Phenom Hoops loves the month of June, as we get a great chance to get an early viewing of high school teams and what they may look like. We started out with the Phenom Team Camp, as teams from all around the region came to compete and gave us an early look at what the upcoming season may look like for them.
One team certainly had our attention, as the Bengals of Greensboro Day gave us an early show of what they may look like. Coming off a state title under Coach Freddy Johnson, the Bengals will have a few familiar names but also will have new names on the court this season. Losing their key guy Jayden Young will be tough to replace as well as other key seniors, but watching them over the weekend, Greensboro Day looks strong once again.
However, they will have a different mentality on the court this year, as this looks to be a deep team that plays with a group effort overall. Each night, there could be a different leader on the court, and they will be able to get out and run, find multiple weapons on the floor, and should only continue to be strong on both sides.
2024 Will Otto and 2025 Addison Newkirk look to be the leaders for this group, returning from last year’s team and now being the go-to guys early on. But players like 2025 James Stainback, 2025 Jaden Palmore, 2026 Owen Augunas, 2026 Kohi Strickland, 2026 Aydin Winn, 2026 Pierce Bowman, and 2027 Jagger Emerson will allow this team to really come at you in waves. And if you also notice, this is a young overall group, so they will only continue to gain valuable experience and knowledge as the year goes on.
But Greensboro Day will be having a few new faces to the team as well, with 2025 6’6 Julius Messer being a new name to watch out for. They also have 2025 Trace Moffitt coming in to be a strong presence with his 6’5 frame. 2025 Michael Juergens and 2027 JJ Short should also help provide even more depth to this roster.
Overall, this looks like a team that will be more of an overall team effort and Coach Johnson will have several players that can step up on a given night. But from what we see early on, the Bengals look like a strong contender once again as they hope for another state title.