COLORADO SPRINGS – Saturday’s second day in the USA Basketball Men’s Junior National Minicamp provided four and a half hours of some of the better high school players in the country to display their skill and feel for the game in front of USA BB coaches, NBA scouting personnel and media/scouting service-types.
And here are the non-Western-based athletes, in each of the classes, that most impressed me Saturday during the two sessions (the first for players in the Classes of 2028 and ’27; the second for ’26 and ’25) at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center.
*C/O ’28 (freshmen): Kameron Mercer (6-foot-5/Huntington (WV) Prep).
The left hander was dynamic as a scorer, playmaker and defender.
Another left hander, Jordan Mize, showed for the second day in a row that he is likely to have an immediate impact on the Sierra Canyon team, even with many gifted seniors on the SoCal powerhouse’s roster.
*C/O ’27 (sophomores): Tyrone Jamison (6-2/Shreveport (LA) Calvary Baptist) continued to look like the best point-guard prospect from this class here. But Cayden Daughtry (5-9/Ft. Lauderdale (FL) Calvary Christian) has been very good on both days, too.
*C/O ’26 (juniors): Jordan Smith, Jr. (6-2/Fairfax (VA) St. Paul VI) hasn’t look much more than an average jump shooter impacts play at both ends of the floor with his strength, effort and commitment to rebounding and defending forcefully.
As for the three players from Southern California in this class here, Jason Crowe, Jr. (Inglewood) and the St. John Bosco duo of Brandon McCoy, Jr. and Christian Collins continued to show why they’re among the very best in both the regional and national classes of ’26.
*C/O ’25 (seniors): Chris Cenac, Jr. (6-10/Branson (MO) Link Academy). Cenac (pictured) has been the impressive and effective a scorer here, regardless of size.
Also playing at high levels of efficiency here for the second day in a row were SoCal’s two most high-profile seniors, Brayden Burries (Roosevelt) and Nik Khamenia (Harvard-Westlake).
The action tips at 9 a.m. Sunday, and wraps up about 7 p.m.
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