NEPrepBasketball.net’s 2026-27 Guide to the Elite Prep League

NEPrepBasketball.net’s 2026-27 Guide to the Elite Prep League

The Elite Prep League (EPL) tips off its 2026-27 season on November 13 at the EPL Tip-Off at Boo Williams Sportsplex in Hampton, VA, and NEPrepBasketball.net will cover it from the opening tip. Founded in 2022-23, the league this season has 16 member schools in four regional pods (Virginia, DMV/Northeast, Midwest and South). They come from Virginia, Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Georgia and Ontario, a footprint that stretches from the Great Lakes to the Southeast.

The EPL is built for college prospects. Its members put players in front of college coaches, in conference play that is arguably as tough as any in the nation.

The numbers back that up. Last season, seven EPL programs finished in the top 30 of the national prep computer rankings, more than any other league, and the league’s average ranking was essentially even with the New England Basketball League. Hargrave Military Academy led the way at No. 9, followed by Mt Zion Prep (No. 15), Western Reserve Academy (No. 16), Spire Academy (No. 19), Massanutten Military Academy (No. 23), Highland School (No. 26) and Athletes in Action (No. 28). Massanutten posted the league’s best record at 9-1. Fourteen of this season’s 16 members finished last year in the national top 100, and Canada Topflight Academy, left off only because the list ranks American programs, would have made it as well. The league’s reach, from Ohio to Georgia to Ontario, also produces the kind of cross-regional games that make the computer rankings more reliable.

The benches are full of coaching experience. Athletes in Action’s Scott Flemming has more than 440 college wins, was NAIA National Coach of the Year in 1998, and coached India’s men’s national team. Hargrave’s Austin Burnette played on the Tigers’ 2016 National Prep Championship team and returns after assistant stints at North Alabama and Campbell. Andrews Osborne’s Elijah Gore worked under Kevin Ollie and Dan Hurley at UConn and in the Portland Trail Blazers’ front office. Western Reserve’s Matt Garvey came up under Ed Cooley at Providence, and Winston Salem Christian’s Jake Honeycutt spent two seasons with North Carolina’s junior varsity program under Roy Williams and Hubert Davis. Highland’s Logan Miller led the Hawks to the 2025 VISAA D1 state title, and West Nottingham’s Kirsty Leedham, a former Great Britain national team player and Binghamton assistant, is one of the few women leading a national-level boys prep program. Rosters reach well beyond the U.S., with players from Australia, Croatia, England, Georgia, Greece, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Serbia and South Sudan.

The player talent matches the coaches’ résumés. For the full picture, click on each team’s “Link to player profiles” below. A few highlights: Andrews Osborne’s Bob Da Silva, only a 2029 prospect, already holds offers from Indiana, Oklahoma State, Creighton and Wake Forest, and teammate Victor Aborowa (2027) has more than a dozen, including Kansas State and West Virginia. St. James’s Jacoby Briscoe (2027) holds offers from Mississippi State, Villanova and California. Hargrave has commits in Karon Watlington (UNC Greensboro) and Tyler Caouette (Navy) and a deep group of offered prospects behind them. Perkiomen’s Patrese Feamster (2027) is committed to UMass, Highland’s Amani Asare (2027) to Penn, and IX International’s Triston McDonald (2027) is the starting point guard for Jamaica’s U20 national team.

Much of the league standing games are played Friday-Sunday in a variety of locations around the eastern US. Those weekend slates also feature other recruitable talent from beyond the league by including "Showcase Division" games in them. Five non-EPL programs, One Way Basketball Institute (FL), Southeastern Prep Academy (FL), Notre Dame Prep (NY), NC Good, Better, Best (NC) and Prince George’s Christian Academy (MD), play showcase games that are mixed into the EPL standings games. For a college coach, it means that many more prospects in one location on a given trip.

The 16 programs in this season’s EPL are listed below.

Andrews Osborne Academy, from Willoughby, OH

Head Coach: Elijah Gore, (240) 533 1616