Peach Jam preview: Which top prospects will Kentucky men’s basketball coaches be watching?

One of the biggest annual events on the college basketball recruiting calendar is already underway.

The 2024 edition of Peach Jam — the season-ending tournament for AAU programs that compete on the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) circuit — began Saturday and runs through July 21 in North Augusta, South Carolina.

The event brings together the top programs on the Nike EYBL circuit as they compete for a championship, as well as a bevy of elite college basketball prospects who are in various stages of their college recruitment.

In addition to the on-court action, college basketball coaches and recruiters are part of the attraction at Peach Jam, with high-major programs sending several staff members to the event.

Mark Pope’s Kentucky basketball coaching staff — including assistant coaches Alvin Brooks III , Cody Fueger and Jason Hart — is already at work on this front.

This year’s Peach Jam falls during two separate “evaluation periods,” which is when college coaches and recruiters can go off-campus to watch prospects play.

The first evaluation period of this year’s Peach Jam covered last Saturday and Sunday. The next evaluation period will run from 6 p.m. Friday to 3 p.m. Sunday.

With this in mind, here’s a look at the Kentucky basketball recruits in action at this year’s Peach Jam. These are players that Kentucky has already watched at the event, or players the Wildcats are expected to watch later this week.

Kentucky basketball recruits playing at 2024 Peach Jam

Players listed in bold have reported a scholarship offer from Kentucky. Players are listed in alphabetical order.

▪ SF Dwayne Aristode (6-foot-7, 185 pounds, No. 18-ranked recruit in 2025 class per the 247Sports Composite ): Aristode plays for Massachusetts-based Expressions Elite and was watched by UK coaches this summer at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Orlando.

Aristode was born in The Netherlands and boasts several years of past playing experience in Spain with Club Joventut Badalona, a Catalonia-based basketball club. Recently, Aristode made his senior men’s national team debut for The Netherlands.

▪ PF Cameron Boozer (6-9, 235, No. 2 recruit in 2025 class): Cameron Boozer plays for Florida-based Nightrydas Elite, which has only lost one EYBL game this year and is one of the favorites to win this year’s Peach Jam. One of the twin sons of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, Cameron’s Kentucky recruitment began and was the strongest under former head coach John Calipari.

Kentucky seems to have fallen out of favor with Cameron since the Calipari-to-Pope coaching change occurred.

▪ PG Cayden Boozer (6-4, 190, No. 19 recruit in 2025 class): Cayden Boozer plays for Florida-based Nightrydas Elite alongside his twin brother, Cameron, and the duo helped that team dominate at Peach Jam in the E-15 and E-16 divisions in past years.

Both of the Boozer twins took an official visit to Kentucky prior to the start of the 2023-24 college basketball season.

Fueger and Pope both watched the Boozer twins in action this summer playing for the United States at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup.

▪ CG Brayden Burries (6-4, 200, No. 14 recruit in 2025 class): Burries plays for Strive For Greatness and is averaging nearly 21 points per game for the California-based program.

▪ PG Jason Crowe Jr. (6-2, 165, No. 5 recruit in 2026 class): Crowe plays up an age level for California-based Team WhyNot.

▪ SF AJ Dybantsa (6-9, 200, No. 1 recruit in 2025 class): Dybantsa plays for the Oakland Soldiers and is considered the top prospect in the 2025 recruiting class, and an early favorite to become the top pick in the 2026 NBA draft.

Dybantsa was offered a scholarship by Kentucky last November, and recently announced he would play his final prep basketball season at Utah Prep in Hurricane, Utah. Dybantsa plans to cut his list of schools to around seven by the end of the month, according to On3’s Joe Tipton.

Pope watched Dybantsa play last weekend at Peach Jam.

▪ CG Jerry Easter (6-5, 183, No. 30 recruit in 2025 class): Easter plays for Team Final, a Pennsylvania-based program that also produced a one-and-done player on last season’s UK basketball team, Justin Edwards.

▪ SF Hudson Greer (6-6, 190, No. 24 recruit in 2025 class): Greer plays for JL3, a Houston-based program. Greer has official visits scheduled this fall to Alabama, Arizona and UConn.

▪ SF Shelton Henderson (6-6, 220, No. 25 recruit in 2025 class): Henderson also plays for JL3 out of Houston. He’s averaging nearly 15 points and more than 6 rebounds per game this Nike EYBL season.

Henderson received a scholarship offer from Louisville this summer, and is planning on visiting the Cardinals in August.

▪ SG Jasper Johnson (6-4, 175, No. 10 recruit in 2025 class): Johnson plays for Team Thad and is a former in-state Kentucky high school star at Woodford County. The son of former UK and NFL player Dennis Johnson, Jasper took an official visit to UK in February. Johnson also was at UK in June to learn more about the Wildcats with Pope running the program.

In January, Johnson scored 37 points for Link Academy (Missouri) in a homecoming game played at Woodford County that was well attended by members of the 2023-24 UK men’s basketball team. Link Academy’s former coach, Bill Armstrong, was hired this offseason to Scott Drew’s coaching staff at Baylor.

Recent reporting suggests Johnson will commit sooner rather than later after Peach Jam. Kentucky already watched Johnson play last weekend at Peach Jam.

Alabama, North Carolina and UK are considered the top schools in Johnson’s recruitment.

▪ CG Acaden Lewis (6-2, 170, No. 47 recruit in 2025 class): Lewis plays for Team Durant and has emerged as an early recruiting target for Pope and UK. While several of the players Pope and his coaching staff have honed in on play on other shoe circuit leagues (such as the Adidas 3SSB circuit and Puma’s PRO16/NXT circuit) Lewis’ recruitment is entering blue-blood status thanks largely to his exploits on the Nike EYBL circuit.

Kentucky watched Lewis play this summer at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Orlando.

UK is included in Lewis’ list of his top eight schools, along with Auburn, Duke Michigan, North Carolina, Syracuse, Tennessee and two-time defending national champion UConn. Lewis took an unofficial visit to Kentucky this summer.

▪ PG Brandon McCoy Jr. (6-4, 170, tied for the No. 1 recruit in the 2026 class): McCoy plays up an age level for Arizona Unity and is averaging more than 16 points and 7 rebounds per game.

Kentucky watched McCoy play at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup this summer.

▪ PF Tyran Stokes (6-7, 245, tied for the No. 1 recruit in 2026 class): Stokes plays up an age level for Oakland Soldiers and is teammates with the aforementioned Dybantsa, which gives the Oakland Soldiers the top-ranked players in both the 2025 and 2026 recruiting classes.

Stokes, a Louisville native, is still the only class of 2026 prospect to report a UK scholarship offer, although that arrived when Calipari was Kentucky’s coach.

Kentucky watched Stokes play at the FIBA Under-17 World Cup this summer. Pope watched Stokes play last weekend at Peach Jam.

▪ SG Meleek Thomas (6-4, 175, No. 6 recruit in 2025 class): Thomas plays for New Heights Lightning out of New York on the EYBL circuit, and is among the EYBL’s best scorers (20.3 points per game) and defenders (1.9 steals per game).

Thomas was recruited heavily to Kentucky by Calipari. UK made the cut in Thomas’ list of his top 12 schools last fall, and Thomas visited the Wildcats in February. UK’s standing in Thomas’ recruitment has significantly dropped since Calipari left Lexington, although Pope and his coaching staff have had several live viewings of Thomas in recent months.

Thomas will play his final prep basketball season at the Atlanta-based Overtime Elite program, which has been fertile recruiting ground for Calipari in the past.

▪ PF Caleb Wilson (6-9, 205, No. 4 recruit in 2025 class): Wilson plays for Nightrydas Elite alongside Cameron and Cayden Boozer, after Wilson changed Nike EYBL programs during the season. He previously played for the Georgia Stars.

Wilson’s recruitment to UK, which began under Calipari, has slipped while other SEC programs have taken control. But, interest remains from the Wildcats. Kentucky’s coaching staff watched Wilson at a USA Basketball Under-18 Men’s National Team training camp this year, as well as at previous Nike EYBL sessions.

Pope watched Wilson play last weekend at Peach Jam.

▪ PF Tounde Yessoufou (6-5, 211, No. 20 recruit in the 2025 class): Yessoufou plays for Team WhyNot out of California, and was identified this year as an early recruiting target for Pope and his new Kentucky coaching staff.

UK watched Yessoufou play at a Nike EYBL session this year, and again this summer at the NBPA Top 100 Camp in Orlando.

“I’ve been talking to Mark Pope and he’s been telling me how he likes my energy ...” Yessoufou told the Herald-Leader at that event. “The way that he’s been talking to me and stuff, he’s got so much energy and I can see myself in the future playing for that program.”

Yessoufou is expected to take a visit to UK later this summer.

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