Athletes of Tomorrow Hampton, VA Preview
Note: Photo above by OST247
The 2018 Nike EYBL is soon to be coming to a close with this weekend’s Hampton, VA session. This weekend will mark the 4th session of the tough EYBL Season. The AOT (Athletes of Tomorrow) Running Rebels are coming in ranking as the second best team in this year’s EYBL sitting at a 10-2 overall record. The Rebels are coming off their undefeated (4-0) run they posted two weeks ago in their own backyard at Lakepoint Sports Academy in Emerson, GA in the EYBL’s third session. With that performance they have automatically punched their ticket to Peach Jam in mid-July.
2020 point guard Sharife Cooper, 2020 wing Brandon Boston, and 2019 forward Isaac Okoro of McEachern (GA), look to lead their squad to another undefeated weekend in Hampton, VA. With their automatic spot in Peach Jam, the Running Rebels do not have anything to lose right? Wrong, they will still be playing for seeding. The EYBL Peach Jam field consist of the top five from each division (four divisions) with the rest of the field being “at-large” bids and those bids will be decided by Nike. AOT will want the highest seed possible going into Peach Jam in July.
This weekend in Hampton will arguably be AOT’s toughest weekend. With almost every program trying to punch their ticket to Peach Jam, AOT will have to really lock in and buckle down to at least go 2-2 overall. They will be facing Oakland Soldiers (CA) (8-4), E1T1 (FL) (6-6), Nike Team Florida (FL) (6-6), and Drive Nation (TX) (9-3). All those programs feature some of top nationally known prospect in either the class of 2019 or 2020. Sharife Cooper will have major point guard verse point guard matchups this weekend as well. Cooper will be facing 2019 Scottie Pipper Jr. (Oakland Soldiers), 2020 Noah Farrahkhan (NTF), and 2019 Tre Mann (E1T1). Sharife currently leads AOT in scoring (19.1) and assists (6.4) per game. Those are also huge matchups for the Rebels as they try to keep their streak going and continue to improve thier EYBL resume.