A member of the USA Basketball family entering the high school ranks, Elijah Hardy had his fair share of pub and attention early on. Things haven’t remained on the same plot line but after an impressive outing on Friday at the Tarkanian Classic, the 6-foot-1 lead guard is more than ready to enter into a well-followed college recruitment.

The leader of his Bishop O’Dowd program, a team boasting a handful of divison-1 prospects, it is Hardy that runs the show. The lefty is blessed with a tremendous feel and unbelievable vision that he uses with his accurate passing skills in setting others up from off the drive to the basket. His performance was so good by way of his set-up artistry that, now that Lonzo Ball is suiting up for UCLA, it could be stated that Hardy might just be the best high school passer on the west coast.

Hardy is more than just a one-trick pony where he can knock down shots whenever the defender decides to lay off of him out on the perimeter and is more than capable in hitting the mid-range pull-up off of the limited dribble attack. Still, Hardy’s bread is buttered by way of his playmaking abilities and in throwing spot-on lob passes, dishes that led to a few alley-oop dunks on the break

Following his quality outing, Hardy spoke on the last few months of his development and his overall mindset. “It has been pretty good. It is everything that I have been working for,” Hardy stated. “When you work hard, you play good.”

Now the face up of the strong and successful Bishop 0’Dowd program, the 6-foot-1 lead guard has seen his recruitment pick up a little as three schools have begun to make their mark with him. “I have been speaking probably the most with California, Santa Clara, and San Jose State,” Hardy said, a junior that hold seven scholarship offers to date.

Having visited San Jose State earlier in the fall, Hardy has been no stranger to the nearby Pac 12 program. “I go up to Cal pretty much every week,” the playmaking guard noted. “It is a great school with academics first. It really is a good family up there. Ivan (Rabb), of course, went up there so it just makes Cal that much better.”

Whether Cal, a program that had its head coach, Cuonzo Martin, and two of his assistants in attendance on Friday, decides to make a hard push for the O’Dowd guard is up for debate but what isn’t is the talent and improving abilities out of the 2018 guard that is Elijah Hardy.