Facebook/Harry Giles III
The top ranked high school player in the country, Harry Giles III, chose to transfer to Oak Hill Academy.
Harry Giles III has announced that he will transfer to Oak Hill Academy. The top ranked ESPN 100 player used to attend Wesleyan Christian Academy but for his senior year, he will play for one of the most storied high school hoops program in the nation.
Oak Hill Academy has a prime pedigree of players including NBA stars Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Brandon Jennings, Josh Smith, Steve Blake and Ty Lawson. Kevin Durant and Michael Beasley also attended Oak Hill but transferred during their senior year.
Giles III will now join this legacy as he hopes to emulate the paths these players took. He explained his reasons for the transfer to USA Today:
"At this point I just really want to lock in on school and basketball at the highest level," Giles said. "I feel like going to Oak Hill it'll give me the chance to do both. I won't have anything to do but be a better student and a better player."
The 6-10 phenom has posted dominant numbers in his junior year with Wesleyan Christian Academy, leading them to a 30-5 record. His impressive 23 point, 11 rebound, three assist and two block stats per game was enough to push him into the American Family Insurance All-USA team, the only underclassman in the list.
Oak Hill has an unwritten battle cry-National Title or nothing, and Giles understands that the challenge is now placed on his young shoulders.
"I think there's even more motivation this year since they've been so close the last two years," said Giles. "I definitely feel like we have the talent and all of us are excited to get down there and push each other from day one in workouts. I can't wait to get things started."
ESPN Insider Jeff Goodman says Giles is up to the challenge, paying him superlative compliments: "I'll take Giles over every top-ranked player in the past dozen years -- except for Anthony Davis. Giles has the entire package. He has size, athleticism, speed, power, skill and also all of the intangibles."
