Weekend Warm Up: Circuit Teams
Following their multi-day training camps and a June full of college visits/camps, Ohio’s shoe circuit programs are entering the most crucial stretch of the schedule. Opportunities await for All Ohio Red, C2K Elite, and Ohio Basketball Club prospects, as they compete against the country’s best for scholarships and college looks.
This week, the three programs are spread throughout the East Coast from Georgia to New York. Although NEO Tru Game and the 16U groups from C2K and OBC are the only two teams surely competing for circuit championships, C2K’s 17U has a chance also while programs like Nova and Dayton Wolves will also take the stage at shoe company hosted events to start the July Live Period.
Peach Invitational
17U: No. 1, All Ohio Red
No. 6, Darius Miller Elite (formerly known as All Ohio Cincinnati)
No. 14, All Ohio Black
RGB Ohio Unity
16U: No. 2, All Ohio Red
15U: No. 3, All Ohio Red
No. 5, Dayton Wolves
For EYBL teams that didn’t qualify for Peach Jam — a group that all of the All Ohio Red teams fall into — the Peach Invitational is strategically located near the Nike circuit finale for coaches to conveniently pop over to.
Red’s 17U team looks is in Pool B with BABC, The Truth, and We All Can Go. They’re obviously led by Ohio State verbal commit Alonzo Gaffney.
Spring stock risers and versatile forwards compliment Gaffney, including Ohio’s no. 5 2019 prospect Josh Corbin. Robert Morris, James Madison, Kent State, Boston, and Winthrop have offered Corbin in the spring alone. He visited the latest team to offer, Winthrop, in June along with a trip to Wofford. Coming through the door in Augusta to evaluate Corbin are a slew of D-I programs: Toledo, Xavier, Ohio State, UNC Charlotte, James Madison, Dayton, Boston, Akron, VCU, Winthrop, and Wofford.
Tre Williams, Red’s high energy interior presence, also tallied offers in the spring. Specifically, he pulled them from Bryant, Manhattan, Eastern Illinois, South Carolina Upstate, and Kent State after announcing that he’ll spend a prep year at Woodstock Academy. Williams tells us that Dayton, Youngstown State, Kent State, Buffalo, Morehead State, Indiana State, Western Carolina, Old Dominion, and Rhode Island will watch him at the Peach Invitational. Also, he visited YSU, Dayton, and Kent State in June.
Finally, as we detailed in last week’s On the Verge series, Javohn Garcia is going to be watched by MAC and Horizon League programs and Tanner Holden has interest from Clemson, Ohio State, Xavier, Dayton, and UT Chattanooga.
Moving on to Red’s 16U group, Dominiq Penn believes Ohio State, Michigan State, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, Xavier, Auburn, and more will watch him at the tourney. He received a Saint Louis offer in June and will plan visits following July’s Live Period.
John Hugley will be watched by pretty much every Big 10 team and various other MM/HM programs in July.
Outside of those two headliners, watch out for a guy like Carl Blanton. He’s not flashy yet scores it efficiently and consistently tends to his defensive assignment with discipline and effort. The no-nonsense 6’2” guard from Trotwood will be watched by Winthrop, Western Carolina, Northern Kentucky, and Miami (OH) coaches in Augusta.
UA Challenge
17U: No. 2, Nova (James)
No. 4, C2K Elite
16U: No. 1, C2K Elite
No. 5, Nova (Alleyne)
15U: C2K Elite
Games will be held at Lake Point Indoor Pavilion near Atlanta for Under Armour’s first July Live Period event. As you can tell from the list, Nova’s top teams will join C2K down in the ATL for the event, but they won’t compete for a chance at the UA Finals.
C2K 17U plays a crucial game at 6:10 this afternoon on Court 4 for a chance to advance to the UA Finals in Vegas despite finishing 3-5 in UAA play this spring. Either way, they’ll play multiple games in front of coaches from the Big 10, Big East, MAC, and ACC this weekend.
Andre Gordon’s recruitment has really taken off since he announced that he’ll play at Huntington Prep next season. Clemson, Ohio State, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Iowa, and others will watch Gordon, per Jake Weingarten of Elevate Hoops.
Former Xavier verbal pledge Samari Curtis enters July under a new situation because of the decommitment. He told us a week ago that Missouri, Cincinnati, Xavier, Louisville, Dayton, Florida, and Indiana will come out to see him in July.
Nova’s 17U has prospects projected to range from a different couple levels. The D-I prospects include Jeremiah Keene, who was offered by South Carolina Upstate yesterday. He also will be watched by Wright State, Ohio, Stony Brook, IUPUI, Kent State, and Northern Arizona down there. Lunden McDay will be watched by the schools who have offered him already. Finally, CJ Karsatos has interest from Wright State, Air Force, Army, and plenty of other D-II and D-III programs entering the Live Period.
C2K’s 16U group is one of the nine UAA teams to already qualify for the UA Finals in their grade level. They have seven prospects seemingly destined for the D-I level in Zeb Jackson, Matt Allocco, Mo Njie, Luka Eller, VonCameron Davis, Joey Holifield, and Jaret Griffith.
Jackson has entered top 100 in national rankings after a huge spring where he received offers from schools like Virginia, Ohio State, Xavier, Butler, and others. He spent June travelling to campuses with his father and we’re told they’ve started to pinpoint what they value in a program, including a close-knit environment. Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Marquette will be in to evaluate the talented scorer in Atlanta.
Allocco will be watched by Butler, Davidson, and schools from the A-10. Njie also has Butler’s interest to start the month. Those two have high ceilings if they patch up a couple obvious holes in their games (Allocco’s being shooting and Njie needs to grow offensively).
Eller will be watched by Davidson and Horizon League programs. As we reported last week, he visited Davidson and Elon in June, so we’d expect Elon to check him out too. Eller revealed that he is enticed by living in the state of North Carolina following high school.
Holifield added an IUPFW in June and has plenty of interest from MAC schools. Meanwhile, Gould Academy’s Jaret Griffith will be watched by D-Is from the East Coast and various high-academic programs.
adidas Gold Gauntlet Finale
16U: No. 3, Ohio Basketball Club
With a 4-4 circuit record in the spring, OBC’s 16U group pushed their way into the Gold Finale and will play at Basketball City all weekend in NYC. They however did not earn a first round bye and will play the Atlanta Celtics at 4:30 on Thursday for a chance to play Mark Wise and EG10 on Friday.
With spring offers from Xavier and Toledo, Grant Huffman established himself as the premiere recruit in OBC’s 2020 class. Huffman visited Notre Dame and Ohio State in June and will be watched by them and the three programs who have offered already (Duquesne offered last June). On top of that, Wisconsin, Dayton, Davidson, and Princeton will also be in for Huffman in NYC.
Whether it’s this weekend or not, Luke Frazier will be watched by Colgate, Holy Cross, Miami (OH), and Duquesne to try to add on to his offer sheet of Youngstown State and Wright State. Andy Barba has Miami (OH), Duquesne, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Xavier, Princeton, Holy Cross, South Dakota, California Riverside, Bryant, Wright State, Youngstown State, and others checking him out.
As mentioned, Deer Park State Champion point guard Mark Wise will be on hand with his EG10 team. Florida Atlantic and Kent State have offered the budding lead guard. Miami (OH), Western Carolina, Ball State, Wright State, Morehead State, Florida International, Northern Kentucky, and others will watch Wise this weekend. He also visited Miami in June.
adidas Gauntlet Classic
17U: No. 10, Ohio Basketball Club
15U: No. 4, Ohio Hoopsters – Tillman
OBC’s 17U blend of 2019 talent and prep school prospects will compete in Pool E of the Gauntlet Classic after not qualifying for the Finale.
In terms of recruiting intrigue, a pair of point guard prospects stick out to us entering June. Winton Woods 6’3” point guard Greg Tribble added Ball State and Northern Kentucky to his offer sheet in the spring. He just recently began talking to Loyola Chicago and Robert Morris. Also, Erik Painter enters the month with a range of colleges looking at him. John Carroll, Lake Erie, Emmanuel College, Univ. of Chicago, Notre Dame (OH), Baldwin Wallace, and Mount Union constitute Painter’s current list of schools interested.