In our continued effort to provide the most effective platform for young basketball players looking to maximize their potential, we have invested in a new website that will update our capabilities to provide maximum exposure to our athletes and interesting content to those who have an interest in what’s happing with youth basketball around the Buckeye State.  One of the most exciting features is the user-friendly nature of the website both in desktop and mobile application. From your mobile device, you will better able to navigate through the various subject tabs.  In addition, we believe you will find our stories more assessable and easier to read.

Moreover, with the launch of the new site, you will note that we have made significant updates to our player rankings.  In addition to being more specific about where we rank players, in some case we have added more detailed player profiles. These profiles, and overall rankings for that matter, will be updated on a much more frequent basis, as we see and hear about player performance from week-to-week.  As a caveat, because of the COVID-19 epidemic, our ability to watch and evaluate players has been greatly compromised; consequently, we were forced to rely on dated observations, which may not have fully captured a player’s growth and development.  Part of what we did rely on was word of mouth for coaches around the state who may have seen a player more recently than we have.  Rest assured that once the COVID-19 crises is in our rear view mirror, we will be out and about re-evaluating players and updating our lists!

Because our original Buckeye Prep blog is loaded with historical information about all of the great teams and players who have attended our events, as well as all of the stories and features we have published, the new site will still allow access to the blog via a dedicated tab. Additionally, our readers will continue to have access to our archives where they can find more historical information about the results/coverage of our past events.  We feel this information is important so that parents and prospective event attendees can do research and their due diligence in determining future events.  More over, parents and former participants will retain the ability to go back many years to reminisce about their past performances.

A new feature of the new site is the “Video” tab, where we will be highlighting some of the top mix tapes of the players we cover.  This will serve as yet another platform for exposure. Also new is the “Upcoming Events” tab, which will provide details of our upcoming events as well as schedule and other relevant information related to our events.  Also, this tab will be used to posts results of our events.

On another note, right now, we have activated the “Comment” feature for each story.  Although we are ok with constructive criticism, we refuse to allow anonymous people to speak negative about our young people.  If you want to communicate any questions or  concerns, we have provided a “Contact” tab for those purposes. Finally, we hope our readers enjoy the new platform, and recognize that our investment illustrates our commitment to the informing the Ohio basketball community about all things youth basketball.  Enjoy!

NEW WEBSITE LINK

Pioneers Remain Undefeated

2027 R4L Pioneers

After finishing 4-0 by the end of the Midwest Circuit’s opening session in Indianapolis this past weekend, Carlos Davis’ Cincinnati-based 2027 R4L Pioneers currently hold a perfect 10-0 record.  Of note is the fact that the pioneers finished 6-0 at Coast 2 Coast Prep’s President’s Day Tournament in Lexington back in February, where they defeated the then #1 and # 2 ranked teams. 

In Indy this past weekend, the third ranked R4L easily got by Dayton’s Team BNU (47-15), Columbus’ Renaissance Seminoles (63-29), Grand Park Premier Red 2027 (55-16) and Kentucky’s Manimal Elite (64-44).  Although R4L’s success was characterized as a “team effort,” it was noted that Joshua Tyson logged in a standout performance.  R4L will compete in session #2 of the Midwest Circuit before heading out to Kansas for the Never Walk on Hardwoood Tournament in August.  Congrats to the Pioneers for repping the Buckeye State!

Rob Taylor Joins Courtsde Conversation (7-16-20)

We're looking forward to joining Lamonte Taylor on his Courtside Conversation program on July 16th.  It should be a lot of fun!  We hope you can tune in.

Get Me Recruited Website

Superfriends Resume Season with Championship

2025 Superfriends 7th Grade Champions G3 Invitational

Despite the virus-shortened 2020 travel basketball season, a few teams have recently found opportunities to compete. In fact, this past weekend the George Hill organization hosted the G3 Invitational in Indianapolis, IN.  In that event, the 2025 Superfriends dominated the 7th grade division, as they rode a 6-0 record to a title. 

The Superfriends’ trek to the championship consisted of wins over Team TAE (43-22), Semo Blazers (49-32), Indy Premiere (score unknown), B.A.D. (62-42), Progeny 2025 Select (53-44) and the Semo Blazers (52-42) in the championship game.  With their victory in Nap Town, the Superfriends have a 2-0-tournament record including a title from the Spartan Classic earlier this year.  Next up for the Superfriends is their season finale at the USBA Nationals in Atlanta, GA. the weekend of July 28th-August 1st.  Congratulation to the Superfriends players and fans for the big win.

Williams and Ohio United Prepare to Resume Season

Sole Williams 5'9" PG 2023 Cincinnati

Since the advent of the Covid-19 pandemic earlier this year, we’ve virtually disengaged from all things summer basketball.  However, this past Saturday we spent some time checking out some talented young ladies as they prepared to resume their 2020 travel basketball season with the first-year Ohio United program. Our primary goal was to gage the development of Sole Williams (5’9”/PG/2023/Cincinnati), a Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase alum who really impressed us at several of our elite showcases the past couple of years. 

What was crystal clear from the 2-hour practice we watched is the fact that Williams has continued to develop and is poised for a breakout season when she returns for her sophomore year with the Princeton Vikings. Not only did we establish that Williams has continued to get better, and is more than deserving of her multiple scholarship offers and high major interest from programs like Ohio State, Michigan State, Cincinnati, Xavier, Marquette, Pittsburg, Arizona, Akron (offers), Louisville, Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan, Ole Miss and Arizona State; we also learned that her U-17 Ohio United (OU) squad is absolutely brimming over with talent.  In fact, OU’s roster has at least 15 players with D-I offers already in hand. 

Some of the big name players on the U-17 Ohio United roster include: Ayanna Patterson (6’4”/WF/2022/Ft. Wayne, IN), Alexis Hess (6’1”/WF/2023/Redding, PA), Maliyah Johnson (6’1”/W/PF2021/Columbus, OH), and Jordan Wright(5’7”/PG/2022/Detroit, MI).  Not only is the U-17 team loaded, Ohio Unity’s program has a number of younger players who are also elite. Some of those studs include: Charia Smith (6’2”/PF/2022/Columbus, OH), Abby Riddle (5’11”/CG/2023/Baltimore, OH), and Kamryn Grant (6’1”/WF/2024/Columbus, OH).

Although a majority of travel teams have shut it down for the season. Coach Richard Jeter’s squad is practicing a couple of times per week here in Columbus with plans to resume their season in July.  Depending on the information coming out of the NCAA, Ohio United’s plans include local and major tournaments around the country as well as elite college exposure events.  Based on the talent level in this program as well as some of the big names that are supporting the program (i.e., Mike Flynn), the future looks bright for this fledging organization.  We intend to keep an eye out for their progress.

VonCameron Davis Selected as Ohio Mr. Basketball

VonCameron Davis-2020 Ohio Mr. Basketball

The Buckeye Prep Report would like to congratulate VonCameron Davis on his selection as Ohio Mr. Basketball.  We had the pleasure of watching Davis develop over the past several years and were impressed with his play at our elite showcases and tournaments.  We could tell very early on that Davis had DI talent.  In fact, you can catch Davis in action at the next level, as he has committed to Kent State University. Congratulations to VonCameron, his family and coaches for this significant honor!