Ohio 2024 Summer Basketball Recap

<p>With the end of the grassroots season, it's time to look back and reflect on the busy past few months that we've seen in the Ohio basketball scene. In this article we'll get you up to speed on what you need to know.</p>   <h2>High major priorities</h2>   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/07/Raleigh.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/07/Raleigh.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1511105" width="324" height="374"/></a></figure>   <p>Four prospects have established themselves as high major priorities, [player_tooltip player_id='1222345' first='Tyler' last='McKinley'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222347' first='Raleigh' last='Burgess'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222348' first='Jonathan' last='Powell'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1222354' first='Jesse' last='McCulloch']. McKinley has been the top ranked prospect since our initial rankings came out for this class and has offers from Cincinnati, South Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kansas State, Ohio State, Dayton and Penn State. McKinley had a great spring for All Ohio Red 16 U, then spent most of June at Team USA tryouts and July playing up on All Ohio Red 17 U at the peach jam. Our second ranked prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1222347' first='Raleigh' last='Burgess'] has raked in the offers this summer! After being a bit of an unknown to those outside of Ohio, Burgess exploded onto the scene with Indiana Elite 16 U. Burgess and his Indiana Elite 16 U squad won the 3SSB championship and in the process, Burgess picked up offers from Ole Miss, Cincinnati, Indiana, Wake Forest, College of Charleston, Ohio, Iowa, Dayton, Purdue, Xavier, Wisconsin, Virginia Tech and Clemson. [player_tooltip player_id='1222348' first='Jonathan' last='Powell'] made a major rise this spring, going off for 40+ points against Burgess' Indiana Elite squad, handing them one of their two losses all year. Powell then made the jump to 17 U for Wildcats Select where he continued to shine. Powell has offers from Dayton, Illinois, Indiana, Cincinnati, Texas A&M, Xavier, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Ohio and Alabama. Finally, [player_tooltip player_id='1222354' first='Jesse' last='McCulloch'] is the most recent prospect from Ohio to establish himself on a high major level recruitment wise. McCulloch completely transformed his body in the past 12 months, and this has helped him gain offers from Kent State, Akron, Cleveland State, Toledo, Eastern Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Michigan State, Butler, Xavier, Virginia Tech and Wisconsin.</p>   <h2>Depth of Mid-Major talent</h2>   <figure class="wp-block-image alignleft size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/04/AJ-McBride-AOR.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2022/04/AJ-McBride-AOR-1024x683.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1432699" width="218" height="145"/></a></figure>   <p>Ohio's 2024 class is impressive at the top, but a lot of prospects are also attracting interest at the mid-major level. Prospects who have earned offers from a mid-major program include [player_tooltip player_id='1222349' first='Colin' last='White'], [player_tooltip player_id='1238513' first='Jacob' last='Theodosiou'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222346' first='Calvin' last='Little'], [player_tooltip player_id='1067753' first='Mason' last='Shrout'], [player_tooltip player_id='1148120' first='Luke' last='Skaljac'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222360' first='AJ' last='McBride'], [player_tooltip player_id='1225066' first='Alex' last='Bruskotter'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222351' first='Jonas' last='Nichols'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222353' first='Ace' last='Buckner'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222357' first='Carter' last='Jackson'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1346654' first='Jackson' last='Washington']. It wouldn't be surprising to see some of these prospects elevate to high major status and I expect this list to grow soon with a couple notable prospects still waiting on their first offer.</p>   <p></p>   <h2>Prospects playing up</h2>   <figure class="wp-block-image alignright size-large is-resized"><a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/05/jacob.jpg"><img src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/ph/uploads/2021/05/jacob-855x1024.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1189555" width="292" height="350"/></a></figure>   <p>I'm always impressed when a prospect takes on the challenge of playing up an age group and Ohio's 2024 class had some notable players get experience at the 17 U level. [player_tooltip player_id='1222345' first='Tyler' last='McKinley'] played at the Peach Jam with All Ohio Red 17 U. [player_tooltip player_id='1222348' first='Jonathan' last='Powell'] got moved from Wildcats Select 16 U to 17 U for the July live periods. [player_tooltip player_id='1238513' first='Jacob' last='Theodosiou'] was playing 17 U during the second July Live period with Wildcats Select and [player_tooltip player_id='1148120' first='Luke' last='Skaljac'] played the entire spring and summer with [program_tooltip program_id='2078667' first='[program_tooltip program_id='2078667' first='[program_tooltip program_id='2078667' first='TNBA' last='']' last='']' last='']-Ohio's 17 U squad. </p>   <h2>Independent squads find success</h2>   <p>Before we discuss independent squads, this article wouldn't be complete without mentioning both the [program_tooltip program_id='2078641' first='Mid' last='Ohio Pumas'] and OBC who are on the Adidas Gold circuit, but the Pumas qualified for the 3SSB finals with another impressive spring. Wing [player_tooltip player_id='1222373' first='Jesse' last='Burris'] is the highest ranked prospect in Ohio's 2024 class still waiting on a Division I offer. OBC 16 U is headlined by star point guard [player_tooltip player_id='1222353' first='Ace' last='Buckner'] and wing guard [player_tooltip player_id='1373983' first='Duncan' last='Moy'], who could be the biggest sleeper in the state. One of the most notable independent squads is [program_tooltip program_id='2075761' first='Ohio' last='Buckets']-Garcia with a nice mix of Ohio and Indiana talent at the top including [player_tooltip player_id='1222349' first='Colin' last='White'], [player_tooltip player_id='1225066' first='Alex' last='Bruskotter'], Tucker Day and Jackson Pardon. Nova Village-Turner has some scholarship talent with [player_tooltip player_id='1222377' first='Juwan' last='Turner'], [player_tooltip player_id='1311189' first='Derek' last='Goodman'], [player_tooltip player_id='1222361' first='Na'Varion' last='Adams'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1359618' first='Braylin' last='Wells']. Team Clutch-Kovach had some impressive wins including the All Ohio Super 16 championship. [player_tooltip player_id='1463806' first='Hayden' last='Nigro'] will make a splash in the updated rankings. [program_tooltip program_id='2078639' first='Mac' last='Basketball'] Izzy 16 U was another squad that impressed me, combo guard [player_tooltip player_id='1477054' first='Jayson' last='Levis'] is another prospect who will debut during the next rankings update. Finally, the Ohio Rebels 16 U squad won the AAU national championship down in Florida. Their notable 2024 prospects include [player_tooltip player_id='1352459' first='Hosea' last='Steele'], [player_tooltip player_id='1421143' first='Deandre' last='Jones'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1373988' first='Kenyon' last='Giles']. Plenty of other squads impressed including [program_tooltip program_id='2076142' first='Dayton' last='Elite'] 16 U, NW Ohio 16 U, [program_tooltip program_id='2075517' first='Hopson' last='Elite'] 16 U, Marshall Warriors 16 U, the list goes on and on, but I wanted to highlight these specific squads.</p>

With the end of the grassroots season, it's time to look back and reflect on the busy past few months that we've seen in the Ohio basketball scene. In this article we'll get you up to speed on what you need to know.