The July live evaluation period will crank up on Wednesday and once again, the Vanderbilt coaching staff will be hitting the road to not only check in on their top-rated 2016 prospects, but will be evaluating other players of interest in the 2016 class and many underclassmen as well.
On Wednesday, Atlanta will be the hot spot as the Adidas Uprising Gauntlet Finale begins followed by the Best of the South tournament on Thursday. The Uprising Finale will feature top-tier 2016 targets Braxton Blackwell, Javin Montgomery-DeLaurier, Wenyen Gabriel, and James Banks in action. Other prospects that Vanderbilt is expected to keep an eye on at the Adidas Uprising are 3-star power forwards Anfernee McLemore and Yoeli Childs, both are receiving interest from the Commodores. Top 2017 targets Jamal Johnson, Garrison Brooks, Darius Perry and Alex Reese are expected to take the court at the Best of the South Tournament.
VandySports.com will be in attendance and bring you max coverage of both Adidas Uprising and the BOTS tournament over the course of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
More 2016 targets that Vanderbilt will be keeping an eye on throughout July are 3-star Texas point guard Carsen Edwards and 4-star shooting guard Kevin Huerter. Both received offers from the coaching staff after strong performances in late April at the EYBL stop in Lexington, KY. Edwards remains high on Vanderbilt and is expected to take an official visit to Nashville sometime in the fall. Huerter is a lengthy 6-foot-5 shooting guard with exquisite range and displays grit and toughness on the basketball court. His most notable offers are from Notre Dame, Villanova, Indiana, Michigan, Syracuse, Iowa, and others.
A few other 2016 prospects that the Commodores' coaching staff will be evaluating throughout the live period are Arkansas power forward Eric Curry, Barstow (Miss.) power forward Jeriah Horne, Francis Parker (Calif.) power forward Tim Harrison, and Carlisle School (Va.) point guard Quentin Jackson. All prospects have 3-star ratings according to Rivals.
Other top-flight 2017 targets Vanderbilt will check out include five-star North Central (Ind.) small forward Kris Wilkes and Park Tudor (Ind.) four-star power forward Jaren Jackson. Wilkes picked up an offer from the Commodores during an unofficial visit in June while Jackson earned his after his performance at Vanderbilt's Elite Basketball Camp last month.
Watchful eyes will also be on 2017 point guards David Sloan, Chris Giles, and Blake Harris along with shooting guards Jordan Cross, Jordan Poole, Tavin Lovan. On the wing/power forward front look for names like Savion Flagg, Christian Negron, Tomas Murphy, Royce Hamm, and Galen Alexander to potentially pop up on Vanderbilt's radar and potentially land offers. Arkansas big man Daniel Gafford, Texas prospect Tristan Clark, and Nigerian born Greenforest Christian (Ga.) seven-footer Ikey Obiagu are center prospects the staff plans to check out in July as well.
