Holiday Hoopsgiving – Day 1 Standouts Pt 1

SNELLVILLE, GA – One of the country’s premier annual Thanksgiving holiday tournaments went off once again in Atlanta, and this time Holiday Hoospgiving was hosted by Shiloh HS in two gyms, and we were on site for Day 1 action predominantly in Gym 2.

Here is Part 1 with my first 5 standouts from some excellent day-long action:

By: Keith Agran

Bryson Ogletree | 6-4 | SG | 2022 | Mundy’s Mill

This Mundy’s Mill group was athletic and fun even at 10:30 in the morning, as they got up and down the floor and above the rim early and often in a stirring 59-55 OT win against a really solid North Cobb Christian bunch. Ogletree has nice length at 6-4, and showed off his multi-level scoring talents in finishing with 23 pts, knocking ’em down from deep (3 treys) and slicing his way to the basket or toward the mid-range for soft J’s. This is a sneaky good 5A team from south of Atlanta can be a tough out come playoff time.

Josh Dixon | 5-11 | PG | 2025 | North Cobb Christian

Going back to June Live Period camps, it’s long been known now that this exciting PG prospect was a fast-riser in the freshman class, and he’s done everything you’d expect from a rising talent to solidify that opinion. Speedy but not out of control, he’s got advanced lead guard instincts for his age and really knows how to score it from other 1-spot, notching 18 in the OT setback to Mundy’s Mill. Can be a pass-first guy and get you double-digit assists as well with wing talents like Tremain Davis and Jack Hewitt on hand, and makes for a great drive and dish guy for developing Eagles inside force Albert Wilson.

Eduardo Hendricks | 6-7 | PF | 2023 | Meadowcreek

Point guard Keishawn Hampton has been garnering most of the early season accolades with a strong start, but at Hoospgiving it was Hendricks off the bench who took it right at a very good Sandy Creek frontline. He has a college-ready body that he uses in concert with cat-like quickness to get all the way to the goal or drive and separate for what us a nice touch in the 15 foot and beyond range. He’s an absolute glass-cleaner, and can defend from the backcourt up to the 5-spot with the aforementioned movement, an attractive combo forward to keep an eye on.

Amari Brown | 6-2| PG | 2024 | Sandy Creek

Reloading post-Jabari Smith, the Patriots seem to be getting strong contributions from a different guy each night as they play 9 guys and everyone can play and get after it at the defensive end. At OTR’s Tipoff Classic, it was explosive junior Vic Newsom, at Hoopsgiving it was the super-talented sophomore Brown, who in getting a game-high 22 pts in a win over Meadowcreek showed us again how adept he is at getting into the mid-range and also finishing closer to the basket. He’s a true ‘slice-em-up” PG who really knows how to penetrate and facilitate and is unquestionably entrenched himself as one of the best in the 2024 class.

Ibrahim Hassan | 6-2 | SG | 2025 | WD Mohammed (pictured above)

Tough choosing between Hassan, 6-8 sophomore big Tyshawn Boyce or uber-talented junior CG Bilal Abdur-Rahman, but it was Hassan’s late 2nd half performance in a comeback win over a solid Huntsville (AL) team that took the cake. Boyce is a serious mound inside that is much more nimble than he looks (20 pts) and Abdur-Rahman battled through back stiffness to still be a factor in the win (14 pts), but Hassan really impressed getting 10 points in a monster 4th qtr (including 8 for 9 at the stripe) and showed off some smoothness in the open floor and confidence well beyond his years.

Keith Agran has lived in Georgia since 2011 and joined OTR as a National Evaluator in 2021. He previously scouted for Prep Hoops dating back to 2019 and has both a championship-coaching background on the HS-level and daily newspaper writing experience, both from New Jersey. You can reach him at keithagran1@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @BracketSage.