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Two days are now in the books at the legendary John Wall Holiday Invitational in Raleigh, NC and I’ve gotten the chance to take in 10 games featuring some of the top high school players in America and there have been some clear standouts.
Drake Powell, Wing, Northwood High School
Powell, a UNC commit and the #4 player in the class of 2024 absolutely lived up to his billing as one of the best players in the country. Powell had 17 points on 7-15 shooting to go along with 3 rebounds and 4 assists in Northwood’s matchup versus Orange High School.
Standing at 6 '7 with long arms, Powell is a coach’s dream on the defensive end from a physical standpoint and perhaps most impressively seems to already have a strong understanding of how to use that length to his advantage both as an on-ball defender and in the passing lanes. Powell was tasked with guarding Orange’s best player, Cole Cloer, a highly touted recruit (#26 overall) in the class of 2026 for a good portion of the game and was able to help hold him to 5-13 from the field. Offensively, Powell’s handle is solid enough to create for himself but I’m not sure he will be someone you’d want regularly initiating offense at the next level. His outside jumper isn’t quite there yet (0-3 from three today) but the growth between where he was at this event last year and where he is now is quite evident. He gets to the rim at will and is strong enough to power through contact but also has enough elasticity for some acrobatic finishes if the situation calls for it. One of the things I absolutely love about Powell is his “substance over style” approach. To give you an example of what I’m talking about, during his game today Powell had the opportunity to attempt a dunk that, if successful, would’ve been tough to top as the dunk of the tournament. Instead though, Powell weighed the high degree of difficulty and opted for a finger roll that found the bottom of the net with ease.
Eli Ellis, Guard, Moravian Prep
On the opposite end of the substance vs. style debate we have Eli Ellis. Ellis, a consensus top 75 player in the class of 2025 (committed to South Carolina), is as creative of a playmaker as I’ve EVER witnessed in person, at any level, and while it sometimes can lead to unnecessary turnovers the risk is more often than not worth the reward. Ellis has a “White Chocolate” like ability to improvise last second passes due to his tremendous instinct for where his teammates will be. His shot selection still leaves a little bit to be desired at times but it's hard to blame him with the type of range he possesses and the green light the coaching staff at Moravian has given him. Ellis has an excellent handle and while he may not be the quickest guard in the country his understanding of pace is beyond his years and very few have the ability to go 0 to 60 and back to 0 the way he can which keeps defending guards constantly off balance.
Paul McNeil Jr. , Guard, Richmond
McNeil Jr., an NC State commit, put on a show early, scoring the first 8 points for Richmond and 10 of the first 12 to help the Raiders jump out to an early lead. Hel would ultimately finish the game with 27 points on 8-16 from the field and showed off his ability to get to the charity stripe, going 10-14 on free throw attempts. McNeil is as mature of an offensive player as I can ever recall seeing at this level, he understands his strengths and gets to his spots with an intent rarely seen from players at this age. He can score at all three levels but right now is most effective when using his mid-range jumper both off the dribble and to punish smaller guards in the post. The only “weakness” I see in McNeil’s game at this point is his ability to finish through contact but that should improve once he gets on campus and is introduced to a full-time strength and conditioning program.
Kendre Harrison, Forward, Reidsville
Harrison, a 6’7, 235 pound forward, is a top 25 recruit in the class of 2026 (and the #1 tight end in the nation), is quite possibly the most explosive player I’ve seen this week which is saying something considering Jayden Quaintance is here as well. He absolutely dominated from the start against Farmville Central, scoring 14 in the first half on a perfect 7-7 from the field. Harrison finished the game with 21 and managed to stay perfect from the field (9-9) and brought down 10 boards as well. It’s tough to really get a great read on some of his skills (rebounding) from a game like this because he was the most physically mature player on the floor by a country mile but his ability to run the floor was evident even if you don’t know his football background (4.6 40 yard dash) but it did come in handy on an over the shoulder pass that Harrison was able to reorient himself too and track down before throwing doing a thunderous dunk. He did struggle a bit from the free throw line (3-6) and didn’t really even threaten from outside so shooting seems to be a bit of a question mark but given his ability to bully people around the rim and score in transition he probably hasn’t had to give much thought to developing his shot at this point.
Sir Mohammed, Guard, Myers Park
Mohammed, the son of former NBA player Nazr Mohammed, had 25 points on 10-17 shooting and did a little bit of everything in Myers Park’s dominating win over fellow 4A contender Millbrook adding 9 rebounds and 4 assists. Mohammed looks like a huge building block for Micah Shrewsberry and Notre Dame and should be able to step in as a contributor right from the jump. He didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger from deep going 3-8 but none of the attempts felt forced or out of the flow of the offense. At 6 '7, 205 pounds, Mohammed already has an NBA like frame and uses it to punish defenders around the rim which I expect to translate to the college level as well.
Jackson Keith, Wing, Southern Durham
Keith, a 6 '6 wing, is currently a consensus top 75 recruit in the class of 2025. Much like I mentioned about Kendre Harrison, Keith was the most physically mature player on the floor by a mile when I seen him play on Wednesday so it’s hard to tell if his rebounding ability (11 against The Burlington School) will translate to the next level although I do see him as more of an undersized 4 at the college level rather than a 2 or 3 which I see him listed as currently. Keith is listed at 185 pounds but his frame looks more filled out to me than that and I would be surprised if he wasn’t 210-215 pounds. His strength is evident particularly with his ability to power through contact on fouls and still finish. He finished the game with 23 points, 9 boards, and 1 assist, although the assist number could’ve been higher if his teammates had converted on a couple of nice setups. His mid-range/post jumper was effective but that range still doesn’t consistently extend to the outside (0-2 from three on Wednesday).
Cam Flippen, Guard, The Burlington School
Flippen, who I saw go up against Keith and Southern Durham on Wednesday, is a 6’2 guard in the class of 2025. While Flippen’s numbers didn’t necessarily jump off the stat sheet (9/5/5) his ability to put pressure on both ends of the floor was evident from the get go. He showed off a quick burst that allowed him to get into the teeth of Southern Durham’s defense but what was most impressive about Flippen was his efficiency, he shot 4-6 from the field, 1-1 from three, and only had one turnover while consistently making the right plays for his teammates. On the defensive end Flippen added two steals and was a nuisance on the ball all game long which led to multiple turnovers as well.
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