This morning both of the 17U Team Loaded teams played in the Final Four of the Adidas Summer Championships.
Team Loaded NC lost in the first game 71-54 to Mass Rivals. PG Dennis Smith Jr. had 18 points (6-15 FG), 3 rebounds and two steals. PF Bam Adebayo had a bad shooting day (2-20 FG), but still managed to post a double-double with 10 points and 16 rebounds. SF Jordan Tucker had a quiet game with 5 points.
Team Loaded VA defeated Kansas Pray & Play 92-65 to advance to the Finals. PF Sacha Killeya-Jones had 11 points (4-7 FG) and 4 rebounds. PF Mamadi Diakite had 12 points (4-6 FG).
Team Loaded NC will be playing in a showcase game on ESPNU at 4pm (EST) against Indiana Elite.
Team Loaded VA will be playing against Mass Rivals in the Adidas Summer Championships Finals at 6pm (EST) on ESPNU.
This will be most of NC State fans first opportunity to watch Top-10 Wolfpack targets Dennis Smith Jr. and Bam Adebayo for themselves.
4-Star 2025 Small Forward Jackson Keith (6’5″/175) was also in attendance.
Keith is a consensus 4-star prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, with Rivals ranking him as the #53 overall player in the class. The Southern High (Durham, NC) standout is ranked as the #2 player in the state of North Carolina in the 2025 class by ESPN.
Keith holds offers from NC State, Wake Forest, Mississippi St., Illinois, SMU, Virginia Tech, LSU and others.
NC State (11-3) will host #7 UNC (11-3) tonight in PNC Arena, and they also will be hosting a couple of recruiting prospects.
4-Star 2025 Power Forward Sadiq White Jr. and 4-Star 2025 Point Guard Jordan Lowery both confirmed with me that they will be in attendance.
White, who plays for Myers Park (Charlotte) is the consensus #1 player in the state of North Carolina in the 2025 recruiting class, and he’s 4 spots away from being a 5-star prospect according to ON3. Lowery plays for Winston-Salem Christian School, and is ranked as the #7 overall player in the state of North Carolina in the 2025 recruiting class according to 247Sports.
White holds offers from NC State, South Carolina, Syracuse, Cincinnati, Wake Forest, LSU, FSU, Illinois, Virginia Tech, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Georgetown, Ohio State and others. Lowery holds offers from NC State, TCU, Virginia Tech, SMU, Oklahoma St., Kansas St. St. Louis and others.
2026 Point Guard Kobe Edwards also told me he will be in attendance.
4-Star 2025 Point Guard Kayden Mingo (6’1″/160) stated that NC State is one of the schools most frequently reaching out to him, along with Virginia Tech, Wake Forest, Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Notre Dame, Penn State, Cal and Old Dominion.
2025 4⭐️ Kayden Mingo continued his stockrising season tonight as #2 Long Island Lutheran (NY) took down #11 La Lumiere (IN).
Mingo finished with 20PTS, 7ASTS and 5REBS in the 82-65 win. He’s LuHi’s leading scorer on the season.
Despite the Wolfpack’s interest in Mingo, they haven’t offered him yet. Mingo currently holds offers from Cal, Penn State, Saint Louis, Virginia Tech and Wake Forest.
Rivals and ESPN both rank Mingo as a 4-Star prospect, with Rivals ranking him as the #70 overall player nationally in the 2025 recruiting class.
Mingo plays for Long Island Lutheran in New York, which is one of the top teams in the country. He is currently the Nike EYBL Scholastic’s leading scorer (20ppg).
NC State 2024 signee Paul McNeil Jr. showcased his talent at the 2023 John Wall Holiday Invitational at the end of the year. Below are highlights from his first two games.
In Richmond’s 77-62 win over Jordan in their first game of the invitational, McNeil had 27 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals.
In Game 2, McNeil had 24 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists in Richmond’s 53-56 loss to Northwood.
In Game 3, McNeil had 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in Richmond’s 68-84 loss to Cannon. I couldn’t find any highlights from this particular game.
Through 11 games this season, McNeil is averaging 29.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game. He is shooting 52% from the field and 35% from three.
We gotta get this kid Dennis Smith! I mean this guy is legit. Hit 2 clutch drives to win the game.
Bam is very patient in the post which is uncommon for such a young kid. I like how Dennis looks for the pass. He’s definitely not a score first guard.