Brian Flinn:
Future150 National Recruiting Analyst. Covering high school basketball nationally.
Washington, DC (Future150) -- With the name Melo, and playing at St. Frances in Baltimore, Maryland last season, there was a lot to live up to for 2017 wing Melo Eggleston during his freshman year. Now that he’s begun his sophomore campaign, a lot has changed. Instead of being at the Baltimore powerhouse program, Eggleston is now at Clinton Christian (MD), a move closer to home for the talented wing. He also made the jump to a powerful DC-area program, DC Premier, this summer, and the results were promising.
With a couple of major moves already under his belt, Eggleston has one more move he would like to make: seeing his name rise up the rankings.
“I think I’ve improved my jump shot and ball handling, I’ve always been very athletic and sometimes relied on my athleticism a lot because I knew I could. Now I’m working with Tony Durant [Kevin Durant’s older brother] and I feel as though my IQ has gotten higher,” he said of his own game.
The move to play with Premier came down to two things: The ability to stay closer to home and not travel to Baltimore every day, and the opportunity to play for his uncle, Charles Harrison, on Premier’s 15U squad this summer. The ability to work with DC standout Kurt Smith also played a factor.
“It’s been great because I’m trying to become more of a guard than a wing, and what better way to do it then learn from two of the best to ever come out of the DC area,” Melo exclaimed.
At 6-foot-8 with perimeter skills, versatility is one of the keys to his game, and makes him an absolute match-up nightmare. While he may share a name with one of the NBA’s best scorers, he tries to model his game after another.
“I like Kevin Durant, he’s really long and can really score the ball from all three levels, and that’s something I feel like I can really do as well. I also like Quincy Miller because he’s 6-foot-10 and versatile. He also is really confident every time he steps out on the floor; I like that,” said Melo.
With his size and ability, a number of schools have already shown interest and have begun to recruit Eggleston. Syracuse, Xavier, Maryland, UCLA, and Wake Forest have all shown various amounts of interest and the Orange, the Musketeers, and the Terrapins will have all been in to see him at open gym by the end of this week.
While it is still early in his recruitment, Eggleston has begun to look into the schools recruiting him.
“Well my uncle, Charles Harrison, played at Wake, I know Syracuse uses the 2-3 zone and loves big guards like me. Matt Moyer and I had the chance to play together in May and it was a great experience. Frank Howard is like a big brother to me. UCLA likes big guards as well, and I talk to Tony Parker often, he’s like a big brother as well. He’s always giving me advice,” he said.
While his recruitment is just beginning to heat up, Eggleston says the relationship with the coaching staff and playing style will be the biggest factors in his recruitment.
With one eye on making the All-Metro team this high school season, the talented wing is also focused on enjoying himself and having a good time with his teammates this year. He also attributes another 2017 wing as someone who has helped him. Lyrissa Deans, a 6-foot-3 wing at St. Mary’s Ryken (MD) is someone who Eggleston has gone one-on-one with locally.
“She should be top 30 in her class, no doubt about it,” Eggleston said of his classmate.
With a solid supporting cast around him and being closer to home, this could be an even bigger year than last season for the talented DC-native. Currently ranked #27 in his class, he should rise in our updated rankings. One thing is for sure; this is only the start to a very bright future for Melo Eggleston.
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