Kentucky has three future players in the McDonald’s All-American game Tuesday night
The McDonald’s All-American game takes place on Tuesday night, featuring some of the best high school players in the country. The Kentucky Wildcats and John Calipari usually have a few players in the game, and this one will be no different.
On3’s Jamie Shaw was able to watch the players go through practices, and relayed some of what he saw.
Five-star recruit Jayden Quaintance is the first of three future Wildcats featured. The Cats top recruit has excelled in the practices, showing a knack for getting to rebounds, something Kentucky needed this past season.
Karter Knox, Kentucky’s most recent signee, has been good in the practices. He’s solid on both ends of the floor, and shoots the ball well. His ability to rebound will make coaches happy.
Guard Boogie Fland is the third future Wildcat in the game. His leadership has been praised, and he has an ability to get hot shooting the ball.
The McDonald’s All-American game will be played Tuesday night at 9:00 PM ET, and can be viewed on ESPN. Kentucky fans can get a look at some of the players they’ll see next season.
Meghan McKeown Wallace breaks down how Ace Bailey has looked in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
ESPN analyst and reporter Meghan McKeown Wallace has been impressed with Ace Bailey’s performance this week at the McDonald’s All-American Game. The five-star forward has certainly lived up to the hype.
Bailey signed with Rutgers basketball in December. He was electric during the slam dunk competition on Monday night and has earned rave reviews for his performance in practice the past couple of days at the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Meghan McKeown Wallace, who will be part of ESPN’s broadcast team for the game, has watched Bailey the past couple of days and has been impressed.
“Ace Bailey is as good as advertised. His athleticism and raw talent means he has an unlimited ceiling,” Wallace told Rutgers Wire on Tuesday morning.
“He’s been one of, if not the most impressive player throughout the scrimmage and JamFest of the McDonald’s All-American Game.”
Ace Bailey looks like the best player on the floor in this scrimmage so far. Big time athlete at 6’9 who is also super confident as a shooter. pic.twitter.com/x4qtcMbx2o
At a press conference this week for the McDonald’s All-American Game, Cooper Flagg was asked about going up against Bailey. A five-star forward, Flagg is ranked as the top player in the 2025 class by multiple media outlets including ESPN.
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The Duke commit was asked about squaring off against Bailey, who is contending with Flagg to be the nation’s top recruit.
“I mean, I think he’s a great player. Really versatile, really well-rounded,” Flagg said during Monday’s press conference.
“And to be honest, I’m not really looking for specific matchups. I’m just playing to have fun and compete. I’m just always trying to win.”
Future Rutgers basketball teammates Ace Bailey and Dylan Harper connect at the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey are already looking like difference-makers for Rutgers basketball. The five-star duo showed flashes of their synergy on Monday at a scrimmage for the McDonald’s All-American Game.
(For those not good with math, that is a complicated way to say that Bailey and Harper are the highest-ranked commits/signees in Scarlet Knights history).
Playing for the West team, Harper and Bailey showed the potential of their partnership on Monday during a scrimmage for the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Check out this backboard lob from Harper to Bailey. The point guard drives well to the basket, and he sees Bailey moving in from the wing.
Bailey finishes off the play nicely.
I feel pretty confident this was an intentional miss by Dylan Harper to set up Ace Bailey for the backboard lob. Bailey has some serious springs in his legs, sheesh. Rutgers (??) is going to be so fun next year. pic.twitter.com/sVYtIz17Jt
Cooper Flagg talks about Rutgers commit Ace Bailey at the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Count Duke commit and five-star forward Cooper Flagg among those who admire the play of Ace Bailey. Also a five-star forward, Bailey signed with Rutgers in December.
Bailey is the highest-ranked recruit in the history of Rutgers basketball. On Tuesday, he will go up against Flagg in the McDonald’s All-American Game.
Flagg is the top-ranked player in the class of 2025 by most scouting and recruiting outlets, including ESPN. Bailey is the second-highest-ranked recruit in the 2025 class on most boards.
On Monday during a press conference for the McDonald’s All-American Game, Flagg was asked about going up against Bailey. The Rutgers commit has been talked about for the last two months as potentially becoming the top player in the country by other media outlets.
“I mean, I think he’s a great player. Really versatile, really well-rounded,” Flagg said during Monday’s press conference.
“And to be honest, I’m not really looking for specific matchups. I’m just playing to have fun and compete. I’m just always trying to win.”
The Big Ten is expected to have five players in this April’s McDonald’s All-American Game, the most prestigious all-star game in high school basketball. Two of those five players are committed to Rutgers basketball. Over 700 high school players were …
The Big Ten is expected to have five players in this April’s McDonald’s All-American Game, the most prestigious all-star game in high school basketball. Two of those five players are committed to Rutgers basketball.
Over 700 high school players were nominated to the game, with Rutgers five-star recruits Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey being two of them. Even though Harper (East) and Bailey (West) will be on opposing teams, each player will represent the Scarlet Knights on a high level.
According to Big Ten Network Analyst Andy Katz, Harper and Bailey joining the Scarlet Knights next season gives Rutgers basketball the top-3 2024 recruiting class in the country. Bailey and Harper are ranked the No. 2 and No. 3 prospects in the country, respectively, according to 247Sports.
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👀 @RutgersMBB has TWO McDonald’s All-Americans coming next year❗️@TheAndyKatz puts the rest of the B1G on alert for Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey’s arrival in the Scarlet Knights’ Top 3 class: pic.twitter.com/F5l1OgJEGR
Jersey Mike’s Arena will be the place to be in 2024 as the two top players help Rutgers basketball climb the ladder during the 2024-25 season. With the ability to recruit these five-star players, Rutgers head coach Steve Pikiell has put Rutgers basketball on the map to contend for the Big Ten title and a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
A USC commit enters the basketball spotlight in early April.
Cooper Flagg and Dylan Harper lead the way among the high school stars ready to make a name for themselves at the McDonald’s All-American Game. The boys’ rosters were revealed earlier this week, ahead of the prestigious annual showcase in April. One of the other top names invited to the showcase was USC commit Trent Perry.
The Harvard-Westlake standout has a scout grade of 89/100 and is ranked No. 26 on ESPN’s list of top 100 prospects. During his junior season, Perry averaged 16 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, which earned him offers from some of the top schools: Duke, UConn, Notre Dame, Stanford, UCLA, and Virginia.
The McDonald’s All-American Game, which will be televised on ESPN, takes place April 2 at the Toyota Center in Houston at 8 p.m. Central time, 9 Eastern and 6 Pacific. It will be played after the girls’ edition of the same game, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Central time (6:30 Eastern, 3:30 Pacific) on ESPN2. Tickets are available at mcdaag.com.
S/O and congrats To Trent Perry. Dean list at Harvard Westlake, Played in EYBL peach Jam Championship, Won a CIF Open State tittle. And not done yet. And going to USC pic.twitter.com/6Hukn462lD
Notre Dame really seems to have a knack for attracting recruits that ultimately are named to the McDonald’s All-American Game. In fact, six of the 13 players on the Irish’s current roster are former McDonald’s All-Americans. Now, they’ll be able to add another one next season.
[autotag]Kate Koval[/autotag], the fifth-ranked recruit on ESPN’s 2024 HoopGurlz rankings, has been named to the 2024 game, which will be played April 2 in Houston. At 6-foot-4, Koval will be the only center on the East roster. There, she’ll be joined by Long Island Lutheran teammates Kayleigh Heckel, who is heading to USC, and Syla Swords, who will go to Michigan.
Koval signed with the Irish in November as a five-star recruit one year after the program was able to secure three such recruits for 2023. She is the reigning Gatorade New York Girls Basketball Player of the Year after a season in which she averaged a double-double a game as well as 3.4 blocks a game.
Koval will provide size on a team that always could use more. It will be pretty tough to match the freshman season [autotag]Hannah Hidalgo[/autotag] has had so far, but she should at least give it a shot if for no reason than she could say she tried.
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Johnson, Quaintance headline SEC signees selected to McDonald’s All-American Game
The official rosters for the upcoming 2024 McDonald’s All-American Game were released Tuesday afternoon, with multiple SEC signees selected to play in this year’s version of the annual contest.
With players selected only from the 2024 class, Alabama and Kentucky led all SEC programs with two signees each, and were both tied with Duke, North Carolina, and Rutgers for the most players selected.
Those SEC signees, as well as where they are committed to play in 2024-25, are as follows (Rankings according to 247Sports Composite):
East: 4-star C John Bol (Ole Miss), 5-star CG Boogie Fland (Kentucky), 5-star CG Tahaad Pettiford (Auburn), 5-star C Jayden Quaintance (Kentucky)
West: 5-star SG Tre Johnson (Texas), 5-star PF Derrion Reid (Alabama), 5-star C Aiden Sherrell (Alabama)
The McDonald’s All-American Game is one of the premier annual events on the high school basketball calendar, featuring many of the nation’s best prep prospects. This year’s McDonald’s All-American Game will take place Apr. 2, 2024, from Toyota Center in Houston, TX.
Two future Rutgers basketball players named to the McDonald All-American Game.
Two members of the Rutgers basketball 2024 recruiting class were named McDonald’s All-Americans on Tuesday. Dylan Harper and Ace Bailey, both five-star recruits, received one of the top honors in high school basketball by being named to the game.
And for the last time before they unite at Rutgers, Harper (East) and Bailey (West) will be on opposite teams. Over 700 high school players were nominated to the game.
Earlier this year, Harper’s Don Bosco (Ramsey, New Jersey) beat Bailey and McEachern (Powder Springs, Georgia) 76-50 in the City of Palms Classic. Harper scored 28 points to key Don Bosco’s win.
This year’s game will be played at the Toyota Center (Houston, Texas) on Apr. 2. The game will air on ESPN at 9 p.m. ET.
Bailey was named as the second-best player in the nation by 247Sports this week. He moved up at the expense of Harper, who dropped one spot to the third overall recruit in the 2024 class.
“Standing on that court where he played made me think about what could be in the future,” LeBron James says of his son, Bronny James, after both played at Toyota Center within a week.
HOUSTON — As one of the NBA’s greatest basketball players of all time sat at a locker too small for his chiseled, 6-foot-8-inch frame, you could tell he was a bit fatigued. However, he could still probably play another game, if that is what his team needed from him.
It was clear Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James, whose triple-double (18 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists) helped his team defeat the young Rockets, 134-109, was determined to will his team to a victory and push his team closer to a Western Conference playoff seed that might avoid the play-in tournament.
Once the media dispersed from James’ locker, he began to remove the rest of the tape around his ankles. He didn’t raise his head when I asked if I could ask him one more question.
“Sure,” James said, perhaps expecting that another game question he had already answered in many ways could be asked again.
“Was it nostalgic when you stepped on the court after watching Bronny play on the same floor less than a week ago,” I asked.
At that moment, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer stopped what he was doing and leaned his body back with a big smile. If it is one thing the public knows about James, it’s that the 38-year-old legend loves talking about any of his three children.
“I thought it was cool to stand in the same spot he hit his first 3-pointer,” the elder James said. “He was here about a week ago, and it was just cool to see him on an NBA court.”
Bronny James, a 6-foot-3 senior guard at Sierra Canyon High School in California, put on a show in front of a sold-out Toyota Center that included his father, LeBron, in the McDonald’s All-American Game. His 15 points and 4 assists were almost good enough to help lead the West over the East, but his team fell just short.
“Standing on that court where he played just made me think about what could be in the future,” the elder James said.
LeBron’s premonition could lead him and his son back to Toyota Center in the future. Unlike his father, Bronny can’t jump straight from high school into the NBA, so he will need to play basketball somewhere else in 2023-24 before being eligible for the 2024 draft.
At the moment, James is not committed to any college and could play in the NBA G League to meet the league’s requirements of being one year removed from high school and at least 19 years of age.
As for LeBron, Los Angeles gave him a two-year, $97.1 million contract extension last August, and that deal includes a player option for 2024-25. That creates the opportunity for him to be a free agent in the 2024 offseason and sign with whatever team Bronny is drafted by.
Could that possibly be Houston, which likely doesn’t have its own first-round draft pick in 2024 but will have one from Brooklyn? It’s at least possible, depending on what the Rockets do with their significant salary cap room this offseason. Perhaps it’s a scenario that comes into play if the Rockets acquire players on one-year contracts.
At a bare minimum, the exposure Houston gained this week from hosting the NCAA’s men’s Final Four and its surrounding events, which included the McDonald’s All-American Game for top high-school prospects, can’t hurt when it comes to raising the market’s visibility in this pivotal period of the franchise’s rebuilding plan.
