D.J. Jeffries with UK coach John Calipari and assistant Tony Barbee.
By LARRY VAUGHT
The Marshall County Hoop Fest is annually one of the nation’s best prep basketball showcases and this year certainly is shaping up to be superb.
While exact pairings for the four-day event Nov. 30-Dec. 3 have not been released, several sources have confirmed one Dec. 2 game that will match Zion Harmon, the top-ranked player in the 2021 recruiting class, against D.J. Jeffries, a top 20 player in the 2019 recruiting class. Both are UK recruiting targets.
Jeffries was the second player in the 2019 recruiting class — James Wiseman was the first — to be offered a scholarship by Kentucky coach John Calipari. In addition to UK and Kansas, he has offers from Florida, Alabama, Maryland, Texas A&M and LSU among others with the number increasing daily.
Olive Branch (Miss.) coach Eric Rombaugh says the 6-7 Jeffries — who averaged 22.3 points per game last season — is a versatile player with “great leadership” skills. Jeffries grew up a Memphis fan when Calipari was coaching there.
“He is the hardest working player in the gym every day,” the Olive Branch coach said. “He kind of sets the tone for how we practice and work in the weight room. He does a great job leading by example.
“He is super talented. He can play all five positions if that is what he needs to do. He’s great at handling the ball, really has a good shot, he can make plays. He can go make a play about any time he wants, but at the same time he is all about the team. He’s super unselfish. He likes to get everybody involved, especially early in a game.”
The 5-10 Harmon was the starting point guard on Bowling Green’s state championship team — he averaged 16 points per game — last season but has transferred to Adair County in Columbia. He’s made an unofficial visit to UK last month and is expected back for Big Blue Madness.
He was the first seventh-grade player to compete in the Nike EYBL. One of his EYBL teammates was UK targets Keldon Johnson, a top player in the 2018 recruiting class. Harmon averaged 11.4 point and a team-high 3.2 assists for the gold medal-winning USA under 16 team at the FIBA Americas Championship when he was the youngest player on the team
Harmon is scheduled to attend the USA Men’s Junior National Team Minicamp this month that will also include 2018 UK commit Immanuel Quickly.
Kentucky plays Harvard at 3:30 p.m. EST on Dec. 2. But with an Adair-Olive Branch night matchup in CST, it should be easy for a UK coach — or coaches — to make the trip to Benton for this game.
It’s likely Lexington Catholic and Marshall County could play before Adair-Olive Branch. That’s significant because Catholic features senior forward Zan Payne, who averaged 15.1 points and 8.8 rebounds per game last year while shooting almost 50 percent from the field. His father is UK assistant coach Kenny Payne and it would seem like a perfect scouting trip to see Harmon and Jeffries the same night his son plays. Marshall has a new coach — Terry Birdsong— for the first time in 11 years and the game should draw a lot of interest.
And what about if the final game of the night featured Johnson, a five-star wing player with a scholarship offer from Kentucky. He’s ranked among the nation’s top 15 players in the 2018 recruiting class and one of the top shooting guards after averaging 19.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists in the Nike EYBL last summer. He played at Huntington Prep last year but is back home in Virginia at Oak Hill Academy this season.
Johnson played his junior season at nearby Huntington (W.Va.) Prep — taking a couple of unofficial visits to UK during his time there — and transferred to Oak Hill Academy in his home state of Virginia for his final season of high school.
Most recruiting analysts likes his athleticism and the way he rebounds for a 6-6 wing player.
So combine Jeffries, Harmon and Johnson along with other talent on their team together with a Lexington Catholic-Marshall County matchup and Dec. 2 should be a big night for the Marshall County Hoop Fest.
