1. The scouting videos will tell the true story on how often Pittsboro (N.C.) Northwood sophomore wing Drake Powell matched up against Rockingham (N.C.) Richmond County sophomore small forward Paul McNeil on Saturday in Bermuda Run, N.C.
But this is what we do know. McNeil hit two three-pointers in the game for Garner Road 16s, and one of them was contested from the top of the key. McNeil is a 6-foot-6 scoring machine, but things did not come easy against Powell and CP3 16s.
CP3 coaches tried to fire up Powell because McNeil was named the North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year last week. He’s ranked No. 31 overall in the country by Rivals.com in the class of 2024 and probably sits atop NC State’s recruiting board for that class.
Powell isn’t ranked and has one offer thus far — from the Wolfpack. NC State was way ahead of the curve on Powell. He’s a consistent jump shot away from being a top 60 prospect. Why other colleges haven’t offered him is puzzling. Maybe they are worried about his obvious North Carolina connections and will wait to see if the Tar Heels will offer him.
Any way you slice it, Powell is a promising player, who could be an elite defender and has a nice mid-range game on offense. Powell finished with nine points in the win, but it didn’t matter what he got done on offense because his job was to lock up McNeil.
2. If Powell’s job was to play defense, then Lewis Walker’s job was to put the ball into the basket. Walker had 26 points and was a man on the block at about 6-4, 6-5 and 240 pounds. He attended North Forsyth High in Winston-Salem, N.C., and transferred to Winston-Salem Christian and reclassed to the class of 2024.
Walker is the kind of prospect that just grows on you. I saw him play at the N.C. Top 80 Camp on Oct. 17, and wasn’t sure about him. Then saw him play with W-S Christian vs. Overtime on Nov. 2 in Lincolnton, N.C. There was another viewing at the John Wall Holiday Invitational and now this past weekend. I have always said if you watch a player at an individual camp, with his prep team and then his traveling team, you get the essence of that player.
The essence of Walker is that he’s a matchup problem where he can take smaller guys into the paint and then larger guys along the perimeter. Wake Forest and some low/mid majors have offered him, but he’ll be an interesting recruitment. He isn’t exactly like Grant Williams, but Williams was an undersized power forward who was incredibly productive at Charlotte Providence Day, a star at Tennessee and a first-round draft pick to the Boston Celtics. I have often told the story that Tennessee almost didn’t offer him because he measured 6-4 1/2 at their June camp.
3. Speaking of Winston-Salem Christian, one of the hot rumors is Concord (N.C.) Academy sophomore power forward Kany Tchanda might be making the move there. W-S Christian is coached by Antonio Lowe, who had former NC State signees Josh Hall and Shakeel Moore at Moravian Prep in Hudson, N.C.
We’ll see where Tchanda shows up, but he showed up Saturday playing with Team United 2024 at the Big Shots event this weekend in Rock Hill, S.C.
Tchanda was joined by No. 29-ranked power forward Jarin Stevenson of Pittsboro (N.C.) Seaforth and No. 37-ranked wing Cameron Scott of Lexington (S.C.) High. Stevenson played his usual efficient game and Scott is clearly a skilled scorer who will probably be the target of an intense recruitment. NC State, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Virginia have offered Stevenson.
Clemson, Florida State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Texas Tech, Winthrop and the previous coaching staffs at South Carolina and Georgia have offered Scott. The next Gamecocks coach will be tasked with keeping Scott home.
Tchanda has offers from Charlotte and Morgan State, but don’t let that fool you. It sounds like coaches just didn’t get out much on the road during this past high school season, whether due to COVID or the transfer portal or both. As soon as coaches see the slender 6-8 Tchanda, the offers will start to flow in.
4. Another team that needed to watch at the Big Shots event was Big Shots Heat Elite 2025.
Freshman point guard Amore Connelly and power forward Zymichal Wilkins teamed up together and they’ll always play some events together with Team United 15s this spring and summer.
Connelly played more off the ball than I would have preferred, but his future is as a scoring lead guard, who makes things happen. Right from the opening tip, he tried to ruin some kids weekend by trying to dunk after the jump ball, only to get fouled. The Morganton (N.C.) Freedom High standout is just a different athlete, but has the skill needed to get things down at the higher level of basketball.
Wilkins, who attends Rutherfordton-Spindale Central High outside of Forest City, N.C., is more confident in his playmaking skills and ballhandling since watching him with his prep team in early December. He’s a very productive performer but is probably closer to 6-6 and 240 pounds, so it will be interesting to see if he grows another inch or two.
The third player that ended up emerging from that game was Burlington (N.C.) Cummings High freshman guard Johnniyus Sharpe. He reached double figures in every single game this season per MaxPreps.com en route to averaging 17.2 points per game. That’s extremely rare for a freshman (or a senior for that matter). He had 29 points against Graham (N.C.) High and 27 points against Greene Central. Cummings topped Goldsboro High in the NCHSAA playoffs, before falling 58-55 to Kinston High.
One might have to go back to J.T. “Trigger” Terrell as the last Division I high major hoops prospect from Cummings High. Jo’Vontae Millner-Criss went to Presbyterian and Middle Tennessee State, and Zavian Jackson attended Arkansas-Pine Bluff for a year as past Cummings High products.
5. We’ll end this with some odds and ends.
• Asheville (N.C.) Reynolds sophomore wing Rakease Passmore showed off his improved three-point shot, and he’s an electrician leaper at the rim. He almost had a dunk of the year candidate for Garner Road 16s against CP3 16s. He came out hot with three three-pointers in the first half and finished the game with 15 in the loss.
• Charlotte South Mecklenburg sophomore guard Bishop Boswell is very intriguing. He’s different with CP3 where he’s surrounded by talent, but he cuts it loose at South Meck. He’ll need to find that balance of being aggressive but still set up his teammates.
• If Cam Scott is the first priority for the next South Carolina coach, then freshman small forward Treyvon Maddox is right behind him. He attends Columbia (S.C.) White Knoll High and oozes top 30 potential at 6-foot-6. HIs dad is the Benedict College coach, Artis Maddox, which is based in Columbia. Maddox has previously coached at Florida Memorial in Miami Gardens, Fla., and Mountain State University in Beckley, W.Va. That would be where Treyvon Maddox grew up, and he’s played for Orlando, Fla.-based Each 1 Teach 1 traveling team in the past.
• Unconfirmed, there is chatter that top junior big man Brandon White of Donda Academy in Simi Valley, Calif., seriously hurt his knee. He originally played at Spencer (N.C.) North Rowan High for two years, reclassed and transferred at Winston-Salem Christian, before making the move with Robert Dillingham.
• Former NC State and NBA power forward Cedric Simmons was in attendance to watch his son play at the Bermuda Run, N.C., event that Phenom Hoops Report was putting on.
Former Duke and NBA center Cherokee Parks was also there to watch his nephew Clash Peters, a junior center from Durham (N.C.) Jordan High.
But this is what we do know. McNeil hit two three-pointers in the game for Garner Road 16s, and one of them was contested from the top of the key. McNeil is a 6-foot-6 scoring machine, but things did not come easy against Powell and CP3 16s.
CP3 coaches tried to fire up Powell because McNeil was named the North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year last week. He’s ranked No. 31 overall in the country by Rivals.com in the class of 2024 and probably sits atop NC State’s recruiting board for that class.
Powell isn’t ranked and has one offer thus far — from the Wolfpack. NC State was way ahead of the curve on Powell. He’s a consistent jump shot away from being a top 60 prospect. Why other colleges haven’t offered him is puzzling. Maybe they are worried about his obvious North Carolina connections and will wait to see if the Tar Heels will offer him.
Any way you slice it, Powell is a promising player, who could be an elite defender and has a nice mid-range game on offense. Powell finished with nine points in the win, but it didn’t matter what he got done on offense because his job was to lock up McNeil.
2. If Powell’s job was to play defense, then Lewis Walker’s job was to put the ball into the basket. Walker had 26 points and was a man on the block at about 6-4, 6-5 and 240 pounds. He attended North Forsyth High in Winston-Salem, N.C., and transferred to Winston-Salem Christian and reclassed to the class of 2024.
Walker is the kind of prospect that just grows on you. I saw him play at the N.C. Top 80 Camp on Oct. 17, and wasn’t sure about him. Then saw him play with W-S Christian vs. Overtime on Nov. 2 in Lincolnton, N.C. There was another viewing at the John Wall Holiday Invitational and now this past weekend. I have always said if you watch a player at an individual camp, with his prep team and then his traveling team, you get the essence of that player.
The essence of Walker is that he’s a matchup problem where he can take smaller guys into the paint and then larger guys along the perimeter. Wake Forest and some low/mid majors have offered him, but he’ll be an interesting recruitment. He isn’t exactly like Grant Williams, but Williams was an undersized power forward who was incredibly productive at Charlotte Providence Day, a star at Tennessee and a first-round draft pick to the Boston Celtics. I have often told the story that Tennessee almost didn’t offer him because he measured 6-4 1/2 at their June camp.
3. Speaking of Winston-Salem Christian, one of the hot rumors is Concord (N.C.) Academy sophomore power forward Kany Tchanda might be making the move there. W-S Christian is coached by Antonio Lowe, who had former NC State signees Josh Hall and Shakeel Moore at Moravian Prep in Hudson, N.C.
We’ll see where Tchanda shows up, but he showed up Saturday playing with Team United 2024 at the Big Shots event this weekend in Rock Hill, S.C.
Tchanda was joined by No. 29-ranked power forward Jarin Stevenson of Pittsboro (N.C.) Seaforth and No. 37-ranked wing Cameron Scott of Lexington (S.C.) High. Stevenson played his usual efficient game and Scott is clearly a skilled scorer who will probably be the target of an intense recruitment. NC State, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Virginia have offered Stevenson.
Clemson, Florida State, Ole Miss, North Carolina, Wake Forest, Texas Tech, Winthrop and the previous coaching staffs at South Carolina and Georgia have offered Scott. The next Gamecocks coach will be tasked with keeping Scott home.
Tchanda has offers from Charlotte and Morgan State, but don’t let that fool you. It sounds like coaches just didn’t get out much on the road during this past high school season, whether due to COVID or the transfer portal or both. As soon as coaches see the slender 6-8 Tchanda, the offers will start to flow in.
4. Another team that needed to watch at the Big Shots event was Big Shots Heat Elite 2025.
Freshman point guard Amore Connelly and power forward Zymichal Wilkins teamed up together and they’ll always play some events together with Team United 15s this spring and summer.
Connelly played more off the ball than I would have preferred, but his future is as a scoring lead guard, who makes things happen. Right from the opening tip, he tried to ruin some kids weekend by trying to dunk after the jump ball, only to get fouled. The Morganton (N.C.) Freedom High standout is just a different athlete, but has the skill needed to get things down at the higher level of basketball.
Wilkins, who attends Rutherfordton-Spindale Central High outside of Forest City, N.C., is more confident in his playmaking skills and ballhandling since watching him with his prep team in early December. He’s a very productive performer but is probably closer to 6-6 and 240 pounds, so it will be interesting to see if he grows another inch or two.
The third player that ended up emerging from that game was Burlington (N.C.) Cummings High freshman guard Johnniyus Sharpe. He reached double figures in every single game this season per MaxPreps.com en route to averaging 17.2 points per game. That’s extremely rare for a freshman (or a senior for that matter). He had 29 points against Graham (N.C.) High and 27 points against Greene Central. Cummings topped Goldsboro High in the NCHSAA playoffs, before falling 58-55 to Kinston High.
One might have to go back to J.T. “Trigger” Terrell as the last Division I high major hoops prospect from Cummings High. Jo’Vontae Millner-Criss went to Presbyterian and Middle Tennessee State, and Zavian Jackson attended Arkansas-Pine Bluff for a year as past Cummings High products.
5. We’ll end this with some odds and ends.
• Asheville (N.C.) Reynolds sophomore wing Rakease Passmore showed off his improved three-point shot, and he’s an electrician leaper at the rim. He almost had a dunk of the year candidate for Garner Road 16s against CP3 16s. He came out hot with three three-pointers in the first half and finished the game with 15 in the loss.
• Charlotte South Mecklenburg sophomore guard Bishop Boswell is very intriguing. He’s different with CP3 where he’s surrounded by talent, but he cuts it loose at South Meck. He’ll need to find that balance of being aggressive but still set up his teammates.
• If Cam Scott is the first priority for the next South Carolina coach, then freshman small forward Treyvon Maddox is right behind him. He attends Columbia (S.C.) White Knoll High and oozes top 30 potential at 6-foot-6. HIs dad is the Benedict College coach, Artis Maddox, which is based in Columbia. Maddox has previously coached at Florida Memorial in Miami Gardens, Fla., and Mountain State University in Beckley, W.Va. That would be where Treyvon Maddox grew up, and he’s played for Orlando, Fla.-based Each 1 Teach 1 traveling team in the past.
• Unconfirmed, there is chatter that top junior big man Brandon White of Donda Academy in Simi Valley, Calif., seriously hurt his knee. He originally played at Spencer (N.C.) North Rowan High for two years, reclassed and transferred at Winston-Salem Christian, before making the move with Robert Dillingham.
• Former NC State and NBA power forward Cedric Simmons was in attendance to watch his son play at the Bermuda Run, N.C., event that Phenom Hoops Report was putting on.
Former Duke and NBA center Cherokee Parks was also there to watch his nephew Clash Peters, a junior center from Durham (N.C.) Jordan High.
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