Brandon Clifford made his way back to the North Carolina High School ranks after two years with the Dallas Mavericks and a pit stop in Knoxville, Tennessee where he won a state championship with Knoxville Christian. The last time Clifford coached in North Carolina, he took High Point Christian to the state championship game where they lost to a Providence Day team led by Grant Williams and Devon Dotson.
That was a little bit of the back story, we could have talked about Clifford as a Top 100 prospect at Page High School. We could have touched on Clifford’s career at UNC Wilmington. But we wanted to make sure you knew Clifford’s deep ties to North Carolina and are familiar with his innate ways of developing players and competitive nature made for winning. Clifford is back in North Carolina, and he landed at a sleeping giant of a school with Freedom Christian. The last two coaches at Freedom are now college coaches. Over the past few years, this program has also consistently put out players into the college ranks.
This team has reloaded, nine new players on the roster to be exact, players unknown to the North Carolina population, however players who are incredibly talented that college coaches will be paying close attention to soon. Let’s take a look …
Originally from the Knoxville, Tennessee area, 6’5” junior Jayden Doyle is the team’s leading scorer to this point. He is averaging 16.2 points with 3 assists and 2.5 steals per game so far. Add in that he is shooting 65% from the field and 48% from three for the explosively athletic wing and you get to see why he is ranked among the Top 15 prospects in North Carolina’s 2021 class.
6’ senior Manny Alverado is the unquestioned leader of this team. The one who Clifford puts his trust in to run this team. The Costa Rican native is averaging 12 points and 8 assists through the first 7 outings. He is shooting 58% from the field and 45% from 3, add in the 2.3 steals and it is a wonder why he doesn’t have any college traction yet. The starting point guard for a 7-0 team who has a 3.4:1 assist to turnover ratio and is shooting 45% from 3, seems like something college coaches would covet.
6’10” senior Aymeric Toussaint has been a name who has teased us over the last few years. He is averaging 10.8 points and 9 boards with 1.5 steals and blocks per game while shooting over 70% from the field. Yes, Toussaint is a lengthy and athletic big who runs like a gazelle and can put his head at the rim with his verticality. Toussaint is able to step out and knock down the three as well as move his feet when defending the perimeter. So much upside that feels like it may finally be clicking.
6’8” sophomore Kiriil Filimonov and 6’2” senior Bosko Mihailovic round out the starting five. Filimonov is in his first year over from Russia. He is a 6’8” sharp-shooting wing averaging 9.7 points and shooting 47% from 3 to this point. Mihailovic is a steady point guard who has eyes in the back of his head and excellent pace on the ball. Like everyone else in the starting lineup, Mihailovic can also shoot the ball.
All of these players talked about above should be thought of as full scholarship level guys. However, that is not all the team has to offer, the depth is also college-level players.
Watch 6’6” senior Fuat Farisoglu, 6’10” senior Milos Filipovic, and 6’3” Dachi Sepiashvili as they are college type guys as well.
This team is very talented and it seems Clifford is putting his fingerprints on this team early. This weekend will be a good test for them with a deep and scrappy Liberty Heights team, but it is no surprise they have started off 7-0, it will also not be a surprise if they continue down this path with each player listed above earning college offers this year as the team makes a deep run into the playoffs.