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Compton Magic 2015 Magic Memorial Day Festival – Wow!

By Shereen Rayan

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Memorial Day weekend, most people go away on a three-day vacation, but many parents of young basketball players spent their time this weekend sitting on wooden benches.

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While doing research for an article, I stumbled upon an announcement for the Compton Magic Memorial Day Festival run by Coach Etop Udo-Ema (@EtopUdoEma) and found out there were some special teams and participants involved. The thought of hanging out in a basketball gym all day watching up-and-coming young basketball players was something I just couldn’t pass up.

There were three concurrent games being played on three separate courts with five feet inbetween each court at Cabrillo High School in Long Beach. This is pretty typical of tournaments, sometimes the courts are separated by netting.  Parents, fans, and sports writers line the single wood benches under the baskets sitting so close to the action that players often slide right into the spectators and basketballs most definitely fly around causing folks to duck.

I spent the first day watching Arizona Wildcat Recruit Jalen Hill (Centennial HS, Class of 2017) with his warm and genuine family. Jalen is playing for the Compton Magic 17u team. Meeting Jalen is a treat to say the least. He is very respectful and has a presence about him.

Watching him move on the court or warm up prior to a game, one is struck by the fact that he truly enjoys playing the game, when things go well, it’s hard for him to not smile and relish the moment.  It was clear to me that when Jalen wasn’t in the game, the gap in the score would start to close in the opponents favor.

Jalen has everything it takes to be a great baller, and he is learning all the time playing with teammate UCLA Commit Ike Anigbogu (Class of 2016) and T.J. Leaf, Arizona Commit (Class of 2017).  He also has a great supportive family which is something essential to the his well-being and success.

Day two: Saturday.  Starting the day early, you could tell I wasn’t the only person trying to wake up, the players seemed slow to go at first as well. The first game I watched was the Compton Magic vs. TeamZona, it didn’t start being a close game but it sure ended up being one, came down to the last 5 seconds.

Henry Welsh Photo by Shereen Rayan 5/24/15

A team I never heard of was up next, Rockfish (@LARockfish). Rockfish was about to play Team Bayless. Team Bayless is former Wildcat Jarryd Bayless‘s AAU team which is also under the Compton Magic umbrella. Arizona recruit Alex Barcello, class of 2017 plays for Team Bayless, he was at another tournament.

Henry Welsh (class of 2016) is the Center for Razorfish, and he looks just like his big brother, UCLA Center Thomas Welsh who came to watch Henry play. Henry attends Loyola High School in Los Angeles, same high school as Wildcats Jacob Hazzard and Trey Mason.

One thing that struck me with Henry was that he was very verbal while playing, orchestrating the team, high energy, he played great defense. He should get some attention this summer as he is 6’10” and 230 pounds.

Trolling our ZonaZealots Twitter feed, I saw Matt Moreno’s (GoAZCats.com) tweets, he was sitting at the other end of the gym watching another Arizona Wildcat Recruit Brendan Bailey.  Brendan plays for the team Dream Vision (@DreamVisionAAU ) and tells Matt that SDSU and Gonzaga are recruiting him the hardest. Hold out Brendan!

Brendan Bailey Photo by Shereen Rayan 5/24/15

Brendan has also has offers from ASU, Connecticut, Utah and BYU to name a few. After watching just a smidgen of Brendan’s game, you can see why Sean Miller offered him. This young man is not afraid of shooting, and he has mastered a number of offensive moves that are spectacular.

Maybe Coach Miller needs to start focusing on Brendan a little more. I moved around several times during the two days I spent in the Cabrillo gym, and I spoke to a number of parents and grandparents of some of these young men.

Some were happy to be there to support their son, but secretly envious of their girlfriends who were in San Diego experiencing the Jazz Festival. Some parents travel with their son’s all around the country to support their child. They hope they will play harder, take the game and vision more seriously, keep their grades up. Others are hiring special coaches to help their sons get better at certain skills.

Some of the players, I’m told by parents, want to go to an Ivy League school and play basketball; the means to the end is a degree. Others know they will need to start in Junior College, they hope to transfer to a four-year school after two years.

Then there are the parents that know their son has the “it” factor, their challenge is to find the AAU program and coaching staff that put their son’s interests first. Overall most parents just want what’s best for their teenage sons. These parents are all too aware that they are still young and growing into their bodies as their bodies change, and most speak about getting the academic grades as well, which was a bright spot in all my conversations, it was about the education for most of them.


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I spoke to a number of coaches as well and one nicely gave up some free time to talk to me awhile. I appreciated it because he gave me great insights into this netherworld of AAU Ball, recruiting, offers, parents, and mentoring young men.  He said he donates to the teams he coaches, he doesn’t get paid except for the fact that he is making a difference in their lives hopefully.

This coach told me he has a day job, as do most coaches and the head Coach of each program. Yours truly as well.  We all do what we do for the love of the game, for the human aspect of sports and competition, and we relish when we can lift the spirits of an athlete. They enjoy helping young men find their way, know that they are supported and that people care about them as people, not just their innate skills and height they were born with.

Here are the results going into Memorial Day in case you want to go down to Long Beach and catch the actions ($10 admission.)


Whatever the case, there are a ton of talented players out there, and I am convinced that Coach Sean Miller has discovered the players who fit his Arizona Wildcat team.

Beardown Coach Miller!

Next: Arizona Commit Ray Smith is Ready...Are you?

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