Peach Jam

[auror]

Random aside, how can you wear a long sleeve black shirt in July in Georgia while playing basketball. I don't know if that court is famously cold or something, but that's wild. It's only 9am, but it's in the 80s already with a dew point in the mid 70s.

 

[Ricker]

Hurley under the basket at Durant offensive end?

 

[auror]

Hurley under the basket at Durant offensive end?

Yeah with Kimani. The guy next to him looks a litlte like Tom Moore but i think it's someone else. I assume Tom and Luke are still at the Adidas event until Mullins champ game gets done.

 

[Ricker]

Durant has jumped out to an early lead but I've paused my feed to just capture watching Lewis so far. He had 1 possession around the 5:30 Q1 mark where he was a wizard with the ball on a string dribbling in a manner most players can't do. Defensively he let his man step right in front of him and box him out, but the rebound went elsewhere. When his man had the ball he got by easily for an open pull up. On another play it occurred to him he wasn't near his defensive assignment and had to hustle from under the basket to the arc where his man had spotted up. At the 3:50 mark a pass to him was intercepted and he didn't chase the play. The layup was missed and an opponent who had chased the play put the ball in. At the minute mark he intercepted a pass went the length of the court for the 'and one'. The last possession of q1 he backed up the court with a defender on him. Billy Packer would have died again for a carry call. His hand was completely under the ball on each dribble. I'm not making these observations to be critical because many of these things can be coached if the raw material is there.

I should also say that in each game I have seen his calf has been bandaged. I have no idea if he is hampered by injury.

 

[Ricker]

Opened Q3 with a deep pure 3 & followed with a baseline drive reverse layup. Both are the kind of plays you look for. Some aggressiveness. Q4 a couple excellent assists

 

[Ricker]

Tom Izzo I think there. There are no other players he could possibly be interested in other than Lewis. For whatever reason, up approx 20 pts with 4 minutes to go, Lewis played a possession of hard defense on his man. Shows he has it in him. Must have been miffed at the guy for something. End result, tough to tell what he is really capable of. I give a lot of credit to @husky429 to hang with some of these games close enough to put forth stats. I tend to move to look into other games for a minute here or there and may miss a few plays.

 

[Ricker]

Hurley & Kimani now watching Adams. Adams asserted himself going to the rim and has been fighting for defensive position under the basket. Much more energy than the earlier game. In the first minutes shows defensive interest getting up in his man's grill.

 

[AllHusky]

Must really stick in Izzos craw that when Hurley and Kimani show up, the attention in the gym shifts their way. Never been to one of these tourneys, but the dynamics must be fascinating.

 

[husky429]

Must really stick in Izzos craw that when Hurley and Kimani show up, the attention in the gym shifts their way. Never been to one of these tourneys, but the dynamics must be fascinating.

It's so chaotic most people don't notice. I always wondered if the kids even notice who is there, or if their parents keep track of it.

When I was at an event once I was stuffing 2/3rds of a muffin down my gullet like a Neanderthal between games and next thing I know, Roy Williams is telling me to slow down before I choke.

 

[auror]

Luke watching Mullins in the Adidas championship. I'd stream it, but it's $25 for the day, no thanks.

 

[Ricker]

Watching Hudson Greer now for the first time

 

[Ricker]

The point has been made that the box scores are suspect at best. Expressions Elite played their whole game yesterday with 1 turnover while committing 0 personal fouls. To be quite honest, I've also seen baskets credited to the wrong teams and scores go both up and down as they are corrected and mis-corrected, and recorrected.

 

[HooperScooper]

Nothing too informative in here but does talk briefly about Meleek Thomas, Darius Acuff (likely between Kansas and Arkansas), and Acaden Lewis at Peach Jam.

EYBL Peach Jam: Saturday's Top Performers

On3's Joe Tipton was courtside in North Augusta, SC for Peach Jam. Here are your top performers from Saturday.

www.on3.com

 

[Ricker]

Literally all my Peach Jam eggs seem to be headed into the Meleek Thomas basket.
I'm from Missouri with Adams, Lewis, and Greer, 'show me',
Acuff just seems unlikely even though we are in his 4
Burries I hear nothing about with us,
If we miss on Mullins, getting Mahaney's, Calcaterra's, Diarra's, Newton's, Spencer's, and Alleyne's in the portal isn't bad
Aristode is a lot like Abraham, I like him but Hurley may just want other attributes for the front court this go round
Bungalo is much bigger, Ament seems to be an alpha stud, & Reibe is 7' who can make a 3, all are tantalizing
Cenac brings power but I haven't got a feel for his interest, I know nothing of John Cook that has been mentioned
We surprisingly seem not involved with London Jamison
Give me Thomas & Bungalo and surprise me after that

 

[awy]

some of the teams in this are so bad it's really just scouting for breadcrumbs. the first adams game was a disaster. honestly believe whatever pep talk hurley gave to the players he scouted worked better than their own coaches.

 

[Scrutineer]

The weirdness of it always hits home when it's some 70 year old dude like Izzo who could be doing anything else in the world he wanted and he's sitting in some crappy bleachers watching a glorified open run in the middle of July.

He's carrying the weight of the B1G. Their last champion and this will be the 25th year since he won so this one could be special.....

 

[husky429]

some of the teams in this are so bad it's really just scouting for breadcrumbs. the first adams game was a disaster. honestly believe whatever pep talk hurley gave to the players he scouted worked better than their own coaches.

I don't believe the coaches aren't really scouting in the traditional sense at these events. I mean... half the time they're on their phone. If we've offered a kid, we've clearly scouted them way more than enough to know their game.The coaches presence is more for building relationships with kids and theor families.

 

[Scrutineer]

Definitely too early and not the setting to make any broad generalizations about recruits off of Peach Jam. This was your takeaway about our 2023 class that ended up being great and a huge part of winning the Big East and national championships last year and are expected to be the core part of another deep run this year

Peach Jam Sunday 7/17

What am I missing here? Ricker said he doesn't see the Ball, Ross, etc. class doing much if they're our core group. Singare and Ross hardly played, Ball played when Castle was hurt and then disappeared, and Stewart didn't do much until late in the season but would hardly be called a member of the core group. Castle was it and he even called Diarra's impact on their playing time exactly right.

Here's part of Ricker's 7/17 Peach Jam quote you referenced:
"I don't see how we win The Big East and make deep Ncaa runs if this became our core group. IMO these guys seem most suited to help a team that has a core of alpha players like Clingan, Karaban, Johnson, Castle, portal transfers, etc Diarra seems like he would keep these guys glued to the bench."

 

[navery12]

What am I missing here? Ricker said he doesn't see the Ball, Ross, etc. class doing much if they're our core group. Singare and Ross hardly played, Ball played when Castle was hurt and then disappeared, and Stewart didn't do much until late in the season but would hardly be called a member of the core group. Castle was it and he even called Diarra's impact on their playing time exactly right.

Here's part of Ricker's 7/17 Peach Jam quote you referenced:
"I don't see how we win The Big East and make deep Ncaa runs if this became our core group. IMO these guys seem most suited to help a team that has a core of alpha players like Clingan, Karaban, Johnson, Castle, portal transfers, etc Diarra seems like he would keep these guys glued to the bench."

That the 2023 class being referenced are expected to be huge core pieces to a top 5 national championship contender this season

 

[auror]

Yesterday Kimani watched '26 Qayden Samuels and Hurley watched '26 Abdou Toure and today they switched so both have watched both now.

 

[Kenny11]

What am I missing here? Ricker said he doesn't see the Ball, Ross, etc. class doing much if they're our core group. Singare and Ross hardly played, Ball played when Castle was hurt and then disappeared, and Stewart didn't do much until late in the season but would hardly be called a member of the core group. Castle was it and he even called Diarra's impact on their playing time exactly right.

Here's part of Ricker's 7/17 Peach Jam quote you referenced:
"I don't see how we win The Big East and make deep Ncaa runs if this became our core group. IMO these guys seem most suited to help a team that has a core of alpha players like Clingan, Karaban, Johnson, Castle, portal transfers, etc Diarra seems like he would keep these guys glued to the bench."

Can’t really fault those guys for not playing a lot of minutes behind a historically great championship team. On other high major teams they all would’ve been playing a lot except Singare

 

[Mister P]

Yesterday Kimani watched '26 Qayden Samuels and Hurley watched '26 Abdou Toure and today they switched so both have watched both now.

Samuels is my early want for 2026. An athletic shooting guard with size and strength.

 

[auror]

Meleek Thomas warming up on Court 2. #5 in gray today.

Livestream — Nike EYBL

nikeeyb.com

 

[auror]

No surprise, Hurley and Kimani sitting courtside for Thomas.

 

[Mister P]

Nothing too informative in here but does talk briefly about Meleek Thomas, Darius Acuff (likely between Kansas and Arkansas), and Acaden Lewis at Peach Jam.

EYBL Peach Jam: Saturday's Top Performers

On3's Joe Tipton was courtside in North Augusta, SC for Peach Jam. Here are your top performers from Saturday.

www.on3.com

It seems that our coaches weren’t watching Acuff. I guess why waste their time when there are other targets that are in play. He’ll most likely end up the pig sooie school.

‘Darius Acuff Jr., the consensus No. 1 point guard in the class of 2025, was at the Peach Jam, the EYBL’s Premier event this weekend, where he was closely monitored by Kansas’ Bill Self, Michigan’s Dusty May, and Arkansas’ John Calipari. Acuff is down to four schools and is expected to make a decision following the Peach Jam. Connecticut is the other program on the 6-1 point guard’s finalist list.
Connecticut appears to be the odd team out, as the Huskies are the only program that does not receive an official visit. He visited Michigan on September 1, Kansas on April 18, and Arkansas on May 10.’