photo courtesy of digitalsports.com

On Sunday April 6th, Baltimore’s finest dropped a team of U.S. All-Stars like a bad habit, 107-82, in the 8th Annual Charm City Challenge held at the Towson Center on the campus of Towson University.

Over the last few years, the game has featured the likes of Drew Neitzel, Greivis Vasquez, DaJuan Summers, Joey Dorsey, Shane Clark, James Gist, Jesse Sapp, Sherrod Ford, Todd Galloway, Jarrett Jack, Andre McGee, Landon Milbourne, Ismail Muhammad, Melvin Scott, Levi Stukes, Dijon Thompson, Josh Boone, Ekene Ibekwe, DJ Strawberry and others for the U.S. and City squads that went on to make names for themselves in college and beyond.

From Dickie Kelly, Tony Brown and Larry Gibson back in the ’60s when B-more’s ballers flew under the radar, to the days of Skip “Honey Dip” Wise - the man who put the city on the national map and the first freshman ever named All-ACC at Clemson in the ’70s (which wouldn’t happen again until Kenny sizzled retinas at Georgia Tech in ‘89-’90) - killin’ it at the Lafayette Recreation Center, on the city’s rugged playgrounds and later at the famed Dunbar High School (Check Bounce Issue #12 for more on Skip) - and on through the continuum that produced such phenomenal playground, schoolboy or pro prodigies such as Muggsy Bogues, Sam Cassell, Juan Dixon, Reggie Lewis (R.I.P.), David Wingate, Reggie Williams, Duane Ferrell, Quinton Dailey, Tony Guy, Ernie Graham, Michael Lloyd, Donta Bright, Keith Booth, Rudy Gay and Carmelo, the reservoir of the B-more aesthetic has been spewing gems for a minute.

At the Charm City Challenge this weekend, the young boys once again showed that basketball flows in the collective bloodstream of the city. Maryland bound Sean Mosely, Missouri bound Kim English, Florida bound Allen Chaney and Georgetown bound Henry Sims put in work, along with the dimunitive, scoring machine from Douglass High School, Omar Strong.

The U.S. All-Stars were stacked with Dee Bost, Roscoe Davis, Mookie Jones, Kristopher Joseph, Nasir Robinson, Quintrell Thomas, Chris Turner and others - familiar names to those who follow high school ball - who’ll be heading to the likes of Pitt, West Virginia, Clemson, Mississipi State, Syracuse and Kansas next year. The most impressive was Xavier Gibson from Northview High School in Alabama, who’ll turn heads next year at Florida State.

But the unequivocal show stopper from the land of The Wire was the young fella pictured above, the game’s MVP - Mr. Troy Franklin. Colonial Athletic Association guards beware: your ankles are in severe jeopardy.

Franklin, who’ll suit up for the Towson Tigers next year, stunned the U.S. backcourt with his warp speed, floor game, burst to the hole, hops, vision and crowd pleasing boogie. Think of a gumbo-like mixture of Speedy Claxton, Earl Boykins, A.I. and Nate Robinson on the high school level.

Think I’m buggin’? Check the video at the bottom of the link -

http://www.digitalsports.com/article/type/organization/typeid/42/id/23722.aspx

Think B’more ain’t serious? Did you peep Donte Green at Syracuse this year? What other city has produced back to back Final Four MVP’s (Juan Dixon in 2002 and Carmelo in 2003) averaging over 25 joints in the tourney? How about one high school team, where all the kids grew up ballin’ in the PJ’s together, with five NBA draft picks (Dunbar ‘82 with muggsy, wingate, lewis, williams, gary graham)?

So keep your eyes on Team ‘Melo, Cecil-Kirk and Baltimore Select during summer AAU runs and next year’s fab freshman like Troy Franklin, Sean Mosely and Kim English representing the glorious past, present and future of Baltimore’s B-Ball style, flavor, grace and plus a different technique.