Blake Harris
By Jamie Shaw
Harris Will Be Showcased Among the Nation’s Best at Phenom’s Joe Miller Invitational
At this moment, Blake Harris is playing better than any player in the state of North Carolina…and it is not close. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the Washington signee is ranked among the nation’s best prospects.
Right now though, the switch has turned on. Harris is playing at a different level. Through 6 games this season, he has scored 16, 29, 39, 33, 26, and 30 points shooting an astonishing 54% from the field. The lengthy and hyper athletic lead guard is also dishing out assists at an alarming rate, with a season high of 17…SEVENTEEN in one game!
Through his first six games Harris is scoring 28.8 points per game, dishing out 9.3 assists per game, and hawking the ball at a rate of 3.5 steals per game. These games are against tough and competitive teams, teams who are ranked nationally, defending state champions, and littered with division 1 prospects.
After Harris’ first performance at the NC Phenom 150 camp, in 2014 we wrote, “His performance at this NC Phenom 150 camp elevated him in the national discussion as one of the premier point guards in his class. Jerry Meyer of 247 now has Blake as a Five Star prospect and ranked no. 15 nationally. Blake is a crafty ball handler but his passing skills were on another level. He has improved his jump shot although it could have better backspin and rotation. That being said, he is really good of the dribble. For Blake, the game comes easy and used the courts at Proehlific Court as his own personal playground.”
Harris’ success shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, he has incredible athletic lineage. His father Bernardo is a Tar Heel legend as a linebacker. He then went on to play 9 years in the NFL splitting his time between the Green Bay Packers and Baltimore Ravens. Bernardo won 2 Super Bowls with the Packers.
After watching Blake play last week, North Carolina basketball aficionado Rod Bridgers tweeted, “Blake has the tools to become a pro. He has things you cannot teach. As long has he keeps progressing, the sky is the limit for him.” Many people around the North Carolina basketball community have been echoing similar sentiments. Long time AAU coach for the EYBL’s Team United Ron Murphy responded, “I agree 100%. He is so much different that when I 1st heard about (then saw) him. He continues to get better. People who see him walk away saying “He Good”.
Rankings wise, as we mentioned above, Harris burst onto the national scene after his performance at an NC Phenom 150 camp, where 247Sports National Analyst Jerry Meyer subsequently ranked him in the Top 20. He has been a mainstay in national rankings since then.
Harris has settled in at Word of God in Raleigh, North Carolina. Word of God has quickly jumped onto the map and churned out Top basketball talent to colleges and then further into the NBA. Lottery picks John Wall and TJ Warren both attended Word of God, as did Top 10 ranked prospects CJ Leslie (NC State) and Rawle Alkins (Arizona), and many many other prospects strewn throughout the college landscape.
Blake Harris is next up at Word of God, and if you get a chance to see him this season, DO SO! He will be playing in Phenom’s Joe Miller Invitational on December 27-30 at New Hanover High School in Wilmington, North Carolina. There he will have 4 games, being matched up against some of the best talent in the country, which would be a great time to catch the show!