Wake Forest’s Danny Manning and N.C. State’s Mark Gottfried were on hand Monday to see Harry Giles go for 31 points and 17 rebounds at the HSOT Invitational in Raleigh, N.C.
The 6-foot-10 Giles will face fellow 2016 stud Thon Maker in Tuesday’s final of the John Wall bracket, although Maker will decide soon whether or not to reclass to 2015.
“We came here as a team and our goal was to win as a team,” Maker told USA Today after Orangeville Prep beat Trinity Christian School (Fayetteville, N.C.), 79-75 despite Dennis Smith Jr.’s 38 points. “Harry’s a great player. We’ve actually never played against each other in front of a crowd before. This will be the first time for that.”
Giles recently wrote in his blog he’s still considering a package with fellow 2016 studs Smith Jr. and Jayson Tatum.
“I haven’t really told y’all about the package deal that I mentioned before with myself, Dennis Smith and Jayson Tatum, but it’s definitely something that’s still on the table,” he wrote. “We’re talking about it from time to time and we’re gonna start talking about it more and more from this point on to see where everybody’s at with it. I know we all want to play together so we’ll see how onboard everybody is soon.”
Duke, North Carolina and Kentucky have all been in to see the 6-10 Giles in recent days and weeks. Coach K and Duke’s entire staff came to the same game that North Carolina coach Roy Williams and UNC assistant Hubert Davis attended.
“Almost the whole Duke staff was at my game last week; Coach K, Coach Capel, Coach Scheyer and Coach James, and then Coach Williams and Coach Davis from UNC were at the same game so that was fun to have them there,” Giles wrote. “We didn’t play our best so that was the bad part.
“You always want to put on a show when the big time coaches come to see you so I was a little disappointed that we didn’t play a great game, but I just use it as a learning experience so it doesn’t happen again.’
Meantime, Kentucky’s John Calipari was also in recently to see Giles.
“The fans here go crazier over Coach K and Coach Williams just because we’re in North Carolina, but any time Coach Cal is in the gym it’s big,” he wrote. “I feel like we’ve got a great relationship.
