GoHardITP

And that would be whom? Just call it a prediction if you are not wanting to let the cat out of the bag. LOL

When young men are grounded and humble as Trevon is, there is less chance for outsiders to use ego driven tactics to convince kids they need to self promote themselves. He also has lots of extended family in that community who really care about him at Mercer, so it is a bond that will be tough to break. I would not be surprised if Mercer has a great year and Trevon leads them far into the post season.

Offers do mean something and of course they carry weight. There is obviously interest and getting an offer is a good thing. I am just saying the listing of each and every offer, especially as kids go later in the process are not reflective of active offers in many cases or offers they could commit to. I am also of the belief that not every offer begins as a commitable offer. For example, some kids may receive an offer as a favor to their coach or as a way to get in good with another player they are close to. If you do not want to accept their effort to commit, you can always tell a kid that you want them to wait and check out other schools to be sure of their decision. The idea a kid can commit once they get an initial offer does not hold water with me. If so, there should be more kids taking offers from some of the big schools once they give them.

Others have answered your question well, but let me add that there is a decorum of diplomatic communication so nobody is going to look insincere or evil if a kid who has received an offer tries to commit and is turned down. There are ample ways to plausibly suggest how circumstances have caused a situation that prevents accepting a commit. Colleges usually only have 3-4 spots annually and those are spread on positional needs. The easy answer is suggesting that position of the player wanting to commit has been filled or a transfer is coming in making it no longer a position being recruited in the class. But I could think of ten ways to let someone down gently and it never turns ugly. Are kids disappointed at times...sure they are. But so are coaches in the process which makes the offering kids at a pace much greater than that of available spots a game within itself. It is more difficult for the bystander to determine, but when you see schools at prospects games or in frequent contact with the player it is a better indicator of whether the offer is serious or not.

There are two distinctions about offers that tend to inflate the actual offer counts that are even verified by the scouting services.. 1) At the point an offer is made it becomes static because there really is not any purpose for the retraction of an offer. So once it is out there it continues to be counted by most kids even though schools stop recruiting a player often. 2) There are offers that are made for multiple purposes and often without the intent of ever accepting a commit until much farther down the line of the recruiting cycle. The term "commitable" offer is harder to determine, but a player or coach know the difference. When you are actively recruited coaches will be at your games during the evaluation periods and in constant contact with you and it is those offers that are harder to come by.

He must be reclassifying, he was always known as a 2017 player and KHSAA listed him as a Junior. Perhaps he is not coming back to Cordia and he is going to a prep to reclass.

2017 for Nelson. Mercado was 2018. Both were at Cordia last year, but heard Mercado was at another school in the area for next season.

And great young man as well. Navy does not throw out offers every day. They talk to many people who have nothing to do with basketball before making an offer. Congrats to JR as this is an outstanding offer to potentially be a life changing opportunity to serve your country after finishing your career playing BB for the Academy.

They are hot like Brentwood was hot a few years ago, or CPA, and Lighthouse more recently. The elite travel team these younger phenoms have played with has a pattern with many out of state elite players ending up near Nashville. Zion is exceptional and reminds me of Tyger Campbell who was another young phenom who ended up in Nashville after playing for the same program who relocated. Darius Garland was another before Tyger who ended up at Brentwood who relocated. NCAA live periods require programs to have players from the same state with three players from border states allowed. Thus the reason you will find kids & their families relocate if they are elite talent that a program wants to insure can play for them. Nothing wrong with it, just that it is more to do with elite travel ball logistics in many cases. BG happens to be the school that is benefiting from the relocation and good for them, any school would love to be in their place.

Great player, one of the best in the State in my opinion.

I will give you Romeo has pro potential, he actually has a really good chance to be in the NBA in about 3 years. He has unbelievable work ethic in addition to being a high level athlete with equal skill. I have seen Jay play too and beside their athletic comparison there is not much else they share yet. Romeo has put a team on his shoulders and won a State HS Basketball Championship. He plays up an age group on the Adidas circuit at the 17U division with accomplishments to drive being recognized as the #2 ranked player nationally. To me that is serious pro potential. Jay may have it in him, and we are talking potential so that has a vast meaning but he and Romeo are in the same graduating class so he has to turn it on real quick or it will be past him.

The issue is people have very few examples to compare what a potential pro or even D1 prospect is when you are in a city/state that produces very few of them. The most recent true pro prospect that has came out of Louisville is Raymond Spalding. He could guard the 1-5 and is 6'9" with elite length & athletic as they come. Before that we had De'Angelo (part time) and of course Rondo. So how are you able to recognize a pro? There are plenty with size and elite athletic ability, but that does not make you a pro or D1 prospect. How well do you shoot, how well do you handle the ball, and most importantly how crazy are you about developing your game. If you are on the side of being a fanatic about making it you have a very small chance. If you are on the side of not working hard and questionable work ethic on & off the court you have no chance. I don't know about either of these two in terms of their commitment to development, but it starts with that unless you are close to 7 foot tall and blessed with raw talent.

This is a great response to a fair question or opinion. I don't feel there is an absolute right or wrong approach of when to commit, it has so many factors that are unique to each athlete. I know prospects who have double digit number of offers that are coming close to their signing time who really are not sure which offer to accept because none of their offers feel right or excite them. It is not about the number of offers or timing as much as feeling strongly that is where you want to be. I suggest to kids in that position to ask three questions 1) How much are they showing they want you 2) How much do they need you 3) Do you see yourself fitting in or does it feel right? Many schools cast a wide net but not every offer is one that a player can commit to. It is just a different philosophy coaching staffs deploy. Many major college football programs offer hundreds of prospects only to take 20 kids in a class. There are many strategies about extending offers which are not as black/white as one would expect.

Couple things that should not be disputed...1) a high percentage of the elite one & done recruits receive illegal benefits and many times it starts before they are recruited by any college. People in the game that understand the future dollars at stake are investing money to become close to the kids with the potential to be lottery picks. 2) No college coach is going to allow the cash trail to lead back to them. It is suicide to do so and as long as there is plausible deniability then a coach will never be on the hook. What coaches do and some better than others is allow the practice of buying players take place to their benefit. Call it look the other way or whatever, but they will never be tied to it or even mention it to their players or parents. They don't need to do that and by staying out of the effort it takes away an opportunity from a disgruntled player ever linking them to paying for players. If done right, there will never be any evidence. And it happens at almost every school with the Top 10-15 players.

I do not know the season stats, but Braxton scored 70 points in one game. He was their starting point guard on their post graduate team which is their elite squad. I have a link below of a short video from his 70 point game that is from the team website. He is going to surprise the naysayers. I am willing to eat crow if I am wrong, but I also will come back and remind people when he ends up much higher on the food chain than Miami of OH. That is not a knock on Miami of OH, I just feel he will be at an elite school when it is all said and done. Hargrave Military Academy - Braxton Beverly - 2

I beg to differ, in all the kids that have came through in recent years Braxton has the chance to be a major contributor at a high major school. Don't underestimate this young man, what he did at Hargrave last year did not go unnoticed. He did not do it playing a schedule of non D-1 players, he did it against the kids who will be playing D1 the next four years.

This event speaks for itself being 35 years of excellence, a gem for the reputation of high school basketball. If you have never been, come at least once if you are a high school basketball fan. The quality of teams is up there every year with all the elite national holiday tourneys, and this year is no exception. But be prepared to come early on certain nights as those of us in Louisville can vouch that the gym gets packed. Hats off to the KOB.

Yes, Fern Creek was down at Samford team camp along with Hopkinsville today when this happened. Heard feedback that Fern Creek was very good down there going 3-0 versus some of the top teams in AL. Beat Homewood, AL convincingly after the Homewood team had easily by Hopkinsville by about the same margin. Also beat Carver who has one of the better programs in the state.

I agree Franklin is under rated and could easily be considered a Top 15 2018 player. He played really good in post season for Doss. But if you have him 8th and leave off Fern Creek PG Anthony Wales from the Top 15 then you are at odds with the 6th Region Coaches. Wales was a 1st team 6th Region player voted on by the Coaches and that was after missing many games towards the end of the season and post season due to injury. He was the only sophomore that was 1st team All Region in either the 6th or 7th regions that are arguably could be considered two of the best regions year in and year out. I think they both are two PGs that have great upside still and will be playing D1 college basketball and would have them both in the Top 15. I think someone said it best...deep class that has little difference between the Top 4-15 kids. 1-3 in my mind are a bit above the rest with Faulkner, Taylor, and Fitzgerald being the gems of the class right now. This is always fluid, kids get better and others stop getting better. Great class.

I am in full agreement. If I am drafting from the 2018 pool this young man is my number 1 pick. He already is arguably playing better than anyone in the class and his upside is what separates him from the pack. Add to the fact he is well mannered and respectful off the court. He is not even 16 1/2 years old and he already has a college ready build so it will be interesting to see his growth the next year.

Once you hit high school there is not any D1, D2, or D3. Just a single High School AAU State Championship.

Across the state he was, but that is changing. With some of the scouting services and D1 coaches he was under the radar until this Spring. Not anymore, especially after the weekend he had in Atlanta at Bob Gibbons.

For sure not Travelers, but his teammate at Cooper, Adam Kunkel, has had a great season with KY Travelers and this weekend at Gibbons was outstanding in Atlanta. I posted in another thread that he had 20 & 25 today in a semifinal victory over Team Thad and championship loss to E1T1. Elite player in the 2018 class.

I was not there but heard he was very good yesterday and have not heard today. Adam Kunkel of Cooper was exceptional today with 20 in semifinal win over Team Thad and 25 in the final loss to E1T1. He is very underrated shooting guard out of NKY. He is a very good player and deserves mention of one of the top 2018 kids as well, but nobody talks about him much.

16U and in Championship game E1T1 out of FL beat KY Travelers 80-68. Still a great run to finish 2nd out of 64 teams from throughout Southeast. Multiple shoe sponsored teams finished near the top as this event touts itself as an event the elite shoe company programs get to finally meet up. Two NIKE programs finished 1/2 in the 16U division and Team Thad a top Under Armor program was in Top 4. Both 16U & 17U Louisville Magic teams made it to Elite Eight before losing. KY kids showed strong at this well attended event held in Atlanta this weekend.