Buckeye Prep Invitational Day-One Standouts

Hudson, Jonas, Tester, Evans, Whitfield, Bentley & Adams

The 2019 Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament tipped off in Worthington, Ohio on Friday at Worthington Kilbourne High School, and although there were only 3 rounds of games, there were still a number of players who set themselves apart for the pack.  Some of the best players we saw included Jonas Tester (6’0”/SG/2022/Wauseon, OH), Cory Hudson, (5’11”/PG/2022/Pickerington, OH), Chuck Bailey (5’11”/PG/2023/Detroit, MI), Darek Whitfield (4’8”/PG/2026/Columbus, OH), Isaiah Campbell-Finch (5’4”/PG/2024/Columbus, OH), Landon Evans (5’2”/W/PF/2027/Columbus, OH), Navarion Adams (6'3"/C/2024/Columbus, OH) and Danny Bentley (PG/2029/McArthur, OH). Below is a link to a complete list of players who made the Buckeye Prep Star Watch in the opening day of the event.  We will be out and about on Saturday looking for more stars!

Buckeye Prep Star Watch

Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament Star Watch

As part of Buckeye Prep’s commitment to provide a high level of exposure for our events, we plan to maintain a running list of the standout performers “Stars” we see during the course of the tournament. Coaches are encouraged to text us the name, height, position, grade, team, city and score/stats of their standout performers who log in big time stats from game to game (614-502-9359).  We’re excited to try this approach for the first time!  Stay tuned!

Buckeye Prep Invitational Star Watch List

Initial Buckeye Prep Team Power Rankings Released

Below is a link to our initial release of our 2019 Buckeye Prep Power Rankings. Over the course of the season we will use the following criteria to update our rankings: head to head results; results from common opponents; margin of victory; final placements in tournaments; number of ranked players on a roster; and level of competition played. Unfortunately, many of the top teams in the state fail to play against each other during the season.  This happens for several reasons.  In some cases it’s just fate, as teams lose early in a tournament and just don’t meet, while some teams intentionally avoid playing in some of the better tournaments where that may be forced to play other top teams in the state.  We will monitor that situation and factor it in accordingly. At the end of the day, teams and programs know where the competition is playing! In addition, although we attempted to use historical data from previous seasons, that’s difficult because of the high roster turnovers as players change teams.  Also, in many cases, players grow and get better, which impacts a team’s overall talent level. I 

Because we can’t be present at every event, we must rely on information from a network of coaches and sources around the state.  In order to produce credible updates, we need coaches and parents to send us accurate and unbiased information at the conclusion of weekend tournaments.  To this end, we have produced a “Tournament Results Reporting Form” designed to capture the information we need to update our rankings and produce feature stories for the website.  If we can get coaches and parents to buy in and put forth the effort to get the information we need, then we can more accurately track both team and individual progress.  This will help insure that teams and players get credit for their efforts.  At the end of the day, if your team is not playing in the top events against the top teams, and is not providing us with your team’s results, you can’t complain about where your team is ranked (or not ranked)!

It should go without saying that we have done our best to be fair and accurate with our rankings.  We mean no disrespect to any team with where we have them ranked.  If you feel you have been unfairly ranked, simply enter tournaments where the ranked teams are playing and beat them.   Our initial release is based on what we know at this point and in some case based on a team's raining last season.  As information flows in about who beat whom, we will update the information almost daily.  

If your team is unranked or under ranked and you have beaten some ranked teams, simply forward that information to us, we will verify it, them update our rankings. Because so many of the top teams will be attending our Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament this weekend, there could be a shake up in our rankings very quickly . We’re excited about this project and we hope it inspires and motivates players, coaches and parents to seek out the highest competition possible and elevate to level of play in the state.  Finally, please feel free to offer your feedback at Buckeyeprep@yahoo.com, and please remember, we put the rankings together as a FUN way for teams to follow the season's progress of Ohio teams.  Let the debate begin!!

2019 Buckeye Prep Power Rankings

Tournament Results Reporting Form

UA Next Combine Series Returns

 

Under Armour’s Invite Only “UA Next Combine Series” for Basketball’s Next Generation

This May, Under Armour Basketball in partnership with the Junior NBA will return for a 4^thyear with the “UA Next Combine Series” for select middle school basketball players. The fourth annual Combine Series is an invite only program that will offer eighth graders high-level teaching, instruction and competition.  The program will run for a full day in each of the following six cities nationwide, including:  Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, Washington D.C., and Atlanta.

The “UA Next Combine Series” is for current eighth grade players (Class of 2023).  40 boys and 24 girls will be selected at each location.  Playerswill compete for invitations to the prestigious “UA Next Experience” this August, one of the nation’s top annual premier middle school basketball showcases. The “UA Next Experience” is a two-day basketball event that offers the best rising 9^thgraders in the country an opportunity to compete against the best players in their class. 

“UA Next Combine Series” is the latest program from Under Armour’s Grassroots Basketball platform. It joins ongoing nationwide events, including the UA Association League, NBPA Top 100 Camp, SC30 Select Camp, UA All American Camp and the UA Elite 24. It is the purpose of these events to provide youth basketball players with the opportunity to hone their skills and maximize exposure in high-level teaching and competitive environments.  The platform aligns with Under Armour’s mission to “Make All Athletes Better.”

For more information please visit the UA Next tab on www.theuaassociation.comor email uanextcombineseries@underarmour.com

2019 “UA Next Combine Series” Locations and Dates

Chicago, IL (Midwest)             May 19            Boys & Girls

New York City (Northeast)     June 1              Boys & Girls

Los Angeles, CA (West)          June 8              Boys & Girls

Dallas, TX (Southwest)          June 15            Boys & Girls

Washington, D.C. (East)         July 6               Boys & Girls

Atlanta, GA (South)                July 20            Boys & Girls

Buckeye Prep Elite Invitational Tournament Schedule Released

Once again, the Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament has attracted the state and region’s best teams.  Next weekend, over 180 teams will descend on Columbus, Ohio for this annual event.  As is the case with every Buckeye Prep event, the competition will be fierce and the exposure opportunities will be numerous! A link to the initial schedule is highlighted below. Stay tuned to the Buckeye Prep website to keep up with the action and the standout performers.

Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament Schedule

Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase Highlight Videos

Although the Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase has been over for about 2 weeks, we are still cranking out content.  Below are links to several highlight videos featuring many of Ohio’s top 3^rd and 4^th graders.  As we have done for several years now, the showcase featured Ohio North vs South all-star games for the classes of 2027 and 2028.  As the videos clearly depict, the games were loaded with talent and were very competitive. We are really looking forward to watching these kids develop over the next several years!

Highlight Videos

https://youtu.be/pToXqteZAu0

https://youtu.be/LZsv1Zymctc

https://youtu.be/L4KVz8ErqNM

https://youtu.be/Tcq2eLOgMzU

https://youtu.be/riaUOLrwibc

Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase Player Rankings

Murrary, Malone, Henderson, Bohanon, Summerville & Ford

Judging by all of the post-event positive feedback we received, the 2019 spring Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase was a complete success!  We were very excited about the level of competition in the gym as well as the team-oriented play exhibited by the players. The classes of 2027 and 2028 got their first experience with the Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase event and their level of play was outstanding!  The girls division was also very competitive again and a number of the state’s top girls were at the event.

Below is a link to our final showcase rankings.  In terms of our criteria, in order to be ranked, players had to have participated in the entire event, including the final all-star games.  Those players who left early either were not ranked at all, or their final rankings were affected.  In order to be ranked in the top 5, players had to not only make the all-star games, but had to have been selected for a Top 5 Award.  After that, we went with the players who made the all-star games, followed by how players were ranked by their coaches.  In most cases, if a player was ranked #1 on their team, they were probably ranked among the top 10.

With so many talented players in the gym, the process can be difficult, but we did our best to be fair and non-biased. Congratulations to all of the players who made our final rankings.  For those who did not, you should use the situation as motivation to continue to work on your game, and come back in September intent on showing improvement.

Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase Rankings

Standout Player Pictures

Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase Top 5 Award Winners & MVPs

Smith, Reed, Pearson, Foster, Sanders & Shroud

When you establish yourself as the best of the best, you know your hard work and dedication is starting to pay off.  Well, that’s exactly what several players did at the 2019 Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase last weekend.  It’s one thing to be selected to the all-star game and its yet another accomplishment to be selected for a Top 5 Award, given to the top 5 performers in the all-star game.  Below is a link of the players (and their pictures) who received the prestigious Top 5 Awards at the showcase.  Also listed are those players who were selected as MVPs for the Saturday morning North vs South All-Star Games, which proved to be very competitive and exciting..  Congratulations to these players for getting it done against the best players in the state and region!

Top 4 Award Winners & MVPs

Buckeye Prep Invitational Registration Deadline

The payment deadline for the March 29^th -31^st Buckeye Prep Invitational Tournament has come and gone!  Any team wishing to participate in this year’s event must register and pay ASAP!  We are already starting to develop pool assignments and will plan to publish the initial schedule 1 week prior to the tournament.  We will not add any team to the schedule that has not registered and paid. We cannot accept payments at the door, as there are already over 200 teams committed to this event, and we are over the 180 teams we can handle.  It’s first come first served at this point.  Below are links to both the tournament Information Page and registration link.  This year’s ever is already shaping up to be our biggest and most competitive ever! Don’t get shut out of the action, register now!

Information Page Link

Registration Link

Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase Standout Performers

 

Shrout, Reed, Smith, Murray, Sanders, Williams, Tyson, Hamerick & Henderson

On Saturday, the Buckeye Prep Elite Showcase tipped of at the Gahanna Sports Factory in Gahanna, OH, and once again, the one-day event played host to not only the top elementary and middle school players in the state, but the region and nationally.  The one-day event featured boy’s North vs South all-star games in both the 2027 and 2028 classes, followed by showcase games in the afternoon.  Also impressive was the talent level of the girl’s division that attracted several elite freshmen, and the 3^rd and 4^th grade boy’s division who were participating in the event as a class for the first time.  The talent level in these divisions was extremely high, as over 95% of the top players in the class attended the event.

Below is an extensive list of standout performers we saw over the course of the event.  Many of the names are familiar to us, as we’ve seen several of the players at past events.  However, there are a number of players who we saw for the first time and really excited us.  In particular, the 3^rd and 4^th grade classes were new to us and we were excited to get and early look at these classes.  Some of the top guys in the classes included Toledo’s Anthony Burroughs, Cincinnati’s Brian Ross Jr., Columbus’ Maurice Hamrick Jr. , Ja’Kye Hoard, Gabe Tremble, Lorenzo McMullin, Ja’neal Baker and Amelio Norville, all 3^rd graders. 

Also, the 4^th grade group has a chance to be special, particularly guys like Joshua Tyson, Leshawn Hill, Jashawn Coffey and Bryce Curry, all of whom represented a powerful South all-star squad that dominated all-star teams from northern and central Ohio.  We also really liked guys like Shawn Foster, Malsi Pearson, Tyrone Harrison, Brody Durham and Isaiah Mack.  We have to give a shout out to the Lansing, MI crew who came down and made some noise.  Markese Murray, Maurese Murray, Kae’Von Wilson, Keyshawn Summerville and Deshante Malone all represented Lansing very well.  Add Michigan's Jaylohn Allen to the list of Michigan kids who represented the "team up North." Louisville, Kentucky was in the house with Kamari Roberts.  This is the second time we’ve seen Roberts in as many weeks and his play has been consistent. The same things go for Bouie Maryland’s Donovan Ford who has also consistently stood out against other top players.  Lake City PA’a Alex Henry had a good day, as did Chicago’s Joseph White who is proving to be a stud!

Foster, Harrison, Burroughs, Whitfield, Mack & Pearson

Once again, we were extremely excited about the level of competition the girls brought to the event.  We’ve seen Parris Reed before, so there was no surprise she can ball!  She did it again on Saturday with a truly dominant performance.  Sole Williams balled out again and proved once again she will be playing D-I basketball in a few years! Becca Sanders was great again as was Gahanna’s Hailei Henderson, Clarke Jackson, Morganne Postell, Emoni Finch, Janyah Bohanon, Alysia Lawson, Chaniyra McDowell-Isaacs, Ava Schiff, Riley Chmielewski, Jayla Greene and Katie Murphy.

The Middle school division was dominated by guys like Shaker Heights’ Kellon Smith, who was a man against boys, and Mason Shrout, who always excels at our events. From what we saw again this weekend, Shroud will be playing college ball in the near future, and college coaches would do well to start tracking this prospect soon. Deven Royal, Elijah Carter, Mike Banks and Amari Hodges all had big days on Saturday as well.  All in all, it was a great day of basketball on Saturday, and from what we saw, Ohio is blessed with a ton of young talent!

Standout Performers

Name	Height	Position	Grade	City
Devin Royal	6’1”	WF	8th	Pickerington
Elijah Carter	6’0”	PG	8th	Pickerington
Kellen Smith	6’0”	SG	8th	Shaker Heights
Mason Shrout	6’2”	SG	7th	Treble Shawnee
Clarke Jackson	5’8”	CG	8th	Gahanna
Chaniyra Isaacs	4’6”	PG	4th	Cleveland
Joseph White	5’5”	PG	7th	Chicago, IL
Alex Henry	5’10”	SG	8th	Lake City, PA
Maurice Hamrick	4’9”	PG	3rd	Columbus
Shawn Foster	5’0”	PG	4th	Lima
Kole Nungester	5’3”	PG	5th	Circleville
Tavyon Wright	4’6”	SG/WF	5th	Columbus
Demetrious Coates	5’6”	PF	6th	Unknown
Paris Reed	5’4”	PG	7th	Cincinnati
Sophie Huffman	5’4”	PG	8th	Wilmington
Sole Williams	5’7”	PG	8th	Cincinnati
Alysia Lawson	5’7”	SG	9th	Toledo
Keyshawn Summerville	4’9”	PG	5th	Lansing, MI
Deshawnta Malone	4’9”	PG	5th	Lansing, MI
Danny Bentley	4’8”	PG	4th	Vinton County
Derik Whitfield	4’8”	PG	5th	Columbus
Noah Simpson	5’0”	CG	5th	Lima
Donovan Ford	4’9”	WF	3rd	Bouie, MD
Markese Murray	4’5”	SG	5th	Lansing, MI
Janyah Bohanon	6’0”	WF	8th	Cleveland
Kahliq Wash	4’7”	PG	6th	Lima
Dion Johnson	5’5”	PG	4th	Columbus
Sameri Dari	5’1”	CG	4th	Strongsville
Drew Duvall	5’5”	WF	5th	Beavercreek
Amileo Norville	4’2”	PG	3rd	Dayton
William Peagler Jr.	4’0”	PG	2nd	Dayton
Malsi Pearson	4”11”	PG	5th	Akron
Bryce Curry	5’2”	WF	5th	Centerville
Leshawn Hill	4’4”	PG	4th	Cincinnati
Tyrone Harrison	5’3”	PG	4th	Cleveland Heights
Isaiah Mack	Unknown	PF	4th	Cleveland
Kamari Roberts	5’0”	PG	4th	Louisville, KY
Kae’von Wilson	4’11”	PG	4th	Lansing, MI
Chris Washington	4’5”	PG	4th	Cincinnati
Antwon Pollard	5’0”	PG	4th	Columbus
Anthony Burroughs	Unknown	C	3rd	Toledo
Bryon Ross Jr.	4’2”	PG	3rd	Cincinnati
Carlos Vaughn	5’3”	WF	3rd	Cleveland
Bryson Thomas	4’3”	PG	3rd	Dayton
Xavier Steele	4’7”	SG	3rd	Bedford
Ja’Neal Baker	4’11”	WF	3rd	Akron
Lorenzo McMullan	5’0”	PF	3rd	Cincinnati
Becca Sanders	5’8”	SG	7th	Mason
Riley Chmielewski	5’0”	PG	8th	Columbus
Emoni Finch	5’4”	SG		Columbus

BuckeyePrep Elite Showcase Photo Gallery