I watched Steward live today at the Riverside-Brookfield Shootout in suburban Chicago. This was the third time I have seen him live. He is extremely athletic, has excellent floor vision, both in the half court and in transition, and has improved his outside shooting a lot from when I first saw him, to the point where he’s now a good, though not great shooter from distance. If I had a criticism, it would be that he has fallen in love a bit with the perimeter jumper now that it has improved, and passed up a couple of opportunities to take the ball to the hole in favor of a contested 3. That said, if there are 25-30 better players in the country than Steward, I’d like to see them.
I also saw 3 other guys who are Big Ten caliber players. Steward’s high school teammate, Tyler Beard, is a 6’1" guard in the '20 class with very good hops and quickness, nice floor vision and passing skills, and excellent defensive skills and ability to pressure the ball. He only took one shot from outside the lane (made a contested 3), but finished very well at the rim. He’s a bit slight, and as I said, I don’t know too much about his perimeter shooting (free throw stroke was pure). Iowa has offered, and I suspect more power 5 teams will.
2 class of '21 kids, Ahmad Bynum of Simeon, and Bryce Hopkins of Fenwick, already have Illinois offers and more will come. Bynum, a 6’2" guard, is a great shooter with an extremely quick release and DEEP range. He’s quick and has some ball skills, but he tends to stand in the corner and look for 3s. When he does take get the ball and takes it, he’s very right handed, and looks for his own–his passing comes off transition opportunities. He can really light it up in a hurry, and against very good competition; if he learns to do more for others, he’ll be an excellent player at the high major level.
Hopkins is 6’6". I saw him last December, and he looks like he has lost about 20 pounds since then, which has made him much quicker. He has a nice stroke from 3, and can take it to the rim off the bounce and finish in traffic. He’s still a little deliberate in his movements, and he’s not yet the most interested rebounder or defender. When his motor is running though, he’s a skilled, athletic player.
No one from Michigan was there–they have a sign up board with colleges listed. Based on twitter and other reports here, at least 3 of the 4 Michigan coaches were in either New Jersey (watching Abdur-Rahim) or in Minnesota (watching Dawson Garcia and others). Much of the Big Ten was at the event–I saw Hoiberg, Gard, Underwood and Miller in the stands.