Kayden Allen spent his sophomore season in a reserve role for the Chipotle Nationals champs at Montverde Academy, playing sparingly as the Eagles’ seven-man rotation steamrolled competition night in and night out.

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And yet still, Allen said his game grew leaps and bounds year over year as a result of his experience.

That makes sense when your daily practice competition is arguably the greatest high school team ever assembled featuring five-star 2024 prospects like Cooper Flagg, Derik Queen and Liam McNeeley.

“It was the best thing I could’ve done for my game to grow,” said Allen, who checks in at No. 19 overall in the Rivals150 for 2026. “It’s so many different things that I picked up going against all of those guys in practice that I realize when I get back to playing against my age group. It’s so much easier to get to my spots and I’m making better reads as a playmaker, pace, everything like that. I know that my game is at another level.”

That much has been evident all summer and was certainly the case last weekend when he pumped in 23 points, six rebounds and four assists a game for Team Loaded at the adidas 3SSB Championships.

At 6-foot-5, Allen thrives as a downhill scorer using his strength and athleticism to get to his spots on the floor and finish with authority at the rim. He keeps the defense off balance with his efficiency from the perimeter and plays with great pace as a playmaker for his teammates.

Those attributes and numbers have programs like Villanova, Seton Hall, Florida State, Missouri and many others in pursuit.

When asked about the influx of contact since June 15, when college coaches were permitted to contact him directly per NCAA rules, Allen simply described it as, “Crazy.”

“It’s been pretty fun though,” Allen said. “This is what we all want, but I won’t lie, it’s a lot when it actually starts happening.”

As it stands, Allen doesn’t have set plans for visits, but added that he’ll map things out next month.

“I’m definitely gonna get out to see some schools,” Allen said. “I’ll sit down with my family and talk through where I want to go pretty soon. It’s still early for me, but I want to go ahead and start building those relationships now.

“The biggest thing for me though is to keep putting in the work. I want to be the best and I know the reason that all of the schools are reaching out is because of how hard I work. That just makes me want to work even harder.”