One of Midlands’ top basketball players will transfer out of state for senior year
Julian Phillips is leaving the state of South Carolina to finish his high school basketball career.
The Blythewood High School standout will play his senior season at Link Year in Branson, Missouri. Link Year has three teams, including Link Year Academy, an elite high school squad that travels and plays a national schedule. Link Year currently has 38 alums playing Division I basketball and two play professionally.
Link Year is scheduled to play at Battle at The Rock in Rock Hill on Dec. 2-4, one of nine tournaments outside of Missouri on the schedule.
Phillips joins a talented Link Year roster which includes Class of 2022 four-star prospects Tarris Reed and Aidan Shaw. Reed just committed to Michigan on Thursday. Bryson Warren, who is ranked No. 16 by Rivals for the Class of 2023, also is on the roster.
The 6-foot-8 Phillips has been on the recruiting radar since his freshman year. Phillips, a two-time all-state selection, is a consensus Top 30 prospect by 247Sports Composite, ESPN and Rivals.
Phillips is a versatile forward and has improved on his shooting skills. He is a three-time all-state selection and had a big summer on the AAU circuit playing with Upward Stars.
“We worked on my shooting and that is something I took very serious,” Phillips told The State on Sunday. “Coming into July, I shot the ball really well this summer.
“I try to play as hard as I can and don’t take any plays off I think I am a versatile forward and can play inside and out.”
On Monday, Phillips announced his top 10 college targets. In-state school Clemson is in the mix, along with Alabama, Kansas, LSU, Florida State, Tennessee, UCLA, Florida, Virginia and Southern Cal.
Phillips is the fourth Blythewood High player to leave the program since the end of the school year, joining Emmanuel Richards (Christ School, North Carolina); Kyle Greene (Pace Academy, Georgia); and Olyn Knox (Keenan High).
Phillips was part of a talented group of basketball prospects in the Columbia area. Keenan’s Jazian Gortman is ranked in the top 20 nationally for Class of 2022. Ridge View’s G.G. Jackson and Gray Collegiate’s Brandon Gardner are highly ranked nationally for Class of 2023, and Lexington’s Cam Scott is a top prospect for Class of 2024.
This story was originally published August 5, 2021 at 6:04 PM.
