THE RIVALS150: 2016 | 2017

CHARLOTTE, NC -- The Under Armour All-America Camp Powered by

Rivals.com continued on Thursday morning as the No. 1 overall

prospect in the Class of 2016, Josh Jackson, made his camp debut with a

solid performance in a loss for his team. Here's a rundown of the notable action from the

Thursday session.

The 6-foot-7 Jackson is coming off of a strong showing at the FIBA U19 World

Championships, where he helped the Americans win gold, so you couldn't

necessarily blame the Detroit native if he came out a little sluggish since he

returned from Greece on Monday night. Instead, Jackson came out with activity on

both ends of the floor, scoring 22 points and adding three rebounds, three

assists and four steals. Also showing well as a help defender, Jackson was

8-for-14 from the field and 2-for-4 from 3-point range as he controlled things

on the offensive end of the floor whenever he had the ball in his hands.

Showing off his very good court vision, Jackson would have tallied more than

three assists had some of his teammates shot the ball a little bit better. For

an elite prospect who could have probably loafed through his opening game, it

was a strong statement from Jackson that he's focused on contributing in all

facets of the game. He buried some tough deep jumpers, got to the rack

off-the-bounce and slowed down five-star forward Billy Preston by defending him

for parts of the second half.

Before the start of the Under Armour All-America Camp Powered by

Rivals.com this week, John Calipari and his

Kentucky staff told Markelle Fultz they'd be by to evaluate

him. If he played well, they said, an offer could be on the way.

On Thursday morning, Fultz did everything he could to prove to the Wildcats he

was worthy of the scholarship.

The 6-foot-4, 180-pound wing put on a show in the second game of the morning

session, slashing, knifing and shooting his way to a game-high 19 points.

Afterward, the five-star said he fully expected to receive a Kentucky offer,

which would be big for his recruitment.

"I'm planning to pick up another offer from (Calipari) after this weekend,"

Fultz said. "It's going to make a difference. It will probably be on my list

when I cut it down because that's a school I can see myself going to."

Fultz said he currently has 34 offers, and is looking to trim that list at the

end of July. By August or September, he said he'd like to have a commitment made.

Calipari wasn't just in the gym for Fultz on Thursday. In the first game of the

morning, the Kentucky head coach was front and center for five-star forward

Thon Maker, who also dazzled in front of UK's head man.

Less than 24 hours after posting 23 points and 17 rebounds, Maker arguably

looked better in Thursday's morning session, tallying 16 points, 21 rebounds,

three blocks, three assists and three steals. At times, the 7-footer was even

asked to run the point for his team, and he made heady passes and saw the court

well.

After the impressive performance, Maker indicated he will definitely play

college ball when he graduates in 2016. And while Calipari's Kentucky and

Bobby Hurley's Arizona State (who also watched Maker in the

morning session) are often linked to Maker, he said he's nowhere close to

figuring out a college destination at this point.

Billy Preston is a five-star prospect who can do just about everything

on the floor. He has a solid jump shot for a 6-foot-9 power forward, he's a good

rebounder and he can block shots.

Yet during Thursday's morning session, the Dallas (Texas) Prime Prep big man

felt the need to show off his dunking prowess.

Preston had at least four dunks in the first half alone, and nearly had a few

more, just barely missing one that would have sent the YouTube clicks soaring.

"I try to do it a lot," Preston said of his dunking with a smile after the game.

"It gets me going. When I feel like I can tear the rim off, I feel like nobody

wants to get in my way or anything. So I'm going to make my presence felt at the

rim."

Preston has had a solid camp so far, averaging 15 points and 4.5 rebounds in the

week's first two games.

Four-star shooting guard Kameron McGusty is one of the premier shooting

guards in the Class of 2016 and the Texas native had the full scoring arsenal

going in a morning win for his team. The 6-foot-5 McGusty had an efficient 23

points on 7-for-10 shooting and he also did a great job getting to the foul line

and converting as he went 8-for-9 from the free-throw line.

Scoring the ball from multiple levels on the floor, McGusty was particularly

impressive getting to the basket and making plays. The No. 36 overall prospect

in the Rivals 150, McGusty can fit through tight spaces in traffic and create

shots that not many other guards in the class can produce.

Class of 2017 guards Quade Green and Trevon Duval are

backcourt running mates on the grassroots circuit with WE R1, but the teammates

went head-to-head during camp play on Thursday morning. Green, a four-star point

guard and native of Philadelphia, has been arguably the most productive guard in

camp through two sessions of play as he went for 19 points and three assists in

a win for his team. The 5-foot-11 Green plays with a smooth style and his

ability to split defenders and knife through traffic makes him tough to defend

on high ball screens. All the while, Green seems to be in complete command of

the offense and he does a nice job of distributing and finding teammates when

he's not hunting his own shot. Going against five-star teammate Duval, a

6-foot-3 guard, Green was the more consistent point guard and he limited

turnovers and made strong basketball plays.

As for Duval, he had a tough go of it finishing shots at the rim, but he still

ended up with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists as he generally played a

decent floor game. Sometimes Duval tries to do too much, as evidenced by his

five turnovers and 4-for-16 showing from the field, but he can hit another gear

athletically that very few guards in the country can match.

Philadelphia native and four-star small forward Deandre Hunter was one

of the better two-way wings during the morning session of camp and the Class of

2016 product had a great showing playing alongside Kameron McGusty. As

a complimentary scorer to McGusty, Hunter did plenty of damage on his own,

scoring on straight-line drives, hitting a couple of deep jumpers and also

making plays on the defensive end of the floor that helped lead to stops.

The 6-foot-7 Hunter finished with 18 points, eight rebounds, two assists and a

steal as he went 6-for-9 from the field and 2-for-3 from 3-point range. After a

very quiet first game of camp, Hunter seemed to find himself on Thursday and he

played with more confidence on the offensive end than he has for much of the

spring.

North Carolina commit and five-star point guard Jalek Felton

shook off a mediocre opening night of camp to put up a double-double performance

in a close loss on Thursday morning. After going only 1-for-8 from the floor on

Wednesday night, Felton finished with 11 points on 4-for-8 shooting and also did

a terrific job orchestrating the pick-and-roll with teammate DeAndre Ayton.

With the five-star Ayton not getting many touches on the offensive end the night

before, Felton made sure to get his big man involved frequently as the duo ran

four straight pick-and-rolls at one point and seemed to have a nice chemistry

when Ayton would slip to the rim. Felton found Ayton and other teammates for a

total of 11 assists and he mostly kept things simple for his team on the

offensive end. Still making some flashy plays that led to a few turnovers, this

was still a much more positive showing for Felton and he was tough for the

defense to check on Thursday.

Expectations are always high for five-star point guard Seventh Woods

and the South Carolina native had a very good floor game on Thursday morning in

a win for his team. The 6-foot-2 Class of 2016 star is noted for his tremendous

athleticism, but he played a very controlled game on Thursday, going for 15

points and adding five rebounds and three assists. Even more impressive was

Woods finishing with zero turnovers, as he did a nice job of finding good angles

to make entry passes to his big men so they could go to work in the post.

Shooting 3-for-8 from the field, Woods wasn't hitting many jumpers, but he

counteracted his so-so shooting performance by getting to the free-throw line 10

times and converting nine of those attempts. If Woods continues to play like a

true point guard, his stock will rise since he's already a high-level athlete.

His feel for the position has continued to improve over the last year.

News and notes

Maker has

gotten a lot of the limelight on his team this week in Charlotte, but power

forward Mitch Lightfoot has strung together two really nice

performances alongside Maker as well. The Arizona big had 16 points and seven

rebounds in the first game of the morning session, and he took at least three

charges too. Lightfoot said Arizona, Stanford, Kansas and Utah have all been

standing out so far to him. He's already officially visited Stanford and is

planning officials to Kansas and possibly Arizona soon too.

Four-star wing

Micah Thomas doesn't always have the prettiest stroke, but during

Thursday's morning session, he was able to go four-for-eight from the floor,

including two 3-pointers. He said schools like Ole Miss,

Alabama, Tennessee, Memphis, SMU,

Baylor, LSU and Texas are all in the mix for his

pledge at the moment. He said he's looking to visit LSU, Florida and

Texas in the next few months, and he's hopeful to have a final list made before

his senior season begins.

Four-star

shooting guard Sam Cunliffe showed off a smooth stroke in the morning's

second game. Afterward, he said his Arizona State commitment is still

strong, but he wasn't quite ready to deem himself 100 percent solid just yet. He

said California has been one school that has stayed in the picture

despite his pledge last month.