ROCK HILL, S.C. — The main event at adidas 3SSB was when Team Loaded VA played Kevon Looney Power 5 on the Arena Court in one of four quarterfinals Friday.
NC State coach Kevin Keatts and assistant coach Levi Watkins were in attendance, to see senior point guard target Kaden Magwood and junior power forward Latrell Allmond. NCSU assistant coach Brett Nelson was holding it down at Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C.
To set the scene, the arena sections where the coaches don’t sit was nearly packed. Both teams came into the game wanting to run, run, run. The star power was there with Magwood, Allmond and senior small forward Nate Ament for Team Loaded VA and Power Five had Iowa State senior shooting guard commit Jamarion Bateman and senior wing Amari Allen.
The game lived up to the hype and was fun from start to finish, with an energetic crowd spurring it on. Magwood got hot from deep and pushed the tempo and he played exactly how I had talked about this week, like a player on a mission to be ranked in the top 30 in the country. He’s currently at No. 60, but with a game completely built for his abilities — completely up-tempo — he dominated and had 32 points and a good amount of three-pointers.
Springing the upset and landing Magwood would make up for Jalen Lecque signing with NC State and then turning pro. It would be some balancing out from the basketball recruiting Gods. Lecque played fast and was uber-athletic, but didn’t have the jump shot Magwood has.
Allen did a little bit of everything and was offered by his home state Wisconsin Badgers after the game, and Bateman showed why he’s so highly regarded. As stated earlier, Bateman is everything NC State wants in a wing, so good get for the Cyclones.
After such a terrific game, which Team Loaded VA won by pulling away over the last 3-4 minutes, the Utah Prospects vs. Dream Vision contest seemed like a let down. Utah Prospects won the game and will play Team Loaded VA on Saturday in the semifinals. Indiana Elite rode the hot shooting of senior wing Braylon Mullins (named after former Michigan wide receiver Braylon Edwards), and defeated Team Loaded NC in a mercy rule game. Indiana Elite will play Compton Magic, who got the services of star forward Koa Peat back from USA Basketball. Compton Magic defeated Ohio-based Phenom U, who got a spectacular 33-point performance from top five senior shooting guard Darryn Peterson. Already rumors of some major, major NIL offers floating around for Peterson.
The semifinals are Saturday for 17s, 16s and 15s, and the title games Sunday. One change this year that adidas did is have the quarterfinals go one after another, so the coaches and media could see the top eight games in succession. The same will happen today with the semifinals. I could be wrong, but it felt like a lot of the “bigger” games were played at the same time in the past, so you had to make decisions on which quarterfinal to watch or maybe even which semifinal to watch.
•••
Matthews (N.C.) Carmel Christian junior power forward Cody Peck and Garner Road 16s will be on the docket today against Anthony Edwards Five.
Peck has been shooting the three-ball well this week at 6-foot-10, which hasn’t always been the case. NC State just offered him and he’s a down the road prospect only due to being around 195 pounds. He’ll need time for his body to fill out, but he is fluid for his size and comes from an athletic family with his aunt Carolyn Peck, his father Michael, a former Marshall post player, and his older sister played volleyball at North Carolina.
Garner Road 16s also has junior point guard Chaise Smith of Washington (N.C.) High now, and reclassed sophomore post player Mason Robinson and junior center Tyson Thompson help Peck inside. Robinson has transferred from Hillsborough (N.C.) Orange to Greensboro Day, while Thompson might end up at Winston-Salem (N.C.) Christian, after playing for his dad at St. Pauls High.
The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Thompson, who is the great nephew of the late Charles Shackleford on his mom’s side. Shackleford is a former NC State player and NBA player.
Thompson is making the move to the Triad due to his father, Corey Thompson, getting hired as the new head coach at Winston-Salem State, his alma mater. Thompson had coached on the college level before coaching his son at St. Pauls.
•••
I also got to watch another former St. Pauls High player. Junior small forward Josiah Sanders joined Team Loaded VA 16s this week. He had played with Bobby Maze 16s and apparently even moonlighted with CP3 a week ago.
Sanders played with Thompson at St. Pauls his freshman year, and then made the move to Berean Prep in Fayetteville, N.C. The 6-7 lefty is versatile and handles the ball really well for his size. I got to see him with his high school team and then Bobby Maze Elite in late April, but he was injured and didn’t play with Berean Prep during the live period in June.
What Sanders is gifted at is that he can take the outlet pass, initiate the offense or pull-up from about 17 feet and make the pull-up jumper. He’s athletic enough to block shots on defense and is the kind of glue guy forward who can get 12 points, six rebounds and four assists in most games. When he cuts down the turnovers and fully learns what he can and can’t do, I think his recruitment will take off to another level. East Carolina offered him this weekend, but he does have a few high-major offers.
Team Loaded VA 16s is a quality squad, led by junior wing Adam Oumiddoch of Overtime Elite, who is from the Washington, D.C. area. He makes the team go with his skill and basketball IQ. He’d be different from the wings that NC State has recruited in the past, but is scholarship worthy and ranked No. 32 overall in the class of 2026 by Rivals.com.
Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy junior guard Yohance Conner is still out with an injury or Team Loaded VA would be even more explosive.
•••
Another player that I’ll get to see for the first time is 6-7 sophomore post player Cannon DeBerry of Charlotte Olympic High on Team Loaded VA 15s. They have made it to the semifinals today. I’d have to check the database, but the last time Olympic had a high major prospect might have been when former Baylor/NC State guard Allerik Freeman played there.
***
I got a second look of Adriel Nyorha of Winston-Salem Christian, who is arriving from the Montreal, Canada, area. It just confirmed what I saw Thursday in that he’s smooth, athletic and doesn’t force anything. He’s the type of guard who gets his 20 points and you don’t realize he scored that many.
Ohio and George Mason offered him this weekend, but my prediction still holds true that he’ll end up with 10-15 high major schools chasing him at some point.
Nyorha played against the Atlanta Celtics, who had senior guard Akai Fleming, who is headed to Georgia Tech. Fleming is ranked No. 94 in the country by Rivals.com, but Nyorha more than held his own and each player impacted the game.
His coach in the middle of the second half turned to me out of the blue and he goes: “You really like Adriel?” I said, “Yes coach, I do.” And then returned to coaching.
***
Boston, Mass., native Collins Onyejiaka could be someone NC State could monitor moving forward. The 6-10 junior center is a massive human being. He normally has played with BABC 16s, but has moved up to the 17s squad after their center early enrolled at Providence. The Friars and Bryant have offered Onyejiaka, but he’ll get a good chunk of Big East and East Coast colleges on him because you can’t teach size.
It will be interesting to see how often NC State after heavier centers in light of the success D.J. Burns had.
NC State coach Kevin Keatts and assistant coach Levi Watkins were in attendance, to see senior point guard target Kaden Magwood and junior power forward Latrell Allmond. NCSU assistant coach Brett Nelson was holding it down at Nike Peach Jam in North Augusta, S.C.
To set the scene, the arena sections where the coaches don’t sit was nearly packed. Both teams came into the game wanting to run, run, run. The star power was there with Magwood, Allmond and senior small forward Nate Ament for Team Loaded VA and Power Five had Iowa State senior shooting guard commit Jamarion Bateman and senior wing Amari Allen.
The game lived up to the hype and was fun from start to finish, with an energetic crowd spurring it on. Magwood got hot from deep and pushed the tempo and he played exactly how I had talked about this week, like a player on a mission to be ranked in the top 30 in the country. He’s currently at No. 60, but with a game completely built for his abilities — completely up-tempo — he dominated and had 32 points and a good amount of three-pointers.
Springing the upset and landing Magwood would make up for Jalen Lecque signing with NC State and then turning pro. It would be some balancing out from the basketball recruiting Gods. Lecque played fast and was uber-athletic, but didn’t have the jump shot Magwood has.
Allen did a little bit of everything and was offered by his home state Wisconsin Badgers after the game, and Bateman showed why he’s so highly regarded. As stated earlier, Bateman is everything NC State wants in a wing, so good get for the Cyclones.
After such a terrific game, which Team Loaded VA won by pulling away over the last 3-4 minutes, the Utah Prospects vs. Dream Vision contest seemed like a let down. Utah Prospects won the game and will play Team Loaded VA on Saturday in the semifinals. Indiana Elite rode the hot shooting of senior wing Braylon Mullins (named after former Michigan wide receiver Braylon Edwards), and defeated Team Loaded NC in a mercy rule game. Indiana Elite will play Compton Magic, who got the services of star forward Koa Peat back from USA Basketball. Compton Magic defeated Ohio-based Phenom U, who got a spectacular 33-point performance from top five senior shooting guard Darryn Peterson. Already rumors of some major, major NIL offers floating around for Peterson.
The semifinals are Saturday for 17s, 16s and 15s, and the title games Sunday. One change this year that adidas did is have the quarterfinals go one after another, so the coaches and media could see the top eight games in succession. The same will happen today with the semifinals. I could be wrong, but it felt like a lot of the “bigger” games were played at the same time in the past, so you had to make decisions on which quarterfinal to watch or maybe even which semifinal to watch.
•••
Matthews (N.C.) Carmel Christian junior power forward Cody Peck and Garner Road 16s will be on the docket today against Anthony Edwards Five.
Peck has been shooting the three-ball well this week at 6-foot-10, which hasn’t always been the case. NC State just offered him and he’s a down the road prospect only due to being around 195 pounds. He’ll need time for his body to fill out, but he is fluid for his size and comes from an athletic family with his aunt Carolyn Peck, his father Michael, a former Marshall post player, and his older sister played volleyball at North Carolina.
Garner Road 16s also has junior point guard Chaise Smith of Washington (N.C.) High now, and reclassed sophomore post player Mason Robinson and junior center Tyson Thompson help Peck inside. Robinson has transferred from Hillsborough (N.C.) Orange to Greensboro Day, while Thompson might end up at Winston-Salem (N.C.) Christian, after playing for his dad at St. Pauls High.
The 6-foot-8, 230-pound Thompson, who is the great nephew of the late Charles Shackleford on his mom’s side. Shackleford is a former NC State player and NBA player.
Thompson is making the move to the Triad due to his father, Corey Thompson, getting hired as the new head coach at Winston-Salem State, his alma mater. Thompson had coached on the college level before coaching his son at St. Pauls.
•••
I also got to watch another former St. Pauls High player. Junior small forward Josiah Sanders joined Team Loaded VA 16s this week. He had played with Bobby Maze 16s and apparently even moonlighted with CP3 a week ago.
Sanders played with Thompson at St. Pauls his freshman year, and then made the move to Berean Prep in Fayetteville, N.C. The 6-7 lefty is versatile and handles the ball really well for his size. I got to see him with his high school team and then Bobby Maze Elite in late April, but he was injured and didn’t play with Berean Prep during the live period in June.
What Sanders is gifted at is that he can take the outlet pass, initiate the offense or pull-up from about 17 feet and make the pull-up jumper. He’s athletic enough to block shots on defense and is the kind of glue guy forward who can get 12 points, six rebounds and four assists in most games. When he cuts down the turnovers and fully learns what he can and can’t do, I think his recruitment will take off to another level. East Carolina offered him this weekend, but he does have a few high-major offers.
Team Loaded VA 16s is a quality squad, led by junior wing Adam Oumiddoch of Overtime Elite, who is from the Washington, D.C. area. He makes the team go with his skill and basketball IQ. He’d be different from the wings that NC State has recruited in the past, but is scholarship worthy and ranked No. 32 overall in the class of 2026 by Rivals.com.
Lincolnton (N.C.) Combine Academy junior guard Yohance Conner is still out with an injury or Team Loaded VA would be even more explosive.
•••
Another player that I’ll get to see for the first time is 6-7 sophomore post player Cannon DeBerry of Charlotte Olympic High on Team Loaded VA 15s. They have made it to the semifinals today. I’d have to check the database, but the last time Olympic had a high major prospect might have been when former Baylor/NC State guard Allerik Freeman played there.
***
I got a second look of Adriel Nyorha of Winston-Salem Christian, who is arriving from the Montreal, Canada, area. It just confirmed what I saw Thursday in that he’s smooth, athletic and doesn’t force anything. He’s the type of guard who gets his 20 points and you don’t realize he scored that many.
Ohio and George Mason offered him this weekend, but my prediction still holds true that he’ll end up with 10-15 high major schools chasing him at some point.
Nyorha played against the Atlanta Celtics, who had senior guard Akai Fleming, who is headed to Georgia Tech. Fleming is ranked No. 94 in the country by Rivals.com, but Nyorha more than held his own and each player impacted the game.
His coach in the middle of the second half turned to me out of the blue and he goes: “You really like Adriel?” I said, “Yes coach, I do.” And then returned to coaching.
***
Boston, Mass., native Collins Onyejiaka could be someone NC State could monitor moving forward. The 6-10 junior center is a massive human being. He normally has played with BABC 16s, but has moved up to the 17s squad after their center early enrolled at Providence. The Friars and Bryant have offered Onyejiaka, but he’ll get a good chunk of Big East and East Coast colleges on him because you can’t teach size.
It will be interesting to see how often NC State after heavier centers in light of the success D.J. Burns had.
