Accentuating South Carolina VIP
by Zachary Lyon, Future150 (4:32 PM CT, Thu June 4, 2015)

Columbia, SC (Future150) -- Andrew Force contributed to this report.

Spring evaluation morphs into ELITE camp season. Only weeks separate aspiring college hoopers from July, the pinnacle of recruiting season.  And for many of the South Carolina-based athletes July matters much.  Recruitments are not finalized and only a handful of top-tier prospects have the offers they want most.

Summer visits have been schedule by Barmore, De'Riante Jenkins, Jordan Leath, and Drew Johnson.

A new offer is in for Zach Butler.  Chevez Goodwin and Quinterious Jones are seeing new schools text constantly.

Cream of the Crop

Seventh Woods (Future150 #24) is easily the best prospect in the 2016 class from SC and proabably has the most potential we've seen from a combo guard in a very long time. 

The latest on Woods seems to be that Florida, North Carolina, and South Carolina are the ones pursuing him the hardest. Even though he has said his recruitment was wide open (per an interview with Adam Zagoria) UNC and South Carolina are the leaders.

As great as Woods will be, the arrival of Jalek Felton (UNC verbal) might be more eagerly anticipated in Chapel Hill.  Justifiably ranked #7 in the Class of 2017 Felton has the skills of Uncle Raymond (Dallas Mavericks), with all of the height Ray never got.

#SummitCamp

Sunday morning it became clear Kaiden Rice is a special shooter.  He impressed two Future150 instructors with his quick release.

A class of 2017 wing, Kaiden camped with Future150 last year.  He earned Top-20 honors.  When he competed with the elite Top-20 Camp crowd in October he was unable to duplicate the feat. 

"Not making the Top-20 All Star team made him work hard," said father Andrae Rice.  "He said he didn't want to ever feel that way again.  I have never seen him work as hard as he is right now because he understands what it takes to get to the top tier."

Rice has the intangibles of height and agility.  He has the shooting down.  Truthfully Rice is only missing that aggression needed from a leading scorer.  By nature he is a quiet grinder, the kind that prefers to perfect his craft behind closed doors before presenting the improvements in a more public display. 

"He just got into lifting weights before the season (high school)," said Mr. Rice.  "He says he can stay with smaller kids and finish through contact now."

Recruitment will pick up as Rice plays in front of more college coaches.  He is the true unknown quantity amongst recruiters, despite having the frame and game to project as a college player.

"Right now we have Davidson showing interest," said father Andrae Rice.  "Georgia State is showing interest, as well.  Queen's College has invited him to camp."

Rice's high school team will take him to TEAM Camps with Charleston Southern and South Carolina.

"He has a 4.47 GPA. His goal is to become ranked and go to a school he picks."

Upward Stars

Xzavier Barmore will be paired in the backcourt with new & talented teammate Brevin Galloway next season at Seneca. Both are regarded as top 10 players in their state. Barmore told Future150 he officially holds offers from Charlotte, Gardner-Webb, Liberty, & Winthrop.