Podcast: Looking ahead to the 2025 grassroots basketball season

Amir Jenkins and BABC will be among the top teams to watch this spring. (Carlos Flores)

The grassroots basketball season presents a whole new array of storylines to follow during the spring and summer.

As local AAU teams compete locally and on national circuits, the recruiting battle ramps up and new names can seize a new spotlight.

Steve Hewitt and Ethan Fuller preview the coming months. Steve recently attended the NERR Northeast Hoops Festival, the first major local boys showcase. He broke down some of the top prospects he saw and some additional new names to monitor.

Ethan also previewed the girls season ahead of his first major showcase, the New England Spring Showdown, this coming weekend. He touched on the top players in each class and some high school stars he expects to see translate their success into AAU.

Watch the video

Highlights

This was your first chance to watch elite 2027 prospect Patrick Otey in person. What did you think of him?

Steve: “I don’t want to put expectations on kids, but there was a lot of (times he) just looked like a pro to me in some ways, offensively at least. … Offensively, he’s so polished, and you can tell when a kid just has such a strong feel for the game. His skill level is advanced. There are reasons why he left CATS to go to Overtime Elite — he’s a top-25 player in the 2027 class. He’s playing up on Expressions Elite and he’s probably their best player.”

What do you hope to see from top 2028 prospect Ella Peper this spring and summer?

Ethan: “I think it’s always good, especially at the start of the season, to reset the context: She is a 6-foot-4, strong, ridiculous athlete who is already one of the better shooters in New England and one of the better help defenders and instinctive players in New England. … I’ve talked to other national evaluators about her and players like her, and they want to see: Can she play physical in the post? Especially when you have this inherent size advantage as a 6-4 wing, she should be able to dominate with that.”

Listen

The HoopWise podcast can be streamed here and on major platforms, such as Apple Podcasts and Spotify.