2024 Tennessee Jam: 17U Top Performers, Part II
The inaugural Tennessee Jam has officially come and gone. The Memphis Sports & Event Center was the epicenter of the Grind City this weekend as teams from all over the South competed in the beautiful, state-of-the-art facility.
Looking back on the action-packed weekend, there was a variety of talent from all different levels. As you can expect, there were plenty of standouts from the action in Memphis.
Without further adieu, here’s our second round of top performers from the 17U division…
RELATED: Part I
When you think of typical Team Thad players, Jones fits the persona to perfection. The 6-foot-6 wing brings toughness and grit to the table each time he steps on the floor, and, in doing so, he sets the tone from the jump for his team. Over the weekend at the Tennessee Jam, the athletic jumping jack caused problems on defense with his length and trapping ability. On the offensive end, he lived above the rim and soared through the air effortlessly. It will be interesting to see who prioritizes Jones in the coming weeks. I think he’ll be a quality pickup for a mid-major program down the road.
Production, production, production. That’s the name of the game for Munyika, who impressed this weekend while playing up an age group with the Tennessee Tigers. The 6-foot-6 forward embraced the role of a small ball 4 and 5 man and created mismatch problems throughout the weekend. Munyika is obviously too big and physical for guards to match up with but he’s also too explosive and quick for bigs to contain. The sophomore took advantage of both and dominated on both ends of the floor.
Jaylen Blackwell was one of the most interesting prospects we saw this weekend at the Tennessee Jam. Blackwell showed off his versatility and big guard skill-set in P7 Elite’s 4-0 weekend. The Madison Academy (AL) guard was getting active all weekend nearly averaging a double-double. Blackwell scored the ball from all three levels including some impressive coast to coast and-1’s during the first two games of the weekend. After this weekend's performance, Blackwell has established himself as another promising prospect in Alabama’s deep 2025 class.
Snipe was the definition of a power guard at the Tennessee Jam. The physical, 6-foot-2 guard took the utmost advantage of his broad shoulders and strong frame as he punished smaller defenders by getting to the rim. Snipe was able to make some slithery finishes around the rim and mixed in some post up finishes with his back to the basket.
