By Jonathan Lidskin
After kicking off on Friday, Nike EYBL’s annual Peach Jam will get into full swing on Saturday, July 13th. The tournament that crowns the top Nike AAU team (and in all likelihood, the best AAU team in the country) will run through July 21st in North Augusta, South Carolina. As always, the tournament is the marquee event for college coaches to scout some of the best talent in prep basketball and features teams from all over the United States (and one from Canada).
The Format:
On Friday, we got things started with some play-in games that featured five teams. Strive For Greatness, LeBron James’ team featuring his son Bryce, knocked off Ohio Buckets. Alabama Fusion also knocked off Team Final (PA) to punch their ticket to pool play.
Now that the play-in games are done, the tournament will start pool play tomorrow and last through next Friday. The tournament consists of four pools each featuring six teams. Each of the 24 teams will play five pool play games (round-robin against your pool) and the top two teams from each pool will get to the quarterfinals on Saturday.
Note: All rankings are according to 247Sports
The Favorites:
Nightrydas Elite (FL)
Three teams in the 17u division finished 14-1 through the four regular season sessions with Nightrydas Elite being the first one I’ll discuss. Nightrydas won the 16u division last summer behind the performance of the Boozer twins. Cameron and Cayden, the sons of former NBA player and Duke Blue Devil Carlos, are looking to lead their team to a second straight Peach Jam title after knocking off Cooper Flagg and Maine United in the championship last summer.
However, Nightrydas are far more than just the Boozer twins. After playing briefly with Georgia Stars, Caleb Wilson, the #6 overall prospect in the 2025 class joined Nightrydas. They also have multiple other top 100 prospects including Florida commit Alex Lloyd (#41) and Dante Allen (#80) who plays at Montverde Academy. Not only could you argue that this is the most talented AAU team in the country, but Nightrydas has familiarity too with multiple other players from Columbus (the Boozer twins’ high school) on the team.
Oakland Soldiers (CA)
Remember a couple of summers ago when Team Final assembled a team that included arguably the three best 2022 recruits in Dereck Lively, Jalen Duren and briefly Emoni Bates (before the two Memphis commits re-classified)? I’d argue what the Oakland Soldiers have put together in terms of stars is better than what Team Final had three summers ago. The #1 overall prospect in 2025 in A.J. Dybantsa and the #1 overall prospect in 2026 in Tyran Stokes team up after playing an entire high school season together at Prolific Prep.
The #1 ranking duo accounted for around 57% of the Oakland Soldiers’ scoring per game, but it would be foolish to say that Dybantsa and Stokes are all they have. Chris Nwuli (#76) is a prospect who played at Wasatch Academy this past season and will do a lot of the dirty work inside. Angelino Mark gives the Soldiers a good option as a secondary ball handler as well.
The Oakland Soldiers definitely don’t have as much depth as Nightrydas does, but when you have that much athleticism, positional size and arguably the two best prep players in the country, you’re going to have as good of a shot as any to win Peach Jam.
Team Takeover (DC)
Now to our third 14-1 team and the only of the three to actually score a victory over another 14-1 team. Team Takeover knocked off the Oakland Soldiers in a battle of two EYBL historic programs in the second EYBL regular season session. As a program, Takeover is looking to go back-to-back and take the lead for Peach Jam Championships at the 17u level after tying MoKan Elite last summer.
Takeover doesn’t have the flashy and well-known players that Nightrydas and the Soldiers do, but during the regular season, they were the best defense in EYBL by points per game against and feature a great collection of talent themselves.
In terms of scoring, Takeover has a pair of kids from Gonzaga Prep as well as a 2026 prospect from Paul VI that all score in double figures. The Gonzaga kids, Derek Dixon and Nyk Lewis are the 61st and 58th-ranked prospects in the 2025 class. Jordan Smith Jr. is also scoring in double figures for Takeover as a top 10 2026 prospect.
When you add those three to a handful of solid prospects like Virginia Tech commit Christian Gurdak (#98) and others who play their tails off on the defensive end, you can understand why Takeover has a good shot at Peach Jam.
Other Teams to Watch:
Drive Nation (TX)
This is a very balanced team that finished 11-4 and gets the benefit of being in a Pool without any of the 14-1 teams. Not a ton of prospects in 247Sports’ top 150, but the duo out of Dynamic Prep in Jaden Toombs (48th) and Jermaine O’Neal Jr. (145th) is a good one. Toombs was third in rebounds per game during the regular season.
Team Thad (TN)
Team Thad played a lot of super competitive games throughout the four regular season sessions including nearly knocking off the Oakland Soldiers. Jasper Johnson (#12) is one of the top point guards in the country and Courtland Muldrew (#100) has been a nice complimentary guard. This team was top three in scoring during the regular season.
WhyNot (CA)
It really stinks how loaded Pool B is because between Takeover, Thad, WhyNot and New Heights Lightning (NY) only two of those teams can advance to the bracket. WhyNot is a favorite of mine for a couple of reasons: A great lead guard (Jason Crowe Jr. #5 in 2026) and a do-it-all forward in one of the most underrated 2025’s in Tounde Yessoufou (#26).
PSA Cardinals (NY)
I had a long internal debate about which New York team to include here (there are four good ones), but I went with PSA Cardinals mainly because they were the second-best defensive team behind Takeover. They also have two guards in Darius Adams (#17) and Kayden Mingo (#43) who make an impact on both ends of the floor so if the scoring can click, this is a team that can make some noise.
My pick to win it: Nightrydas Elite (Cameron Boozer wins MVP)
For the Peach Jam standings and schedule head to: https://nikeeyb.com/schedule-peachjam