Section 7, put on by the Arizona Basketball Coaches Association, is objectively one of the most impressive, expansive summer high school tournaments in the country. It was held at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, over Father’s Day weekend and Pro Insight was on hand to cover the event. In between games, we caught up with Darius Carr, the talented guard out of Cathedral Catholic (CA), who also plays for Compton Magic (CA) on the adidas 3SSB circuit. Throughout the event, Carr highlighted his improving PG skill-set, multi-level scoring, finishing ability, and confidence in front of hundreds of college coaches.
As part of the Pro Insight Q&A series, Carr talked about his background, his playing style, his recruitment update, and more.
For the next installment of the Pro Insight Q&A series, we present 2023 prospect Darius Carr, from Culver City, California:
Pro Insight: What are your initial impressions of the event?
Darius Carr: It’s amazing, I love it. First time being at this event, there's a lot of coaches here. It’s a big stage and you have to come out and perform. I love it.
PI: What are you hoping to show coaches in attendance?
DC: That I’m the top of my class. That I deserve to be the top of my class.
PI: Talk a bit about your background.
DC: I’m from Culver City near Los Angeles, California. My family lives in Houston and Atlanta, so it’s just me and my mom out there. It’s a nice private area, I don’t really do too much. I just stay in the house. If I’m not working out then I’m in the house working on my homework.
PI: Are you more of an introvert or extrovert?
DC: I’ve got a small circle.
PI: Did you play other sports growing up?
DC: I played football. If I played football right now I’d be a D1 player. My uncle played and he had too many concussions so my mom wasn’t messing with it so I stuck to basketball.
PI: When did you start focusing primarily on basketball?
DC: When I was eight years old. When I went to play at age nine, my mom said “no more football, we’re just going to play this [basketball].”
PI: Describe your game — what are your strengths?
DC: Getting to the rim, finishing around the basket, and making plays for my teammates. On defense I can guard the best player on the other team.
PI: What are some improvement areas?
DC: My three-point shooting, it’s getting better. I just need to be more consistent with it. My mid-range is good, I like to post, as well — that’s pretty good. But my three-point shot is what I want to work on more.
PI: What are some underrated areas?
DC: My defense. I feel like I don’t get enough credit for my defense. Especially on chase-downs, for a guard I like to block shots. You don’t see too many guards blocking shots and I was averaging 2.3 blocks per game.
PI: What’s the update with your recruitment?
DC: I have an offer from New Mexico and I’ve been contacted by UCLA, USC, Washington, UC Riverside, Nevada, George Washington, SDSU and that’s about it. That’s who I was contacted by, but at my games there was way more than that. (Note: Carr has since picked up additional offers from Washington, Washington State and LMU)
PI: What are you looking for in your school of choice?
DC: Family. That’s all I care about is family and loyalty. If I see that in a school, I don’t care who’s there, that’s where I’m going.
PI: Your game is looking more polished — what type of work have you been putting in this past year?
DC: This year is the first year in my whole basketball career playing PG so it was a huge change for me, but I feel like I’ve stepped into the role pretty well. Still have some improvement, I can be way better. But I was in the lab working on my handles, finishing around the basket, reacting to ball screens, etc.
PI: Now that you’re playing more PG are there any guys you like to model your game after?
DC: Ja Morant and Jayson Tatum. I consider myself a big guard and Jayson Tatum is a big guard to me. I like the way he operates and I like the way Ja Morant gets to the basket.
PI: What are four or five words that best describe you?
DC: Top player in the country.
PI: What do you hope to be remembered for?
DC: I want to be one of the best to ever do it. I want to be somebody who guards 1-4. Most of the top players in the league are 6’5” or 6’6” and I’m 6’3” to 6’4”. I want to be one of the best guards to ever play the game.