NORTH AUGUSTA, SOUTH CAROLINA – Over 200 college coaches and NBA scouts flocked to the Riverview Park Activities Center for the annual Nike Peach Jam. It was the second live period in July and coaches were getting a closer look at some of the top prospects in the country playing in the premiere summer event.
The top five players in the 2025 class and four out of the top 2027 players all hit the court over the last four days. Tyran Stokes, Brandon McCoy and Jordan Smith Jr. are all coming off a gold medal win in the U19 FIBA World Cup over in Switzerland and Team USA head coach (and Arizona head coach) Tommy Lloyd could be seen sitting courtside watching his former players compete and possibly doing a bit of recruiting now that he’s had some time to personally coach them.
Who else performed well and had coaches making them a priority all tournament long? Here’s an inside look at Peach Jam from stock risers, reclassification rumors, a monster commitment for an SEC program and a surprise showing from one of the top players in the rising senior class.
Dennis Gates and the Missouri Tigers land a huge commitment from five-star Jason Crowe Jr.
Prior to Friday, Missouri head coach Dennis Gates walked from court to court on edge, anticipating top target Jason Crowe Jr.’s decision. The No. 5 player in the class chose to announce his college decision on June 18th (his 18th birthday) and even though Gates and staff felt like they were in a favorable spot with the dynamic scorer, anything can happen in the final hours before a player commits. Crowe was deciding between Missouri, USC and Kentucky and throughout his entire recruitment, Crowe mentioned how important family ties were. Crowe’s father played with Kentucky assistant coach Jason Hart and the two have remained close and USC was in early with Crowe being right in their backyard in California.
“You have to keep that family aspect in things and if you can’t trust family, who can you trust?” Crowe told Hoops HQ in June. “My relationship with my coaches is really important to me. I want them to be honest with me, push me every day and I’m all about that tough love.”
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Gates and staff entered the race late with conversations picking up at the U19 Team USA trials six weeks ago. Gates and his father, Jason Crowe, have basketball ties as well. In 2002, Crowe was invited to the Los Angeles Clippers training camp where Gates was a young skills development coach. It’s a full circle moment for Crowe and Gates after first meeting and working together over 20 years ago.
After Crowe Jr. made it official, Gates walked around the gym relaxed and got numerous congratulations from other coaches (not Kentucky, Texas or USC) as he greeted each conversation with a huge smile on his face. Crowe Jr. is the highest-rated recruit Missouri has landed in the last 10 years.
Brandon McCoy Jr.’s returns to his AAU team after sitting out the spring season
The biggest surprise of the summer (in the best way possible) was the return of McCoy. The five-star point guard previously said that he was sitting out the entire AAU season and only participating in USA Basketball. He showed up to the USA training camp very rusty and many scouts and college coaches that watched the week-long tryouts believe he barely made the 12-man roster. He settled back into his game after dusting off the cobwebs but didn’t see a ton of consistent minutes for Team USA with all of the older talent on the team. His decision to return to the EYBL circuit for the final session and Peach Jam was a welcomed surprise and NBA scouts and coaches were eager to see him in five-on-five competition. “He made the right decision to come to Peach Jam and play,” one high-major assistant said. “I don’t know if anyone was actively recruiting him during the spring because no one had seen him play. He helped himself these last two weeks and reminded people why he’s one of the best players in the class.”
McCoy has been tight-lipped on his recruitment but he’s taken a couple of visits, most notably Duke. Head coach Jon Scheyer and two assistants were on hand multiple times to watch McCoy and his team AZ Unity play. One of those games was a head-to-head match up with Christian Collins, another top-5 recruit. The gym was standing room only with head coaches from Duke, Arizona, Louisville, Houston, Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas State, Tennessee, Auburn, Maryland, North Carolina and Connecticut all on hand. McCoy and AZ Unity got the win, 83-77. McCoy finished with 21 points while Collins dropped 19 points and grabbed 20 rebounds.
The latest on reclassification rumors with Tyran Stokes and Baba Oladotun
Stokes, the No. 1 player in the incoming senior class, took two official visits to Kentucky and Kansas, prompting many to speculate a reclassification move. He’s certainly good enough to contribute to any college team in the fall with his 6-foot-7, 245-pound frame. He asserted his dominance all tournament long for the Oakland Soldiers, averaging 22.2 points, 10.4 points and 3.2 assists per game. His best performance came in a win over Mokan Elite where he scored 35 points, grabbed 13 boards and had three blocks. There’s a lot more to consider for Stokes to reclassify other than just being ready. He’s a likely one-and-done prospect and the 2026 NBA Draft is loaded with talent at the top with AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer, Mikel Brown Jr. and Nate Ament. The talent drops off significantly in Stokes projected draft class in 2027 with a lot of question marks surrounding who is the next best prospect after Stokes in the class. If he reclasses up, Stokes would be taking a gamble and possibly looking at being the No. 7 pick in the 2026 draft, rather than the No. 1 pick in the 2027 draft. The money difference is millions. To put it into perspective, Cooper Flagg’s first year salary (No. 1 pick) is $11,521,600 as opposed to Jeremiah Fears (No. 7 pick) being $6,266,700. That’s over a $5 million swing and enough for him to want to stay in his true high school class and go through his senior season.
Whispers of a possible reclassification for the No. 1 player in the 2027 class, Baba Oladotun, started to circulate throughout the gym at Peach Jam. The 6-foot-9 wing started his AAU season playing on the 16U Team Durant squad and quickly was moved to the 17U squad after the first session. He’s oozing with potential and screams upside as a productive two-way wing but still has a ways to go. He held his own at the 17U level, leading Team Durant in scoring with 13.2 points per game. He already holds over 40 division I offers and is a player that can go wherever he wants. Head coaches from Duke, Virginia, Maryland, Indiana, Kentucky, BYU, Arizona, North Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Pitt and Tennessee all prioritized Oladotun this weekend. If he does decide to reclassify up, he would likely be slotted as the No. 2 player in the class behind Stokes and Bruce Brance III would take over the No. 1 spot in the 2027 class.
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Players on the rise: Quentin Coleman, Austin Gooseby, Dean Rueckert
Brad Beal Elite took home the 17U title in a win over the New York Renaissance and while they did it on the back of five-star Arkansas commit JJ Andrews, it was 6-foot-3 guard Quentin Coleman who did the most work to get them there. He had 14 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists in the championship game and averaged a steady 14.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists throughout the tournament. He picked up offers from Wake Forest and Virginia Tech this past week with more high-major interest likely to follow.
No player got more buzz from both NBA scouts and college coaches than Austin Gooseby. The 6-foot-6 combo guard has great positional size, makes the right plays and more and more college coaches prioritized him as word got around early about what he was doing on the court for Drive Nation (Texas). “He reminds me of Nique Clifford,” one NBA scout said. “Not super athletic but a threat as a shooter, elite defender and underrated passer. He could play on a college team tomorrow and be impactful. He plays his ass off.” Duke is his most recent offer with BYU, Texas, Kansas and Houston also in the mix. Kevin Young (BYU), Jon Scheyer (Duke), Sean Miller (Texas), Kelvin Sampson (Houston) and Kurtis Townsend (Kansas top assistant) were all sitting courtside for Goosby’s games the last four days.
This was Utah Prospects first season in the EYBL after they won the 16U 3SSB Championship on the adidas circuit last year. They came in with something to prove and have a few top 70 prospects in Ikenna Alozie, Junior County and Dean Rueckert. Alozie and County are typically the first and second options on offense but it was Rueckert who had the hot hand all tournament long and turned a lot of heads of coaches who had never seen him play. “This kid is pretty good,” one Big 12 assistant said while watching Rueckert for the first time. “He shoots the s–t out of the ball, wow.”
Rueckert has great size at 6-foot-6 and a high, quick release on his jumper. He shot 43 percent on five attempts per game and hit the game-tying shot in a battle against Pro Skills to send the game into overtime. Rueckert has taken official visits to Washington and BYU with both head coaches watching him multiple times this weekend. The door might be closing but there’s still a small crack for other high-major teams to get in on his recruitment and land a steal in the 2026 class.
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NBA Players present at Peach Jam and early morning closed workouts
Every year, current and former NBA players stop by Peach Jam to support their programs, coach from the bench and give young players direction and one-on-one coaching throughout the tournament. Brad Beal’s team won the 17U tournament and he was present on the bench the entire time. Chris Paul could be seen coaching his 17U and 16U teams, yelling at the refs and drawing up plays in timeouts. Carmelo Anthony sat courtside supporting his Team Melo squads at the 17U, 16U and 15U level and Anthony Black (Orlando Magic) sat behind the bench for his 15U and 16U AB Elite teams. His younger brother, Beckham, plays on the 16U team and is coming off a gold medal run with Team USA at the U16 FIBA Americas Cup. “It’s great being here and in this atmosphere and just being able to watch my brother and his team compete,” Black said. “There’s nothing like it.”
The highest level of competition came at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday and Friday when Paul, Beal and Black ran through a rigorous 90-minute workout long before games tipped off at 9 a.m. There was jabbing back and forth between Beal and Paul and Black had a few reps that even surprised Paul. “You weren’t doing that at my camp a few years ago!” Paul quipped. Black participated in Paul’s CP3 camp four years ago as a high school prospect.
