The first Live period of July wrapped up this past weekend with the On The Radar Elite 32. Teams from across the country including Georgia, Florida, Texas, Kentucky, Colorado, Illinois, Alabama, North Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri and Louisiana. The event featured both independent as well as a few shoe sponsored teams in action. Of course the highlight and draw of the OTR Elite 32 Live period event is being able to play in front of college coaches. There were plenty of college coaches from multiple levels in attendance at the various gym locations for the Elite 32 taking in the action, taking notes and in come cases extending offers to players.
Over the four-day event, there were plenty of basketball to see, and a number of players stood out for different reasons. Some players stood out because of their scoring ability, shooting ability, defensive efforts, overall impact of the game, and development shown from the previous travel ball live period in April.
Let’s take a look at some of the notes from this past live period event.
BEST PLAYERS IN THE GYM:
This conversation begins and ends with Ace Bailey (AOT).
Bailey (6’9 2024) continued to show why his stock continues to rise and why he is one of, if not the best player in the country. Dropping a triple-double on the opening day was his second in the span of five days. From highlight dunks, to playing on and off the ball to shooting it an overall efficient clip to making impact winning plays, Bailey was the best player in the gym this past weekend.
Sammie Yeanay (6’9 2024) showed why he was one of the best players in the gym this weekend as well. Despite begin slowed by an injury on day three, the 6’8 forward still dominated by using all of that body to command the ball and put defenders on their backs. Talk about Impact Winning Plays, just watch enough of Yeanay and you will have plenty of IWPs to account for.
YOU CAN’T TEACH HEIGHT:
Everyone loves “a big”. The big man has changed in recent seasons as the game of basketball evolves but the big man is still valuable and there were a number of big men we found to keep a watch on. Here are a few we noted.
Marcis Ponder (6’11 2026) for Team Breakdown has a body ready for the next level of basketball. He showed off a soft touch around the rim, defended well on the box and on the perimeter and added a number of rim rattling dunks. Several coaches took notes throughout the weekend on Ponder who has multiple basketball options.
Stefano Alesso (7’0 2024) of Game Speed Elite was one we had never seen before. The Argentina native has only been in the United States for one week and it was his first time playing basketball in America. He showed good footwork, activity around the rim on both ends, has a developing soft jump hook that was effective, handles the ball, extends the floor well, passes well and is very coachable. How he continues to develop will be well worth watching and he should have multiple basketball options.
DeAndre Newland (7’0 2024) gave Game Speed Elite major size along with the aforementioned Stefano Alesso. Never have we seen Game Speed Elite walk in a gym with this much height. Newland is still developing overall but rebounded well, blocked and/or altered a number of shots and passed very well. As he continues to refine his offensive skill set from shooting the mid-range to his pick and pop actions to his overall strength he will be one to watch as his ceiling is very high.
Nosa Samuel Osayi (6’9 2024) is a quality rim protector. Osayi contested just about everything in his area and actually played bigger than his listed 6’9. He was called for a number of goaltending violations because of his aggressive nature of protecting the rim-a few were borderline calls in all honesty. For the blocks that were not called goaltending, many of them led to transition buckets for his team which allowed their defense to turn into instant offense. Osayi also showed good touch around the rim and rebounded well. As he continues to develop and leave the ball alone on its downward flight, he will be well worth keeping track of.
Mahki Turner (6’9 2024) showed off multiple facets of his game this weekend. Turner, who was slowed by an injury in the June HS live period, scored inside and outside, rebounded at a high level on both ends of the floor. He is never in a hurry on offense and is a force defensively. He contests all shots and blocked a number of them while also attacking the rim with thunderous dunks. As Turner continues to develop, he is going to be a problem for a lot of defenders.
OTHER NOTABLE NAMES:
Jaeden Rush brought the game and all of it to the Elite 32 in his 6’1 frame. Rush showed off his shooting ability all weekend and even connected on five three-pointer sin one game. The heady, savvy guard can not only shoot it but he can engineer the offense as well. He never forced his action on offense and was always a pest and around the ball on defense with a number of strips, steals and deflections. Don’t leave him open, and don’t crowd him because he will make the shot or blow past you for a bucket or a dime drop.
Caleb Williams picked his spots and ran the SE Elite Gold offense soundly throughout the weekend from his guard spot at 6’0. The scoring numbers were never high, but the assists and impact winning players were all over the place. Williams has fun and always stays poised no matter how the contest is playing out, and he continues to look to get others involved but also showed his shooting touch by knocking in multiple three-pointers throughout the weekend. A lot of those three’s and other perimeter shots came within the flow of the offense, while his attacking ability allowed him to get to the free throw line a number of times.
Joshua Harris is a high quality wing that can defend on the perimeter and strong enough to guard below the foul line at a very high level at 6’7. His defense is what stands out the most. He can score off the bounce while attacking from the wing, rebounds very well especially offensively and knocks down perimeter shots in space. Again his defense is what we loved the most about him.
Joshua Heard is just one of many off of Team Mookie 2024 that could or should be noted. The overall balance and depth of the team is unreal. Heard is a 6’5 attacking guard that can play the wing if needed. His driving ability is what stood out the most and he had a high number of drives that all resulted in a basket, assist or hockey assist. He ran the offense well when on the ball and he defended at a high level and provided very good help defense when needed. Heard, along with Judson Bjornstad, Griffin Cooper, and Casey Williams were all fun to watch this weekend, and Team Mookie 2024 as a team is very dangerous.
MORE NOTABLE NAMES THAT HAD A QUALITY WEEKEND:
As we mentioned there were a number of players that helped themselves this weekend and there was plenty of talent in the gyms this weekend. Here are some more that we took note of that we have either seen before or saw for the first time and watched multiple games this weekend.
Jayden Joseph (Team Breakdown 2026), Elijah Lewis (Team Forrest 17U), Zachary Chambers (SW Illinois Jets-Rush). Ameer Ramadan (17U SE Elite Gold), Joah Chapplle (Wood Elite Sewer South), Dierre Hill Jr (SW Illinois Jets-Owens).
Willie Sheppard III (Showtime Ballers-FL), Ibrahima Traore (Showtime Ballers-FL), Gavin Whitehead (Mountain West Premier 17U-CO), Adrian Avery (All Georgia Elite), Lucas Lima (Game Speed Elite-FL), Caleb Kawela (Team Forrest 17U-GA), Jayden Joseph (Team Breakdown 2026)
Daniel Thomas (Lone Star Elite-TX), Narit Chotikavanic (Lone Star Elite-TX), Aiden Weaver (Wood Elite), OB Watkins (Wood Elite), Jeremy Jackson Jr (Team Mookie 2025), Caleb Jones-Dick (Sunshine Elite), Javen Harrison (Born To Impact Elite 17U-FL), Ramone Seals (Born To Impact Elite 17U-FL).
Jeremy Innocent (South Florida Elite 17U), Hedrens Bartelus (South Florida Elite 17U), Roc Lee (Showtime Ballers 17U-FL), Greg Howard Jr (Team Dickerson White-GA), Julian Clarke (Team Florida), Jeremy Nixon (STAT E1T1-FL), Landon Williams (Great Lake Warrioz 2024-MI), Leonard McCoy II (Great Lake Warriorz 2024-MI),
Devin Brafford (B Maze Elite-TN), Tre Maxwell (B Maze Elite- TN), KeShawn Watkins (2024 Alabama Generals), Khore Furlow (No Excuse Elite-GA), Kristopher Williams (Triumph 17U-TX), Justin Burns (Georgia Canes), Brandon Peters (Big 4/WACG- TN).
Matthew Townsend (Triumph 17U Elite-TX), Ethan Williams (Triumph 17U Elite-TX), Corbin Allen (VMBA Elite-MO), Preston Wade (Team Mookie 2025-TN), Allen Stoddard (Team Forrest 17U-GA), Dainen Rucker (SW Illinois Jets- Rush-IL), Blake Wilson (ATL Pivot Elite).
A number of players played well and we know we missed some because there was a lot of talent and either we didn’t see them all.
STANDOUT TEAMS:
We know that the Live Period is for the players to showcase their games in front of the college coaches however basketball is still a team game and there were a number of teams that played very well together and against quality competition. Team Mookie (2024 and 2025), Team Florida, Showtime Ballers, Wood Elite Sewer South and SW Illinois Jest (Rush, Crosby, Owens) were the teams that really stood out over the weekend overall.
We mentioned there were some shoe sponsored teams in the event. Those games happened on Sunday afternoon. Anthony Edwards Five 3SSB and B Maze Elite UAA took on Team Florida and Wood Elite Sewer South respectively. The independent teams won both games.
There is one final Live Period left this upcoming weekend July 15th and 16th and the On The Radar Power 24 will be in full effect.
#SeeYouInTheGym
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