Dupont closes in on 600 career games
Each week, we search through our 360 media coverage to highlight the week that was in Ultimate Hoops Leagues.
Player Spotlight
In our last Week in Review of 2017, we are going to predict some of the milestones we may see be reached in 2018. There are plenty of players in every statistical category that will reach milestones in the Winter season. Here are a few that are the closest to doing so.
Dustin Dupont playing with the Mustangs in the Dream League
Dustin Dupont, who leads all of Ultimate Hoops in assists (3,066) and steals (1,526), is set to become the fourth player to ever play in 600 Ultimate Hoops games. He has currently played in 598 games, so he'll only need two in 2018 to reach this rare milestone. If he plays in Bloomington South again in the Winter, he'll be at 600 games played before the end of January.
Milestones
Sonny Young-Graves (left) drafting Ernest Clayton to the Yellow Jackets. Young-Graves will be the first-ever player-GM in the Dream League this season.
Two familiar faces in Minnesota Rec, Chris Maher and Sonny Young-Graves, are both tied for seventh all-time in wins with 398. There's a good chance that they will both surpass 400 wins in 2018. The only question now is, who will reach the milestone first?
We know that a lot of players are going to surpass certain point milestones next season, as our top scorers can score over 200 points in a season. It's hard to chose just one person to highlight for points, but the safest bet looks like Michael Swisher. Swisher currently sits at 4,983 points in his UH career. He averaged 17.3 points per game last season. If he keeps that average in the Winter season, he would conveniently hit exactly 5,000 points on the opening night in 2018.
Sean Breen has a really good chance of being the sixth player to ever hit 1,500 threes in their UH career. He has made 1,499 threes so far in his career. It shouldn't take Breen very long to get his 1,500th in 2018.
Brandon Walker ready to drain a corner three.
Brandon Walker, a long-time player out in Arizona, has a good chance of surpassing 2,500 career rebounds early in 2018. In the Fall season, he played in the draft league in Gilbert and Tempe. If he plays in both leagues again in the Winter, he may have over 2,500 by the second week in January, when those leagues are projected to start. He has 2,489 in his career, 32nd most in UH.
Chase Skinkis finds himself back on watch for another milestone, which has become a routine in this article. In this past season, he surpassed 300 games played, 3,000 rebounds and he won his 10th championship. If he plays in any of the Winter leagues in Las Vegas, there is no doubt he'd be able to get at least four assists to reach 2,500 in his career. He would be the sixth player in UH to ever reach this milestone.
Our final highlighted possible milestone is for Tyrone Jones, a trainer of ours out in Arizona. Jones needs four more blocks to reach 300 in his Ultimate Hoops career. He would be the 21st player to have 300 or more blocks in UH history.
Top Performers of the Week
Points: Jerome Barnes - 37 (Shelby, Vet)
Rebounds: Michael Carboni - 14 (Green Valley, Rec)
Assists: Matt Cummins - 12 (Green Valley, Rec)
Steals: Chris Hermiz - 4 (Shelby, Vet)
Blocks: Jim Reilly - 8 (Green Valley, Rec)
Three different Top Performers came out of Green Valley this week.
We want to thank all of our players for making 2017 such a great year for Ultimate Hoops. Our New Year's resolution for 2018 is going to be to continue to provide great basketball experiences, and make all of our players feel like a professional. We hope to see you all back in 2018 as we continue to grow as a community.