Where are the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic MVPs now?
To commemorate this year being the 10th Hoopsfix All-Star Classic, we decided to take a look back at where the former MVPs are now.
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No two stories have been the same, varying from a British basketball history maker, next season’s highest-paid NCAA recruit worth $2 million to an Oxford University wiz.
All left their mark on the Hoopsfix All-Star Classic.
2014: Jelani Watson-Gayle and Matthew Bryan-Amaning
What a difference 10 years makes. 2014 Under-16 MVP Watson-Gayle went on to play NCAA D2 ball with Miles College and Fresno Pacific University before playing professionally in the BBL, Canada and Belgium. In 2023, the now 25-year-old won the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) Sixth Man of the Year with the Winnipeg Sea Bears playing alongside non-other than Teddy ‘Buckets’ Allen. He received his first call up to the Great Britain Senior Men’s side last year.
The only ever Under-26 MVP, Matthew Bryan-Amaning was playing for Antibes, of the LNB Elite at the time, and has gone on to play professionally around the world, including in Germany, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Japan and Uruguay before returning to the BBL between 2018-2022. The GB international’s most recent stint came in the 2023 Basketball Africa League where he reached the finals with AS Douanes.
2015: Gedi Juozapaitis and Kyle Carey
Gedi Juozapaitis, 2015’s Under-17 MVP, went on to play NCAA D2 at Flagler for two years, where he broke the school record for most three-pointers in a season, before joining D1 colleges Georgia Southern and Maine, earning Third-Team All-American East honours in 2022. His professional career took him to the CEBL and Bulgarian first-tier.
Kyle Carey shutdown Brixton Rec in 2015 with a memorable poster dunk earning him Under-19 MVP honours. The now 27-year-old played for the Northern Colorado Bears of NCAA D1, before five years in the BBL across London, Cheshire and Surrey, and played professionally in Ireland this past season. In 2023 he dropped a career-high 33 points, off 92.3 percent shooting from the field, for Surrey in the BBL.
2016: Zion Tordoff and RJ Eytle-Rock
The 6ft 8’ forward Zion Tordoff, hailing from Myerscough, is currently averaging a double-double of 13.9 points and 10 rebounds in the NBL D1 with the Bradford Dragons. He came back to England having gained NCAA D1 experience at schools Marist and Houston Baptist, after attending JUCO Casper. Like his fellow MVP from 2016, in 2017-18 he was part of the Great Britain U20 European Championships Division A roster.
The first of many MVPs hailing from Barking Abbey, RJ Eytle-Rock is now one the brightest homegrown talents in the BBL with the Sheffield Sharks. In his first year as a professional, after playing NCAA D1 at Maryland and Utah State, he averaged 6.7 points per game. He was called up to the Great Britain Men’s team training camp for the first time earlier this year.
2018: Ade Adebayo and Brian Amabilino-Perez
After achieving 2018 Underclassman MVP Ade Adebayo, the two-time HASC appearance-maker and EABL champion with Barking Abbey just completed his four years of college eligibility with UC Davis. His NCAA career-high came in 2013 when he scored 14 points and grabbed 9 boards in a win over CSU Bakersfield.
Did you think you’d see an Oxford University student on this list? Brian Amabilino-Perez ended up having a solid collegiate career with NCAA D3 school Rochester, averaging 14 points, 6 rebounds and 2 assists in his final year, and represented Great Britain up to U20 level but now is an inactive basketball player. Instead, he is studying towards a PhD in Structural Biology at Oxford University.
2019: Holly Winterburn, Tomiwa Sulaiman and Mate Okros
Holly Winterburn has gone on to become one of the most decorated British basketball players of all time since earning the Under-19 HASC MVP in 2019. Earlier this season, she hit the decisive three which made the London Lions women the first ever British team to become European champions, lifting the EuroCup. During her time in the WBBL, she has also won five Betty Codona Trophies, three league titles, three playoff finals and two Cups.
Both Tomiwa Sulaiman and Mate Okros have just finished their respective college seasons at NCAA D1 schools in the CAA conference, at both Towson and Drexel. It was Okros’ last eligible season after he appeared in the NCAA tournament first-round with the Dragons in 2020-21, when his team won their first CAA conference tournament since 1996. While
Tomiwa has one season remaining and ended up in the conference by way of D2 school IUP. By the time he left IUP, he was All-PSAC West First Team as well as sixth in program history in career field goal percentage.
2020: Online Selection
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Hoopsfix All-Star Classic consisted of a 24-player roster selection for both the Under-19 men’s and women’s games, but no games were physically played, meaning no MVPs were selected.
2021: Cameron Taylor-Willis and Great Osobor
Cameron Taylor-Willis has continued to develop her game through the British leagues since her HASC MVP performance, currently at WBBL side Essex Rebels. She joined Essex from WNBL Division 1 side Ipswich, where she averaged 13.3 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in her final season, and helped them to back-to-back WNBL Division 1 titles in 2021 and 2022.
Since winning the 2021 HASC Under-19 MVP, Osobor has become the highest-known paid player in the NCAA collegiate ranks. He was at Myerscough college, Preston, at the time and since, started off his State-side journey at NCAA D1 college Montana State. Osobor was then a breakout star in the 2023-24 season, leading Utah State with 18 points and 9 rebounds per game, to the MWC regular season conference championship and NCAA tournament second-round. This allowed him to cash in and collect $2 million in ‘name, image and likeness’ considerations to play for the University of Washington next year, his third school in four years and make game-changing money.
2022: Issy Bunyan and Quinn Ellis
Three-time HASC appearance maker and Welsh star Issy Bunyan has just completed her first season at NCAA D1 school Montana State, scoring 15 points on her debut and playing 33 games across the year. Before leaving for America, she won the WBBL Young Player of the Year with the Cardiff Archers.
Winning MVP in his second HASC appearance, this season Ellis made the step up to the Italian first division with his parent club Dolomiti Energia Trento, also getting the opportunity to play in the EuroCup. The guard, who has also now represented the GB Senior Men, averaged 6 points and close to 3 assists and rebounds per game across the season and hit two game-winners in EuroCup competition. Despite breaking his fifth metatarsal earlier in this season, the 21-year-old guard from Sheffield has now also declared for the 2024 NBA Draft.
2023: Fatmata Janneh and Nedas Cholevinskas
Reigning Under-19 Women’s MVP Fatmata Janneh had a solid first year for NCAA D1 Saint Peter’s Peacocks where she averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds across 29 games. The 19-year-old also averaged an impressive 15 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists for Great Britain in the 2023 Under-20 European Championship, Division B in the same summer as her second HASC appearance.
Completing Barking Abbey’s duo of MVPs last year, Nedas Cholevinskas joined the Surrey Scorchers of the BBL this season, from Lithuanian outfit Rytas Vilnius II. He was also awarded Basketball England’s Under-18 Player of the Year for 2022-23 after leading Barking Abbey to their fifth EABL title and starring for GB’s U18s in Division B of the European Championships. Nedas will return to the Classic for 2024.
Tickets are still available for this Sunday’s edition – click here now to buy!
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