At the beginning of each new year, Phenom Hoops works to assemble a series of articles centered around unsigned senior prospects. Last season, over one hundred players from North Carolina went on to play at the Division I, II, III or NAIA levels, and that number looks likely to continue increasing with the current senior class. Typically, we take a closer look at guys who are overlooked and underrated, and today’s edition will highlight Robbie Boulton of Northwest Guilford.
Playing for a big-time high school program like Northwest Guilford should naturally lead to a ton of college coaches attending and offering these players. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been quite the case with Boulton. His numbers might not jump off the page on a nightly basis, but he is absolutely a vital part of this team. Boulton operates as the primary floor general and does so with great poise, toughness, and unselfishness. He’s long, active, and simply understands how to make plays on both ends of the floor. Boulton is a solid athlete and overall defender that properly positions himself to get deflections and force turnovers. He makes consistently intelligent decisions with the ball in his hands and prefers setting up others to hunting for his own shot, but can knock down the open jumper or finish strong through contact at the basket. Boulton has nice size and rebounds the ball well for his position, which allows him to dictate transition play with relative ease. Almost every team could utilize a player like him.
We’ve been fortunate enough to see Boulton and Northwest Guilford dozens of times throughout the years. He also attended our NC Phenom 150 Camp in August, where we stated: “Moving onto a player that is capable of running a team and controlling the action on both ends of the floor, Robbie Boulton. He’s a smart, very well-rounded point guard prospect that plays with patience and poise. Boulton offers a quality balance between scoring and playmaking and does a terrific job of playing a conservative brand of basketball. He rebounds the ball effectively and pushes transition play at a solid rate. Boulton leads by example and sets the tone with his intelligent offensive play. Next in his development process is working to become quicker, as it would make him a more lethal penetrator and allow him to make more plays inside the paint. Coach Johnson on Boulton: “Robbie can shoot the ball and score from all three levels but has to get stronger and work on competing on every possession. He has a great attitude and accepted coaching well during his time at camp.” Boulton is a phenomenal game manager that doesn’t force the action and knows how to get everyone involved, so it’ll be interesting to see how his recruitment unfolds going forward.”
Boulton’s recruitment has been somewhat quiet and it’s probably due to playing with superstars like Christian Hampton and Dean Reiber. However, he is one of the many prospects on this roster that Division II and III programs should be heavily pursuing. Boulton is already quite useful but could become even better at the next level.