November 13th, 2026 - Naismith Watch Lists with Brandon Clay

Bob Rathbun (0:05)

Hey there, you've got the latest edition of A Trophy Life, the official podcast of the Naismith Awards presented by Jersey Mikes. Bob Rathbun, bidding you welcome from Atlanta, and we are off to such an amazing start with our men's and women's college games. The players that we have on our watch lists have just been playing great basketball and their teams are winning. It's just been amazing. What a great start.

And we want to recap some of the great games and performances here before we get to Brandon Clay. We'll talk about Brandon and our high school watch lists that are coming out in just a moment. But first, the college recap. Virginia last weekend, big win over Arkansas on Sunday. Then Tuesday, the spotlight shifted to the Champions Classic in Chicago, where Kansas routed Kentucky and Michigan State held off Duke. Elsewhere, Texas Tech took down Illinois. Then Monday, a milestone for Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard. He crossed the 2,000 career points plateau in the Bulldogs win over Jackson State. Then Wednesday of this week, Elliott Cadeau, 17-10 as Michigan beat Marquette. Trey McKinney added 15 in that game. A big night for Rodney Rice out at USC in their 12-point win over Cal. On the women's side, a salute to Madison Booker. She scored 30 against Northern Colorado. She too moved past 2,000 career points. Then last Sunday certainly belonged to Sarah Strong in Yukon, a career high 39 as Yukon beat Iowa 91-79. Juju Watkins had another huge game in her comeback, 32 points, 16 boards as USC overwhelmed Utah State. Also, Kentucky beat NC State last weekend. By Wednesday, we had the Vanderbilt women reaching 100 points in a fourth consecutive game.

That's it for the recap. Now for this week's show, we want to salute our 50 player watch lists for the 2026-27 Jersey Mike's Naismith Girls and Boys High School Players of the Year. And to do that, we will speak with our man, Brandon Clay. But first this from Jersey Mike's.

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SPEAKER_2 (2:19)

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Bob Rathbun (2:36)

Hello.

SPEAKER_2 (2:37)

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Bob Rathbun (2:39)

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This is such an exciting week for us here at the Naismith Awards. This is the week we announce our 50-player watch lists for the 26-27 Jersey Mike's Naismith Girls and Boys High School Players of the Year. There's only one man on the planet to talk to about this, and it's our guy, Brandon Clay. Buddy, how are you?

Brandon Clay (3:06)

I'm doing well this morning. How are you doing, Bob?

Bob Rathbun (3:08)

Outstanding. It's great to hear your voice as always.

Well, tell us, you know, we're at the time of year here in November where everybody is sort of lining up their viewing habits and we want to keep tabs on all of our players. So tell us first about the boys who are on the list that was announced this week and some guys to look for.

Brandon Clay (3:30)

Well, you've got a great mixture. Obviously, you're 2027 guys. So be guys that are playing for some of the name brand schools next year at the collegiate level. You know, Beckham Black, his brother Anthony actually plays for the Magic. He's been playing extremely well right now and Beckham is whooping at Southeastern Prec along with CJ Rosia. They're one of the best one-two punches in America. But then you got Kaden Daughtry from down out of Florida, who had one of the best summers that I can remember.

MVP of the Nike Peach Jam.

Obviously, schools now from far and wide have all offered. He was wonderful for USA basketball. He has taken on all commerce. He and Black had an individual match up a few weeks back that was elite level. It has been full of just really, really good basketball. You know, I'm from Georgia, so Asa Montgomery is the top 10 guy in the state of Georgia. He just committed to Duke. He's on the list. So a lot of familiar faces. If you've been following prep basketball, and if you haven't, these guys will become familiar faces over the next 12 months as they cycle into the college game. And then into 2028, you've got guys like Colton Hiller from the Northeast. There's a lot of really good basketball players on deck here for us to keep track of all winter long. And that's exactly what we'll do.