Shock Claims Title

5th Grade Cincy Shock 2018 Turkey Shootout Champions

This past weekend, Coach David Svoboda’s 5^th grade Cincy Shock squad finished 4-0 on their way to the championship of the Turkey Shootout in Beavercreek, Ohio.  The Shock’s trek to the title included wins over Tip City (twice), Beavercreek Stars and Carroll.  Standouts for the Shock included Drew Duvall (5’5”/ WF/2026/Beavercreek), Grayson Davis ( 5’1”/SG/2026/Beavercreek), and David Svoboda (5’2”/PG/2026/Beavercreek). According to Coach Svoboda, the Shock’s success was attributed to “…ball movement and good defense.” It should be noted that the core of this Shock team runs with Dayton Metro during the spring and summer travel season. Congrats to Coach Svoboda, his players and parents for the win.

Happy Thanksgiving From Buckeye Prep

The Buckeye Prep family would like to extend Happy Thanksgiving wishes to you and your family. During the holidays it's important we all take the time to enjoy our loved ones. Oh yea, there should be a lot of great college basketball on TV today! God Bless!!

Probound Goes Undefeated in COBA Preview

2026 Probound

As the winter basketball season approaches so does the season for preview type events.  On Saturday, Mike Daniels’ 5^th grade Probound squad finished 3-0 at the Central Ohio Basketball Association’s annual preview event which was held at Worthington Kilborne High School near Columbus. Probound won each of their 3 games (against Grandview Navy, Berlin Eagles & Big Walnut) by double digits, 2 of which were by 20+ points. According to Coach Daniels, his team executed on their primary pre-event goals. “We came out real scrappy looking to take early leads. Our offense ran through our defense as we got a lot of steals and easy transition buckets,” said Daniels.

Probound has a high-powered roster which includes some of the top 4^thgraders in the state including: Casey Brickner (4’9”/SG/2027/Galloway), Mike Daniels (4’7”/SG/2027/Hilliard), Tansai Davis (4’5”/SG/2027/Columbus, and Tony Cornett (4’8”/PG/2027/Columbus), all of whom are featured in our recently published 2007 Player Watch List, and also represent the nucleus of the Team Dose AAU team that was ranked 2^nd in our final Power Rankings last season.  In addition to the 4^thgraders, the Probound roster includes a group of 5^thgraders including: Mitchell Wheeler  (4’9”/WF/2026/Gahanna); Cole Naegele (5’0”/PF/2026/Gahanna); Tayshon Smith (4’8”/SG/2026/Columbus); and Cole Shope (5’6”/C/2026/Columbus).  

Probound’s season opener will tip off on December 1^st.  Congratulations to Coach Daniels and his team for a fast start to the 2018/2019 winter season!  We intend to keep an eye on this year’s winter season and we invite coaches and parents to send us updates on their team’s progress so we can update our website. Please send information and team pictures to us at Buckeyeprep@yahoo.com.

IBT Middle School Showcase Loaded with Talent

Mobley, Holyfield, Carter, Mills-Smith, Henson & Milton

On Saturday, we had the opportunity to spend a few hours at the 6^th Annual IBT Academy Middle School Showcase at the Wellington School in Columbus. Renny Tyson and his staff did a fantastic job of attracting many of the top middle school programs in the central Ohio Area.  In fact, the event featured 15 games and 30 boys and girls 7^th and 8^th grade teams.  In terms of the format, each game consisted of two, ten-minute quarters and ran every 45 minutes. As has been the case every time we've attended the event, there was loads of talent with both the boys and girls teams.  Below are the team results and a list of the standout players we saw at the event.

In the 6 games we watched, Bexley's 8th grade girls deleted Mechanicsburg 15-8; Linden McKinney's boys got by Our Lady of Perpetual Help 24-8; Walnut Springs' 7th grade boys beat Reynoldsburg Waggoner 18-13; Marysville Bunsold's girls defeated Reynoldsburg 8-4; Reynoldsburg Baldwin's 7th grade boys beat Horizon Science 26-16; and Olentangy Orange's 8th grade boys beat London 22-14.

Standout Performers

John Mobley Jr.	Brady Carter	Sir Donald Milton	Shamar Mills-Smith	Rycheous McKinney
Abdiaziz Mohamed	Lloyd Kelly	Christopher Austin	Noah Smith	Nino Phillips
Kalen Boone	Simone Holifield	Mia Murry	Reason Cotner	Maddie Hanson

Standout Performer Pictures

Event Photo Gallery

Warriors Prepare for Upcoming Season

When the 2018/2019 winter basketball season tips off later this month, Coach Scott Bradley’s New Birth Warriors team will have several new faces.  In fact, this season, the Warriors will only return 3 players from last season’s squad, including Arness Lawson (2025), Mykell Murphy (2025) and Darius Graves (2025). New to the team this year are Jaylen Sims (2025), Brayden Torgrimson (2025), Amari Hodges (2025), JR Bates (2025), Laz Lawson (2025), Maurice Hamrick (2028), Deon Johnson (2027), and Jeriah Golden (2025). 

Because they’ve only had 3 practices to date, when asked what his team’s potential is for this season, Coach Bradley was cautious. “I don’t know.  We’re going to be competitive, but it’s not going to be like last year,” in terms of success, said Bradley. In addition, the addition of Westerville’s Jaylen Sims has Bradley a little more optimistic. “Sims is going to be good,” added Bradley.  

In addition to Sims, Arness Lawson’s play will be key to the Warriors success this season, as he has established himself as one of the best players in the state in the class of 2025. The Warriors will open their season at the Thanksgiving Shootout at the Kingdom Sports Center in Franklinton.  We intend to follow this Warriors’ progress this season so stay tuned!

Get Out and Vote on Tuesday!

We at the Buckeye Prep Report urges everybody to exercise their right to vote this Tuesday. The stakes could not be higher for our country!  

Buckeye Prep Stock Risers

Much like stocks trading on the New York Stock Exchange, a player’s basketball stock often ebbs and flows throughout the course of a season, and from season-to-season. In an effort to be as inclusive as possible, while providing broader exposure to the greatest number of players, we have decided to highlight a few players who we believe have the potential to see their stock rise over the course of the upcoming season.  

In terms of our methodology, we have considered several factors in selecting these players. First and foremost, these 64 players are not necessarily the most highly ranked players on our various top player lists, but rather players who have tended to fly a little under our radar; are on the cusp of breaking out, and/or have a chance to break into and/or rise up on our lists.  In addition, they tend to be players who we have not seen very much of, we may have only caught glimpses of during certain events, or heard positive comments about from credible sources.  With that said, some of the players we lis below are well known to us, but still see their stock rise.  Enjoy!

Buckeye Prep Stock Risers

Lawrence Rice-2023	Mason Shrout-2024	Gwen Jenkins -2024	Brayden Fogal-2026
JaVaughn Jones -2023	Demarr Foster-2024	Kamryan Grant-2025	Derek Whitfield-2026
Brandon Rose-2023	Willie Williams-2024	Kelly Ernest -2023	Mali Pearson-2026
Josh Jones-2023	Lee Bruner IV-2024	E'moni Finch-2023	Rasheed Reed-2026
Tyler Williams-2023	Jarred McCoy-2024	Kendall George-2023	Nate Mile-2026
Ramone Jones-2023	Shared Barnes-2024	Taylor Haynes2024	Levi Davis-2026
Anthony Benard-2023	Durrell Brooks-2024	Cici Green-2024	Cantrell Hughes-2026
Nick Williams-2023	Stewart Hamilton-2024	Zhieyah Rolack-2024	Athens McCillis-2026
Najih Wright-2023	Arness Lawson-2024	Ann Hurst-2024	Brayden Fogal-2026
LA Hayes-2023	Jahleel Wakeel-2024	Tristen Williams-2026	Treyton Schroeder-2026
Kellen Smnith-2023	Jaylon Rigdon-2024	Taylor Haynes-2024	Tejuan Barbour-2026
Kaden Stephens-2023	Jordan Johnson	Sparkle Leigh-2021	Drake Ahrens-2026
Gavin Geisel-2023	Jeremiah Hughes	Sole Williams-2023	Shane Foster-2027
Sam Brown-2023	Karl Burroughs-2025	Gigi Bower-2024	Elijah McCree-2026
Sean Jones-2022	Joseph Boddie-2024	Grace Thomas-2024	Khani Thomas-2026
Mike Bova-2022	Isaiah Robinson-2024	Madison Greene-2023	Ayden Snuder-2026

Pearson Determined to Make Impact

Malsi Pearson 4'8" PG 2026 Akron

He prides himself on making an impact every time he steps on the court, and from what we saw at our Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase in September, and his 2018 highlight video featured below, Malsi Pearson (4’8”/PG/2026/Akron) is true to his word! What’s also extremely clear from what we’ve seen of Pearson’s game so far is his elite skill set, which includes an ability to shoot, pass and dribble at an elite level.  Let me be clearer; this kid is a wizard with the rock in his hands, and his ability and willingness to find open teammates and deliver pin point passes is nothing less than impressive.  

Moreover, Pearson is a 3-level scorer who can both light up the score board while also making teammates better with his ability to break down defenders and to get into the paint for drop off passes and easy layups.  That’s not all, he changes speed and direction at a high level, he has a high basketball IQ, he drains deep treys off the bounce or in catch and shoot situations, and he is brimming with confidence and swagger. 

Although he has not decided where he will play basketball when the 2019 season tips off in March, Pearson was a standout for the Columbus based Miller Factory and several other big-time programs, such as Mac Irvin Fire and Louisville United, last season.  According to Pearson’s coach at the Miller Factory, Pearson has a chance to be good going forward.  “I think he has a chance to be a top 5 point guard in his class in Ohio,” said Coach Wallie.  Pearson is not just a basketball standout, as he also wrestles and plays soccer at an elite level.  That’s not all, from what we’ve heard, Pearson is an excellent student as well.

With his all-star performance at our last elite showcase, Pearson is easily among the top 5 players in the state in the class of 2026.  With his talent and the number of games he has logged over the past few years we’re a bit surprised that Pearson’s name is not yet listed among the best nationally, as we can’t believe there are 25 better 5^thgraders in the country than the Akron product.  We look forward to seeing more of Pearson at our March 9^thelite showcase.

Malsi Pearson 2018 Highlight Video

Buckeye Prep Ohio 4th Grade/2027 Player Watch List Released

Foster, Tyson,  Harris, Ehirim, Crane & Daniels

We had so much success and support for our initial 5^th grade/2026 list when we released it back in July, that we decided to keep the momentum going and get a big head start with our 4^th grade/2027 list.  Because it’s still very early for the class of 2027 we relied heavily on feedback from coaches in this class to help us compile our list.  However, with the start of the 2019 travel season we will attempt to rely more heavily on our own personal evaluations by scouting our events and others in order to better fine tune our list.  Because a majority of the top Ohio teams and players will attend our Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament (March 29^th-31^st) and elite showcase (March 9^th), we will have the opportunity to evaluate the kids both listed and not list more closely.

We may have only just started paying attention to the players in this class, but there are already a few players who have already grabbed attention and have the potential to be future top 50 players. Some of those potential players include: Shawn Foster (4’10”/PG/Lima); Amir Clark (5’5”/PG/Columbus); Joshua Tyson (4’7”/PG/Cincinnati); Woo Crane (4’7”/PG/Dayton); Braden Myrick (PG/Cincinnati); LaShawn Hill (4’8”/PG/Cincinnati); Keeran Stokes (PG/Toledo); Chris Washington (PG/Cincinnati); Tony Cornett (4’8”/PG/Columbus); Landon Evans (4’9”/PG/Columbus); Mike Daniels (4’7”/SG/Columbus); Darius Dennis (WF/Dayton); and Dion Johnson (5’2”/WF/Reynoldsburg).

Of course, we are well aware that not all of the top kids are represented on our initial list; however, the kids we have identified so far are kids that coaches from the top teams have put forward.  In the future, we will be adding to and modifying the current list as we see and hear about other kids.  As a matter of fact, we will get our first real opportunity to evaluate 2027 kids at our March 9^th Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase, where the class of 2027 will be featured for the first time.  We will be going a step further by adding an Ohio North vs South all-star game in that class, which will feature the top 4^thgraders from all over Ohio.  Invitations are currently being extended to the top 24 players in the class.  We did the same thing for the class of 2026 in September and it was a smashing success!

It has always been our hope that our top player lists serve as both recognition and inspiration to players who are talented, and who are working hard to develop their games with the future goal of playing high school and college basketball.  As always, we invite feedback.  If you want to provide any input, suggest corrections or make general comments, please feel free to email us at Buckeyeprep@yahoo.com.

Ohio Class of 2027/4^th Grade Watch List