2012 National Prep School Invitational: Steven Adams Impresses In Busy Weekend

We've been covering Steven Adams here quite a bit recently - such is life with a top five recruit.

Adams battled some nerves a few weeks ago in his U.S. debut. He showed up at Ambridge last week and put on a show for the local fans. Next up? The 2012 National Prep School Invitational.

Safe to say that Adams was impressive yet again.

On Day 1 of the three-day event, Adams had 14 points (on 7-7 shooting), 11 rebounds, and six blocks. But he was just getting started.

Adams had his best game in the second day of the event, scoring 20 points, dominating defenders, grabbing nine rebounds, and adding three blocks in only 26 minutes. That earned him MVP honors for the contest as his team won 89-70. The most impressive thing? Adams was pretty ill just before the game:

"He’s wrestling with the flu," Hurd said after the Crusaders prevailed, 89-70. "He’s doing his best to fight through it and wrestle with it a little bit. You’re getting him in spurts. He’s able to gut it out a little bit at a time and then he wants to take a seat for a few minutes.

"Twenty-four hours ago he was throwing up everywhere. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of mitigating it."

It's easy to see why NBE said he may be the best player in the entire class after that game.

Adams apparently didn't have a huge third game, but that could have been due to the flow of the game.

ESPN.com's Adam Finkelstein says Adams was much improved from a few weeks ago (Insider article). I'm always skeptical about how a true freshman will perform, but this kid seems like he could live up to some of the enormous hype.

Be sure to join Cardiac Hill's Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @PittPantherBlog for our regular updates on Pitt football and basketball.