The Midwest Basketball Club and star Kentucky recruit Reed Sheppard came up just short of an Adidas championship over the weekend, but they continued to draw praise from top coaches and talent evaluators.
Sheppard’s AAU team advanced all the way to the semifinals of the Adidas 3SSB championships — the highest level on the Adidas circuit — before falling to eventual champion Dream Vision on Sunday. Along the way, Sheppard was met with more accolades.
The North Laurel High School standout showed up on “best of” lists from ESPN national analyst Paul Biancardi and the scouts at Pro Insight, among others, despite being a class of 2023 recruit, a grade behind most of the players on the shoe company circuit. Iona Coach Rick Pitino, who was among the first to offer Sheppard a scholarship, also commented on the team as a whole over the weekend. Pitino, Virginia’s Tony Bennett, Indiana’s Mike Woodson and Michigan’s Juwan Howard were among the coaches that watched Sheppard play. UK’s Chin Coleman was also in the gym on the first day of this past weekend’s evaluation period.
247Sports national analyst Travis Branham noted in his write-up from the event — which also singled out Sheppard’s play for praise — that, while most assume the in-state standout will end up at Kentucky, “this one is more open than many think with Tony Bennett in pursuit.” Indeed, the chatter at Adidas last week was that, if anyone could beat the Cats, it would be Virginia, and Bennett clearly isn’t giving up hope just yet.
The top recruiting links heading into the week:
Latest on Skyy Clark: His dad talks to us about his injury, future at UK
247Sports analyst also looks at latest on Keyonte George, Julian Phillips
UK target Ja’Kobe Walter earning spot as an elite prospect in 2023 class
Watch: More weekend highlights of No. 1-ranked UK target DJ Wagner
In case you missed it: UK continues to trend as leader for Shaedon Sharpe
More recruiting links: Check out more top stories from the weekend