South Carolina basketball commitment Eli Ellis is a special offensive player. The class of 2025 prospect has already become the all-time leading scorer for Overtime Elite (despite having another year left to play), and he averaged nearly 35 points per game in his junior season en route to MVP honors.
The dynamic guard can shoot from anywhere, is a skilled finisher, and he has enough ballhandling acumen to make up for his lack of elite size or athleticism. In short, if things go well for him at the college level, he could be one of the best bucket-getters in the country.
At the risk of getting South Carolina basketball fans too excited, there's a possibility that the North Carolina native might make his way down to Columbia a little earlier than expected.
In a social media exchange with a fan this weekend, Ellis was asked if he would consider reclassifying to the class of 2024, moving up his high school graduation, and making his enrollment at the University of South Carolina come a year sooner. The idea had been rumored for some time, and Ellis' response only increased the volume of those rumblings.
It’s possible…👀 What yall think? https://t.co/k2Iytpyicw
— Eli Ellis (@Eliellis25) March 9, 2024
Ellis doesn't have much more to prove at the prep level, and having won the MVP award for one of the premier high school leagues in the country, it is not outside the realm of reality to say that he has gotten almost as much as he possibly can out of high school basketball.
If Ellis were to reclassify and move on to his Gamecock career a year early, he would join a 2024 recruiting class that already has fellow lights-out shooter Trent Noah (who plays on the wing) and versatile forward Okku Federiko. Noah is a top-150 player, and Federiko recently moved up inside the top-100, owning a similar ranking as Ellis has in the '25 cycle.
Spending a season playing with and learning from Meechie Johnson could go a long way for Ellis (assuming Johnson did not elect to go pro, himself). A shoot-first guard coming out of high school, the Gamecocks' top scorer has become a very good defender and a capable distributor of the basketball during his time in college. If Eli Ellis could follow that same trajectory, he could go down as one of the greats ever to wear garnet and black.
It is improtant to note that Ellis did not confirm that he would reclassify or even that he was considering it. But, at the same time, he didn't deny it, either.
South Carolina basketball fans certainly will be keeping an eye on this one.