Aaron Bradshaw shines, and more from the second day of Nike EYBL in Louisville

The second day of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) session in Louisville continued to display some of the top college basketball recruits in the country in the commonwealth.

The three-day Memorial Day weekend event is being held at the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville, with basketball from morning until night featuring some of the top prep stars from around the country, including several who are being recruited by Kentucky.

The largest crowds of the session so far have been for DJ Wagner, a significant Kentucky basketball recruiting target who opened the session Saturday in front of Louisville basketball legends including Pervis Ellison, Darrell Griffith and Milt Wagner, the star recruit’s grandfather who rejoined the Louisville program a few days ago as a support staff member under new head coach Kenny Payne.

Of course, DJ Wagner also has ties to Kentucky, including his stepbrother, Kareem Watkins, being a walk-on with the UK basketball team.

Wagner, who plays for the New Jersey Scholars on the EYBL circuit, dropped 29 points in a buzzer-beating Saturday afternoon win and a further 14 points in a late-night Saturday win over Strive for Greatness, the EYBL team featuring Bronny James (son of NBA superstar LeBron James).

Wagner began his Sunday slate of games with a 14-point, five-assist outing, although this time in a loss to Brad Beal Elite.

Those paying attention to Wagner — the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2023 according to the 247Sports composite — have also gotten the chance to see another Kentucky target shine.

Aaron Bradshaw is a class of 2023 big man being recruited by the Wildcats, who plays with Wagner both in high school and on New Jersey Scholars.

Standing 7-feet tall and rated as the No. 21 player by 247Sports in the upcoming class, Bradshaw picked up a UK offer on April 10 and is being recruited primarily by UK assistant coach Orlando Antigua.

While Bradshaw hasn’t made an official visit to Kentucky yet, he’s giving Wildcat fans plenty to think about.

In that Saturday night win over Strive for Greatness, Bradshaw was dominant with 21 points and 11 rebounds.

He was less effective in the Sunday afternoon loss to Brad Beal Elite, totaling just 11 points and five rebounds, but offered a strong rim-protecting presence.

With ball dominant players on the New Jersey Scholars team including Mackenzie Mgbako (a Duke commit who was offered by Kentucky) and Wagner, Bradshaw has displayed other qualities not directly tied to having the ball in his hands that accentuate his value as a massive interior presence who does have the ability to hit shots outside of the paint.

It’s worth noting that Kentucky only has one commitment so far in the 2023 class, in-state guard Reed Sheppard, although another could be arriving soon with five-star guard Robert Dillingham.

Edwards displays scoring style

After his opening victory of the EYBL session, Justin Edwards — a 6-7 wing from Philadelphia ranked as the No. 3 overall player in the 2023 class by 247Sports — said he’s in regular contact with John Calipari and top Kentucky assistant Orlando Antigua, who have told him they want to bring him to Lexington and make him one of the greatest players to come through UK.

Then on Saturday night, he helped drive that point home.

Edwards was sensational with 26 points to lead his Nike league team, Team Final, to a 23-point win.

Edwards shot 11-for-14 from the field and didn’t commit a single turnover in 26 minutes of action.

Kentucky and Tennessee are set to battle it out for Edwards’ recruitment, although he said Saturday there’s no timetable for a college commitment.

College flair to EYBL circuit

One of the intrinsically quirky things about travel basketball is the need to assemble a lot of basketball courts in a large space for a short period of time, then pack those courts up.

Take the Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville for example. This weekend, the Kentucky Expo Center hosted two basketball tournaments, a flea market, a car show and high school graduations.

So how do you obtain the courts needed to host such a large scale event in a facility that wasn’t specifically built for basketball?

You repurpose old courts.

Several of the 12 courts being used for the Nike EYBL Louisville session are old college basketball courts, with the logos of schools including Bellarmine, Clemson, Indiana State and N.C. State popping up.

EYBL session without college coaches

This weekend’s Nike EYBL Louisville session has come with plenty of fans, media and former college players in attendance, but no coaches.

College coaches are not permitted to attend this weekend’s games since the session does not fall under one of the NCAA’s approved evaluation periods.

Milt Wagner was allowed to watch grandson DJ play because of the family connection.

This story was originally published May 29, 2022 at 5:33 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription