Peach Jam: Thursday's takeaways from the annual event
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. – The 2022 Peach Jam raged on along the Georgia-South Carolina border on Thursday, and Rivals.com recruiting director Rob Cassidy was on hand for the entire day at Nike’s signature event. He shares his takeaways from the day that was below.
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MORE PEACH JAM: Wednesday's takeaways | Takeaways from the beginning of the event
2023 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position
2024 Rankings: Top 125
Transfer Portal: Latest news
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KENTUCKY OFFER HAS FLAND’S ATTENTION
Class of 2024 point guard Boogie Fland has long been one of the most coveted players in the country. He also holds offers from programs that span conferences and time zones. That’s all to say that the five-star is not typically blown away when a new offer appears.
His most recent one, however, seems to have piqued his interest, as Kentucky recently made things official after spending time building a relationship with the New York-based star.
“We’ve been in contact since last year - well, since they saw me go for 33 in the (high school) playoffs last year,” Fland said. “We’ve been talking ever since, so it was nice to get the offer. We just talked about everything besides basketball. When I talked to Coach (John Calipari), we talked about him, talked about me and talked about my family - things like that.”
As much as he seems interested in the Wildcats, however, Fland isn’t planning to rush to a decision. He’s barely begun the process of taking visits and has toured the campuses of both St. John's and UConn. As far as additional visits go, he’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it.
“I’m not sure yet on anymore visits or where I’m going to go,” Fland said. “I’m just focused on Peach Jam.”
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JUSTIN MCBRIDE HAS STATEMENT GAME
Few players in the class of 2023 have overhauled their games more drastically than Justin McBride. A year ago at this time, the Texas-based forward was carrying a heap of bad weight and turning in underwhelming performances that caused him to slide down the rankings.
The present-day McBride is a different beast entirely, however, as his new, more-slender build has brought on additional quickness and versatility, which he showcased in front of a gaggle of college coaches on Thursday afternoon.
The Rivals150 prospect poured 33 points on 13-for-19 shooting and knocked down five 3-pointers in his Drive Nation team’s victory over Team Melo. He also showed off a new pull-up jumper as well as the ability to take defenders off the dribble.
McBride’s offer list will likely grow as a result of the performance, but for now he said schools such as Arkansas, Arizona State, Texas Tech, Colorado State and TCU are most involved in his recruitment. McBride is down to 215 pounds these days, and the newfound quickness that has come with his weight loss has the potential to change his recruitment.
“I bet I’ll get more offers now, but I’m open to everyone,” McBride said. “I’m just going to have to take a lot of visits.”
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COOPER FLAGG STILL LOOKS LIKE A LOCK FOR THE 2025 TOP SPOT
It’s getting more and more difficult to make a case for anyone not named Cooper Flagg as the top player in the class of 2025. The Maine native recently finished off a massive performance for Team USA at the U17 World Championships in Spain, and he kept up the dominance at Peach Jam on Thursday afternoon.
Playing for Maine United at the 15U level, the 6-foot-8, 15-year-old posted a double-double that included a handful of head-turning sequences such as this one. Flagg has size and skill well beyond his years and his body control is remarkable for such a young forward. He holds offers from a number of major programs, such as Duke, which Flagg has publicly called his “dream school.”
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DECISION DAY APPROACHING FOR PAPA KANTE
The recruitment of 2023 Rivals150 prospect Papa Kante should come to a close after the 6-foot-10 big takes a scheduled visit back to his native Senegal early next month. He intends to discuss his recruitment with his family at that time and then choose a landing place shortly thereafter.
Michigan, Pitt, Rutgers and Maryland seem like the major players as things stand. Should Kante decide to visit Illinois, which seems to be pushing for an official visit, the Illini would also become a school to watch.
“Illinois wants me to visit really, really badly. We’ll see after I get back (from Senegal),” said Kante, who recorded a double-double for his NY Rens team on Thursday. “I know a little about Illinois already. I know Kofi (Cockburn) played there and I liked watching him, but they want me to play a little different than him. They talked to me about that.”