Exactly two weeks ago I referred to Qayden Samuels as one of the most impressive players I saw in the EYBL this spring who had not gotten an offer from North Carolina. On Wednesday morning, Sam Kayser of League Ready reported that UNC is one of the "newest schools to join the sweepstakes."
Samuels' mother confirmed to Tar Heel Illustrated Wednesday evening that the coaching staff had indeed been in contact, but added that an offer has not occurred yet.
Samuels is a teammate with Jordan Smith Jr. of Team Takeover on the EYBL circuit. The Tar Heels coaching brass had a chance to watch him during the live period a month ago in Memphis. Hubert Davis and his assistants are currently running three deep at the NBPA Top 100 event in Rock Hill, South Carolina.
Samuels is tied for fourth overall in all of the 17U EYBL division at 21.2 points per game. He is shooting 43.5% from two-point range, but his ability to convert shots on all three levels makes the 6-foot-5 guard a matchup problem. He has made 43.1% of his trifecta tries. Samuels is also averaging 5.1 rebounds, and 1.5 assists.
The rangy left hander was very consistent in 11 games in EYBL play. His only outlier was a seven-point outing in limited time thanks to Team Takeover's 34-point win over Boo Williams. Take that out of the equation, and his scoring average climbed slightly to 21.6. His plus/minus is 126 which is fourth best in the league.
On Wednesday morning, Coach Davis, Jeff Lebo, and Sean May were able to see Samuels score 33 points on 13 of 21 shooting, grab 10 rebounds, and hand out three assists at the NBPA event for Team Reggie. He ended up knocking down five of his nine three-point tries.
In game two, Samuels went for 19 points and 9 boards versus Team Gibson. He was 7 of 17 from the field, and one of six from deep.
Through two games against some of the top talent in the country, Samuels averaged 26 points, and 9.5 rebounds. He made 20 of 38 shots for 52.6%. He also hit six of 15 trifectas for 40%.
There was praise on X from basketball people in Rock Hill that were present for Samuels' big double-double outing.
For example, Jeff Goodman posted, "My first look at Qayden Samuels and absolutely love the Team Takeover guard. Tough, strong, can really score from all three levels, and has a nice feel for the game. Just plays like an old-school Big East guard."
Samuels has offers from Alabama, Florida State, Georgetown, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Providence, Rutgers, Syracuse, Tennessee, UCONN, VCU, Virginia Tech, and West Virginia.
North Carolina, Indiana, Kentucky, and Louisville, are four programs who have become involved with Samuels.
