What I Learned From the NC Top 80
It was a good day of basketball at a gym filled with players from all over the Carolinas. The skill work, the practices and the games all culminated with LJ Thomas of Charlotte, NC/Bull City Prep winning the Absolute Basketball and camp MVP honors.
This year the Top 80 came out with a new concept, playing the North Carolina and the South Carolina Top 80s at the same time and branding it as a battle of the states. The event was also moved from the Springtime to Fall.
In theory this event is tasked to play as a proving ground of sorts, to help answer any of the “who is better” questions we have. Dave Telep’s Carolina Challenge had the 80 best players in North Carolina show up, the matchups, the storylines they were set. While this setting is different, the thought process is still the same.
In all, there were 160 student-athletes in the gym and these are the Five Things We Learned at the North Carolina Top 80
2022 Class is Shaping Up
This will be fun to continue to parse through and continue to discuss over the next two years. However, I do feel there is starting to become tiers set within this group. Four of the top five guys (which is where the tier one line is drawn right now) were in attendance here and they all had their moments. The lone player in that top five not in attendance was 6’8” Joyful Hawkins of Huntersville, NC/Lake Norman Christian.
6’2” LJ Thomas of Charlotte, NC/Bull City Prep was the camp MVP but his teammate 6’8” Jai Smith of Charlotte, NC/Bull City Prep and 6’11” Christ Essandoko of Winston-Salem, NC/Winston-Salem Christian were right on his heels. 6’8” 4-star Deante Green of Arden, NC/Christ School was named to the camp’s All-Camp team.
While the five are still sorting out their order, the top tier is taking its shape.
There is Size to be Had
All coaches are looking for size. Just this morning a high major coach told me, “if we are going to miss on a player, miss big.” North Carolina, throughout its classes, has size. In all twenty players were listed on the roster at 6’8” or greater on the North Carolina side of things. This is even with noted players such as 6’8” Dontrez Styles, 7’0” Jonas Aidoo and 7’0” Patrick Wessler not showing up.
It is not just one type of size either. There was traditional back to the basket bigs, skilled bigs, switchable bigs, rim runners and low block guys. The size in North Carolina can fit in to just about any system you play and there is a player for every level of Division 1 basketball.
I could go on and on about the specific players and give in depth breakdown of each, but I will not bore you with that right now. Just know, North Carolina has some very recruitable size in the state right now.
Harris and Ferrante Are Two of the Most Overlooked Players in 2021
Overlooked is one way to put it, disrespected may be a more appropriate. Disrespected by college coaches, disrespected by scouts who rank North Carolina, just overall disrespected for their games.
Toby Harris is a 6’7” wing from Durham, NC/Durham Academy. What he is, is an elite shooter. We are talking about one of the best in the region. He has great length, he has elbow at the rim pop to his game and he is a noted team defender. His scoring goes beyond catch and shoot stuff as he can attack closeouts and pull up or finish at the rim. He is a good rebounder and a tough all around kid. As he continues to get stronger and fill out his frame he will only get better. He is also a 32 ACT/4.0 type student.
Ferrante is a 6’9” post player from Charlotte, NC/South Mecklenburg High. The lefty is a knock down shooter from out to 25 feet, but he can also operate in the high post or with his back to the basket. While he needs to polish up his right hand a bit, Ferrante will drop step dunk on your head and throw a lay up into the 3rd row. He is a high IQ player who can operate at all 3 levels and play with some pop and toughness. Like Harris, Ferrante is a 32ACT/4.0 type of student.
Elijah Jamison May be the Most Overlooked in 2022
It is one of those things where you begin to ask, “what more does this kid need to do?” As it stands Jamison has already scored 1,979 career points at a close to 50% clip from the floor. He has also grabbed 9.4 rebounds and dished almost four assists through his first 75 games of his high school career. This year he transferred to Liberty Heights Athletic Institute where he has been tasked to become a pure point guard, and the early returns have been great. He touches the paint regularly and he makes the reads when there.
Jamison has two years left of high school. He will be recruited as a point guard and will be running the show for the pre-season number one team in the state, a team who should garner national rankings. The opposing coaching will sure know his name, don’t be surprised if the college coaches follow suit.
Despite None of the Top Guys in 2021 or 2023 Coming, NC Has A Lot of Talent
These are the questions that have been talked about ad nauseum over the summer, who is the to player in 2021 and who is the top player in 2023. This would have been a nice setting to roll the ball out and let the players decide this answer, however none of the players in the discussion, for either class, showed up.
That is not to say this camp was a void of talent, quite the opposite in fact. I believe it showed that despite the top guys showing up, there was immense talent in the building. Of the 80 players listed on the roster, 75 of them should receive full scholarship money to play in college.
Considering there has been a North Carolina player drafted in each of the last eight NBA drafts (sixteen overall in that time frame), the state has done more than enough to earn its reputation as the Hoop State. College programs from across the country need to continue to pay attention to the state and continue to mine the talent from top to bottom.