ROCK HILL, S.C. — The adidas 3SSB kicked into high gear Thursday, and NC State coach Kevin Keatts and assistant coach Levi Watkins took in some of the action.
The nice thing about adidas being in Rock Hill and Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., it is only a little over two hours by driving, and who knows what schools are taking private jets.
The 15s and 16s divisions at adidas don’t appear to have the depth of Nike, but I’ll know more by Sunday. What is also clear is that Team Loaded VA 15s and 16s could be the class of the age groups.
I took in Team Loaded VA 15s vs. a decent Wiz Kids of New York City, which Loaded won 72-64. I was mostly familiar with the majority of the squad because they played in the 15s division last year as Team Loaded 2026. What has changed is simply Reidsville (N.C.) High sophomore power forward/tight end/defensive end Kendre’ Harrison and a few other pieces.
Team Loaded has a little bit of everything. Harrison provides toughness, activity and an active rebounder. He scored a team-high 19 points in the win. NC State and seemingly everyone else in the south have offered him in football.
Sophomore Latrell Allmond, who has an NC State offer, is from Southern Pines, N.C., but moved to attend John Marshall High in Richmond, Va. He played with NC State signee Dennis Parker and won a state title. Allmond can clean the glass, is a surprisingly good shot-blocker and can take less athletic bigs off the dribble and score.
Sophomore point guard Michael Jones controls the action and goes to Indian Land High on the South Carolina side of the Charlotte area. He’s a mid-major lock and probably will get hard looks from Power Five Conferences. He has a nice jumper and knows how to score.
Shooting guard Styles Clemmons plays for Princess Anne in Virginia Beach, Va. He’s athletic and can make things happen, and has five offers, with VCU leading the way.
On the perimeter, sophomore Connor Lyons looked like a pretty darn good three-point — he drained four three-pointers in the win — and is listed at 6-6. He plays for St. Anne’s Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va., and plays prep ball with top 100 junior point guard Chance Mallory.
Off the bench, Team Loaded VA has a pair of potential high major post players. Sophomore center Kosi Mgbejiofor of Bishop Sullivan Catholic in Virginia Beach, Va., and has been in the country two years after arriving from Africa. He was in Knoxville, Tenn., his eighth grade year. The 6-10 shot-blocker/rim-runner has lost minutes due to Harrison.
Sophomore post player Chase Foster, who is listed at 6-10, but probably is closer to 6-8. He’s from Baltimore (Md.) Edmondson Westside High, where he plays with junior center Marcus Jackson, who left Team Thrill 16s for Team Loaded VA 16s.
I’ll be likely watching Team Loaded VA 16s with Jackson, Southern Durham (N.C.) High junior wing Jackson Keith and Raleigh Millbrook junior forward Colt Langdon on Friday.
NC State commit Paul McNeil adjusts to new teammates
Garner Road played a pretty good and tall Southern Assault squad from Texas, giving NC State senior wing commit Paul McNeil a quality test, with Keatts and Watkins watching.
To understand the context, Garner Road had McNeil, senior wing Rakease Passmore, senior point guard Isaiah Washington and senior post player Bobby Cannon as the nucleus. Passmore is now with Team Thad, Washington is with CP3 and Cannon is with The Skill Factory (TSF), all at Nike Peach Jam.
So, McNeil had a different group of teammates Thursday, and McNeil led the way with 16 points in a heart-breaking 60-59 loss. What made the challenge hard for McNeil and company is that Southern Assault has 6-7 Micah Robinson, 6-9 Nicolas Codie and 6-10 James Vinson IV across the frontcourt. Add in 6-5 sniper Anton McDermott and it’s a good team.
McNeil had 11 of his 16 points in the second half and his signature moment was when Southern Assault hit a big three and started to celebrate a bit, McNeil calmly came down and drained a 3-pointer in the face of the defender to answer it.
Upward Stars program has some dudes
It has been a while since NC State dipped into South Carolina in basketball recruiting. Maybe the last chance that NC State nearly landed a player was Cordova (S.C.) Edisto High power forward Brice Johnson in the class of 2012. NCSU did get Zion Williamson on campus for an unofficial visit. The class of 2018 prospect attended Spartanburg (S.C.) Day School.
The Wolfpack offered wing Sindarius Thornwell out of Lancaster (S.C.) High in the class of 2013, and tried some with P.J. Dozier of Spring Valley High in Columbia, S.C., in the class of 2015.
From that group, Williamson picked Duke, Johnson went to North Carolina, and Thornwell and Dozier stayed home for South Carolina.
The adidas 3SSB will showcase the Upward Stars traveling team program, which has a bevy of ranked players coming up, and Keatts was able to watch some of them.
The Wolfpack Central took in Upward Stars 15s on Thursday, due to class of 2027 forward Josh Leonard, who played on the varsity at Florence (S.C.) Wilson High. He showed he is very versatile, who has a good feel for the game, enough bounce to get some things done in the lane and even stretched the defense with a three-pointer.
Who entered the game a bit of unknown was sophomore point guard Caden Coleman of Hillcrest High. He has moxie, can create his own offense and solid size. Coleman and the aforementioned Michael Jones give South Carolina two legitimate point guards in the class of 2026.
Star power at adidas 3SSB
Nike might have more depth, especially in the younger classes, but the stars were out for adidas.
The highest ranked guys in class of 2024:
4. Flory Bidunga, Indiana Elite
7. Ian Jackson, Wiz Kids (UNC commit)
21. Annor Boateng, Arkansas Hawks
22. Zoom Diallo, Beachamp Elite
23. V.J. Edgecombe, Austin Rivers Southeast Elite
49. Khani Rooths, New World
50. Paul McNeil, Garner Road
Class of 2025:
3. Koa Peat, Compton Magic 17s
4. Darryn Peterson, Team Phenom United 16s
7. Jayden Quaintance, Team Loaded VA 17s
9. Isaiah Harwell, Utah Prospects 17s
16. Mikel Brown Jr., Austin Rivers Southeast Elite 17s
34. Nikola Bundalo, Wildcats Select 16s
39. Nate Ament, Team Loaded NC 16s
40. Jackson Keith, Team Loaded VA 16s
41. Treyvon Maddox, Upward Stars 16s
49. Moustapha Thiam, Austin Rivers Southeast Elite 17s
Peterson and Boateng were both terrific Thursday at shooting guard. Peterson doesn’t have a glaring weakness, and he’s simply too good for the 16s division. He’ll be in that next tier of Ohio prep stars after LeBron James, Jimmy Jackson, Jared Sullinger, Daequan Cook, Kosta Koufos and B.J. Mullens.
Boateng is one of the top players to come out of Arkansas in the last 30 years. Corliss Williamson (Arkansas), Joe Johnson (Arkansas), Malik Monk (Kentucky), Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas), Daniel Gafford (Arkansas), Ky Madden (Arkansas), Bobby Portis (Arkansas), Archie Goodwin (Kentucky), James Anderson (Oklahoma State) and most recently Nick Smith (Arkansas) and Kel’el Ware (Oregon/Indiana) are the standard in Arkansas.
Coming up Friday
The first big game Friday is a friendly battle between Team Loaded NC and Team Loaded VA at 11:30 a.m.
TL NC has junior point guard Eli Ellis and TL VA features junior center Jayden Quaintance of Raleigh Word of God, plus Wake Forest senior wing commit Jayden “Juke” Harris.
Another good matchup is Game Elite 17s vs. Wiz Kids, also at 11:30 a.m. NC State senior center target Peyton Marshall and five-star sophomore small forward Caleb Holt lead Game Elite. UNC wing commit Ian Jackson and Syracuse shooting guard commit Elijah Moore are with Wiz Kids.
The nice thing about adidas being in Rock Hill and Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C., it is only a little over two hours by driving, and who knows what schools are taking private jets.
The 15s and 16s divisions at adidas don’t appear to have the depth of Nike, but I’ll know more by Sunday. What is also clear is that Team Loaded VA 15s and 16s could be the class of the age groups.
I took in Team Loaded VA 15s vs. a decent Wiz Kids of New York City, which Loaded won 72-64. I was mostly familiar with the majority of the squad because they played in the 15s division last year as Team Loaded 2026. What has changed is simply Reidsville (N.C.) High sophomore power forward/tight end/defensive end Kendre’ Harrison and a few other pieces.
Team Loaded has a little bit of everything. Harrison provides toughness, activity and an active rebounder. He scored a team-high 19 points in the win. NC State and seemingly everyone else in the south have offered him in football.
Sophomore Latrell Allmond, who has an NC State offer, is from Southern Pines, N.C., but moved to attend John Marshall High in Richmond, Va. He played with NC State signee Dennis Parker and won a state title. Allmond can clean the glass, is a surprisingly good shot-blocker and can take less athletic bigs off the dribble and score.
Sophomore point guard Michael Jones controls the action and goes to Indian Land High on the South Carolina side of the Charlotte area. He’s a mid-major lock and probably will get hard looks from Power Five Conferences. He has a nice jumper and knows how to score.
Shooting guard Styles Clemmons plays for Princess Anne in Virginia Beach, Va. He’s athletic and can make things happen, and has five offers, with VCU leading the way.
On the perimeter, sophomore Connor Lyons looked like a pretty darn good three-point — he drained four three-pointers in the win — and is listed at 6-6. He plays for St. Anne’s Belfield School in Charlottesville, Va., and plays prep ball with top 100 junior point guard Chance Mallory.
Off the bench, Team Loaded VA has a pair of potential high major post players. Sophomore center Kosi Mgbejiofor of Bishop Sullivan Catholic in Virginia Beach, Va., and has been in the country two years after arriving from Africa. He was in Knoxville, Tenn., his eighth grade year. The 6-10 shot-blocker/rim-runner has lost minutes due to Harrison.
Sophomore post player Chase Foster, who is listed at 6-10, but probably is closer to 6-8. He’s from Baltimore (Md.) Edmondson Westside High, where he plays with junior center Marcus Jackson, who left Team Thrill 16s for Team Loaded VA 16s.
I’ll be likely watching Team Loaded VA 16s with Jackson, Southern Durham (N.C.) High junior wing Jackson Keith and Raleigh Millbrook junior forward Colt Langdon on Friday.
NC State commit Paul McNeil adjusts to new teammates
Garner Road played a pretty good and tall Southern Assault squad from Texas, giving NC State senior wing commit Paul McNeil a quality test, with Keatts and Watkins watching.
To understand the context, Garner Road had McNeil, senior wing Rakease Passmore, senior point guard Isaiah Washington and senior post player Bobby Cannon as the nucleus. Passmore is now with Team Thad, Washington is with CP3 and Cannon is with The Skill Factory (TSF), all at Nike Peach Jam.
So, McNeil had a different group of teammates Thursday, and McNeil led the way with 16 points in a heart-breaking 60-59 loss. What made the challenge hard for McNeil and company is that Southern Assault has 6-7 Micah Robinson, 6-9 Nicolas Codie and 6-10 James Vinson IV across the frontcourt. Add in 6-5 sniper Anton McDermott and it’s a good team.
McNeil had 11 of his 16 points in the second half and his signature moment was when Southern Assault hit a big three and started to celebrate a bit, McNeil calmly came down and drained a 3-pointer in the face of the defender to answer it.
Upward Stars program has some dudes
It has been a while since NC State dipped into South Carolina in basketball recruiting. Maybe the last chance that NC State nearly landed a player was Cordova (S.C.) Edisto High power forward Brice Johnson in the class of 2012. NCSU did get Zion Williamson on campus for an unofficial visit. The class of 2018 prospect attended Spartanburg (S.C.) Day School.
The Wolfpack offered wing Sindarius Thornwell out of Lancaster (S.C.) High in the class of 2013, and tried some with P.J. Dozier of Spring Valley High in Columbia, S.C., in the class of 2015.
From that group, Williamson picked Duke, Johnson went to North Carolina, and Thornwell and Dozier stayed home for South Carolina.
The adidas 3SSB will showcase the Upward Stars traveling team program, which has a bevy of ranked players coming up, and Keatts was able to watch some of them.
The Wolfpack Central took in Upward Stars 15s on Thursday, due to class of 2027 forward Josh Leonard, who played on the varsity at Florence (S.C.) Wilson High. He showed he is very versatile, who has a good feel for the game, enough bounce to get some things done in the lane and even stretched the defense with a three-pointer.
Who entered the game a bit of unknown was sophomore point guard Caden Coleman of Hillcrest High. He has moxie, can create his own offense and solid size. Coleman and the aforementioned Michael Jones give South Carolina two legitimate point guards in the class of 2026.
Star power at adidas 3SSB
Nike might have more depth, especially in the younger classes, but the stars were out for adidas.
The highest ranked guys in class of 2024:
4. Flory Bidunga, Indiana Elite
7. Ian Jackson, Wiz Kids (UNC commit)
21. Annor Boateng, Arkansas Hawks
22. Zoom Diallo, Beachamp Elite
23. V.J. Edgecombe, Austin Rivers Southeast Elite
49. Khani Rooths, New World
50. Paul McNeil, Garner Road
Class of 2025:
3. Koa Peat, Compton Magic 17s
4. Darryn Peterson, Team Phenom United 16s
7. Jayden Quaintance, Team Loaded VA 17s
9. Isaiah Harwell, Utah Prospects 17s
16. Mikel Brown Jr., Austin Rivers Southeast Elite 17s
34. Nikola Bundalo, Wildcats Select 16s
39. Nate Ament, Team Loaded NC 16s
40. Jackson Keith, Team Loaded VA 16s
41. Treyvon Maddox, Upward Stars 16s
49. Moustapha Thiam, Austin Rivers Southeast Elite 17s
Peterson and Boateng were both terrific Thursday at shooting guard. Peterson doesn’t have a glaring weakness, and he’s simply too good for the 16s division. He’ll be in that next tier of Ohio prep stars after LeBron James, Jimmy Jackson, Jared Sullinger, Daequan Cook, Kosta Koufos and B.J. Mullens.
Boateng is one of the top players to come out of Arkansas in the last 30 years. Corliss Williamson (Arkansas), Joe Johnson (Arkansas), Malik Monk (Kentucky), Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas), Daniel Gafford (Arkansas), Ky Madden (Arkansas), Bobby Portis (Arkansas), Archie Goodwin (Kentucky), James Anderson (Oklahoma State) and most recently Nick Smith (Arkansas) and Kel’el Ware (Oregon/Indiana) are the standard in Arkansas.
Coming up Friday
The first big game Friday is a friendly battle between Team Loaded NC and Team Loaded VA at 11:30 a.m.
TL NC has junior point guard Eli Ellis and TL VA features junior center Jayden Quaintance of Raleigh Word of God, plus Wake Forest senior wing commit Jayden “Juke” Harris.
Another good matchup is Game Elite 17s vs. Wiz Kids, also at 11:30 a.m. NC State senior center target Peyton Marshall and five-star sophomore small forward Caleb Holt lead Game Elite. UNC wing commit Ian Jackson and Syracuse shooting guard commit Elijah Moore are with Wiz Kids.
