South Carolina basketball commitments, top-ranked programs highlight Bash showcase

A pair of South Carolina basketball commitments will be part of a strong field in this year’s Bash basketball showcase at Ridge View High School.

Moravian Prep will be making its first trip to the annual event on Dec. 12-14 and features Class of 2025 Gamecock commits Eli Ellis and Hayden Assemian. The two seniors play with Moravian, located in North Carolina, and also with Overtime Elite in Atlanta.

Ellis won the Overtime Elite MVP last season as a part of the YNG Dreamerz after averaging 33.4 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists.

Assemian is in his first year at Moravian and OTE and helped Powdersville win the S.C. Class 3A championship last season before announcing in the summer he would play his senior season out of state.

South Carolina coach Lamont Paris visited Ellis and Assemian earlier this month as the fall recruiting period began.

The rest of this year’s field includes nationally-ranked teams from last season IMG Academy (Florida.), Oak Hill (Virginia.), Dynamic Prep (Texas), host Ridge View as well as Drive Academy (Finland), Huntington Prep (West Virginia), Chambers (North Carolina) and other in-state teams Legacy Early College, Lancaster, Wilson, Keenan and North Augusta.

The full game schedule will be announced at another date.

Here are four other things to watch in this year’s event:

IMG Academy brings talented squad

IMG Academy brings a talented roster to the event led by five-star prospect and Arkansas commit Darius Acuff Jr. The 247Sports Composite rankings have Acuff as the eighth-ranked prospect in the Class of 2025.

Other nationally ranked prospects on the roster include seniors Sadiq White (Syracuse commit) and Kareem Stagg, along with juniors Jermal Jones, Chase Foster and Felipe Quinones.

European squad makes Bash debut

A team from Europe will play in the Bash for the first time in the event’s history. Drive Academy, based in Helsinki, Finland, traveled to South Carolina last season and played Ben Lippen, Wren, Gray Collegiate and Wilson.

Drive Academy has produced two players on South Carolina’s roster in freshman Okku Federiko and sophomore Morris Ugusuk, who played in 30 games for the Gamecocks last season.

Jermaine O’Neal coaching in first Bash

Jermaine O’Neal, a Columbia native who starred at Eau Claire and later in the NBA, brings his Dynamic Prep squad from Texas for the first time.

Dynamic Prep finished last season nationally ranked and features his Jermaine O’Neal Jr., a four-star recruit who recently visited SMU, and guard Leroy Kelly.

This will be O’Neal’s second straight year he has brought Dynamic back to Columbia for a high-profile event. The school won the National Division championship at the 2023 Chick-fil-A Classic.

In-state talent will be on display

There will be plenty of in-state talent in the three-day event highlighted by Wilson sophomore Josh Leonard, who is ranked as the No. 8 player in the country by On3 for the Class of 2027 and No. 16 in ESPN’s rankings.

Defending state champion Ridge View has a pair of nationally ranked players on its roster in junior Korrie Corbett and sophomore Robert Wylie. Corbett is a top-100 recruit by ESPN, On3 and 247Sports while Wylie is ranked No. 50 by On3. The two were part of the Blazers’ title team that finished the year nationally ranked by ESPN, MaxPreps and USA Today.

Other in-state players to watch are Wilson’s Tristan Thompson, RV’s Yale Davis, Lancaster’s Jordan Watford and Keenan’s Brian Sumpter.