On Sunday at the Southwest Kickoff I moved on up to catch what amounted to about half of the 8th-grade field, so while a tad incomplete we still saw some terrific lead guard play from a division flush with future…
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Subscribe Already a subscriber? Log inOn Sunday at the Southwest Kickoff I moved on up to catch what amounted to about half of the 8th-grade field, so while a tad incomplete we still saw some terrific lead guard play from a division flush with future top talents.
Michael Collins, Houston Hoops Blue Chips, 2025
Stoutly built, lightning-fast athlete can really get up and down the floor, lockdown defender, good handle in space, pass first mentality, among better rebounding guards I saw utilizing his A+ Athleticism.
Montana Wheeler
Montana
Wheeler
5'7" | PG
TX
, Houston Hoops Blue Chips, 2025
Plays both with Collins and on his own up top, perhaps a bit more polished and HS-ready at this stage with a well-rounded game of handling it, passing it, scoring it and defending it, composure and on-ball defense most impressive and sees the game as a well as any PG we saw all weekend.
Eric Lavergne, Drive Nation, 2025
Showed off one of the weekend’s best floater games driving it into traffic, terrific speed with ball, sound passer, also one of the weekend’s best on-ball defenders using both speed and a solid build to make life difficult.
Cameron Carroll, Razorbacks Elite, 2025
True lead guard and it shows with a polish beyond his years, powerful first move off the dribble, really potent in attack mode and wants at the rim either going around or through you, another stout frame who can really get in your face at the defensive end.
Tyler Madison, Razorbacks Elite, 2025
Bit more of a combo guard but can step about front and handle it, built like a RB and uses that power and speed to blow by defenses, top rebounding guard when crashing from the wings, showed off terrific vision with a handful of impressive finds.
Latavious Morris, JB White Elite, 2025
The New Mexico bunch brought a deep pool of talent with them across multiple age groups, Morris’ compadre was particularly impressive, never seems rushed but can ramp up the gear when needed, quick release from 3 and really showed off offensive chops with some nice mid-range pulls as well.
Cameren Paul
Cameren
Paul
6'6" | WF
TX
, FOE, 2025
There likely isn’t a category we can devise that wouldn’t include the outstanding Paul, plays all 5 positions at the 8th grade level which is downright frightening, the weekend’s top overall talent by my reckoning, when handling the point he’s a matchup nightmare at 6-5 already, controlled, polished handle that leads to an absolute blow-by ability and a finishing game at the rim that’s unstoppable right now, can pull up and fall away and create space with his length, the absolute full package.
Eian Lowe, Houston Hoops Blue Chips Lowe, 2025
In a wild contrast to FOE’s Paul there was the terrifically skilled and talented Lowe standing about 5’4”-ish, yet he plays like he doesn’t know or care that height is a relative term as used his smooth handle to slice and dice a good defensive FOE team in multiple spots both getting to the basket or slyly finding his good wings for conversions, where he was particularly confident and deadly was from 3-land where he made FOE pay for not paying attention to him past 20 feet, any growth closer to 6-0 tall puts this innately talented youngster into a potential high next level category near the end of his HS career.
Adrian Mathis, JL3 Elite, 2025
A clear pass-first mentality is what stands out for Mathis in an age of scoring lead guards, love the distribution and vocal leadership, handles it really well, smart and sound passer, good defender, can definitely step out beyond the arc and hurt you.
