Peach Jam: The Bossi Awards
Jon Lopez/@NikeEYB
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. -- It's time to hand out awards from our time at the Peach Jam where 2021's top-ranked player Jonathan Kuminga asserted his dominance. National analyst Eric Bossi hands out a 12-pack of honors based on the games and players he saw in the latest edition of the Bossi Awards.
MORE PEACH JAM COVERAGE: Who the coaches were watching Friday
BEST RISING SENIOR
Why him?: It's not why him but who else could you pick. The super skilled and confident 6-foot-7 guard continued his incredible grassroots run by averaging 24.9 points (on over 60% shooting), 6.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game through pool play to lead the Texas Titans to the No. 1 seed in bracket play. It's getting harder and harder to not give him the nod as the top player in the country and the heat he's putting on Evan Mobley is intense.
Recruitment: Cunningham has a final 10 of Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Memphis, North Carolina, Oklahoma State, Texas, Virginia and Washington. But, with his older brother Cannen Cunningham on staff at OSU, it's pretty hard to see him going elsewhere at this point.
BEST RISING JUNIOR
Why him?: Heading into the Peach Jam, I wasn't 100 percent sure we had made the right decision at No. 1 in 2021. It wasn't that I thought Kuminga was unworthy of the top spot, it was more about how good I think No. 2 Terrence Clarke and No. 3 Patrick Baldwin Jr. are. Turns out they were all in the same pool in North Augusta and I felt Kuminga made it pretty clear that he was the top dog. He's big, he's athletic, he's versatile and he's a stud on both ends of the floor.
Recruitment: Nebraska is his newest offer with Kentucky in there along with Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, Georgia, LSU, Memphis, TCU and many others with offers. It's definitely notable that his brother recently transferred from UNLV to Texas Tech and the Red Raiders are also deep in the mix.
