but he definitely has the potential for the big time.