Gilbert Christian’s Mitch Lightfoot gets a slam dunk against Arcadia in their Division II championship game. (Photo: David Kadlubowski, Arizona Republic)
CLAREMONT, CALIF. — To say the last week has been a busy one for Gilbert (Ariz.) Christian power forward Mitch Lightfoot would be a gross understatement.
Over the last five days, Lightfoot has participated in three different events in two different states and in three different cities to play in front of a plethora of college coaches during the first live evaluation period of July.
First, Lightfoot was in Charleston, North Carolina for the Under Armour All-American camp.
Once he wrapped up a strong showing there, the 6-foot-9 prospect jetted off to Southern California where he rejoined his Arizona Power Black 17U AAU squad at the Double Pump Summer Tip-Off in Anaheim.
Lightfoot recorded 28 points, 16 rebounds and five blocked shots in a close loss to the Big Ballers, led by five-star recruit and UCLA-commit Lonzo Ball.
In addition to that, Lightfoot was making the 30 mile drive to Pomona Pitzer college for the Under Armour Elite 100 Camp.
On Sunday, Lightfoot, who is seeing his recruitment pick up after reopening his recruitment from New Mexico back in April, finished his week by leading his team to a 100-91 victory in the Elite 100 Top 20 All-Star game. He finished with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
“I felt like there were a bunch of great players here like Jayce (Johnson) and Billy (Preston). ” Lightfoot said of the Elite 100 Camp. “I saw both of them in North Carolina, and I was like, ‘I’m getting tired of you guys.’”
As far as his play went Sunday, the rising-senior thought that he was given ample opportunities to showcase his strengths, despite the sauna-like environment of the Sagehens gym.
“This is going to sound like I’m tooting my own horn, but I work harder than anyone,” Lightfoot said. “I like being the highest motor guy on the court and that’s what I enjoy, even though it was 400-thousand degrees in there.”
Lightfoot isn’t the only one who enjoys what he does on the basketball court, based on the college interest that he’s seen since he reopened his recruitment.
“Arizona, Kansas, Stanford, Utah, and Cal,” he said of which programs he speaks with the most. “But since the camp in North Carolina, I’ve seen a bunch of east coast schools jump in.”
Lightfoot said that he’s planning on taking one of his official visits to Arizona, and said that he will see Kansas in September.
The Arizona-native wasn’t the only big-time recruit in attendance at Elite 100, either.
Five-star forward Billy Preston of Dallas (TX) Prime U arrived for the second half of the Top 20 game with the score tied at 42.
The class of 2017 prospect made his mark in the victory, scoring 11 points on 4 of 7 shooting to go along with three rebounds and two steals.
“I was kind of fatigued because I’ve been traveling a lot, but I wanted to come in and make an impact on the game,” said Preston, who holds offers from Kansas, Connecticut, UCLA, USC and other major college programs. “I think the team chemistry helped us win. The team work on the court was accurate.”
