By SAM LANCE
COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA — The most electrifying scorer in high school basketball may just be five-star Taylen Kinney. The 6-foot-3 guard out of Overtime Elite showed his entire bag at 3SSB Session 2 for Wildcat Select.
5-Star Taylen Kinney has a pro-style bag! He went crazy at Adidas in Omaha
@Taylen_0 @3SSBCircuit @wildcatselect pic.twitter.com/8UuQSwd5AE
— Courtside Films (@CourtsideFilms) May 18, 2025
Across four games in Iowa, Kinney averaged 25.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 58.7% from the field. He scored 20+ points in all four games and now sits sixth in scoring average (20.3 points) at the 3SSB 17u level. Kinney did all of this while coaches were watching.
The five-star drew several head coaches to his games over the weekend, including Nate Oats (Alabama), Bruce Pearl (Auburn), Mark Pope (Kentucky), Pat Kelsey (Louisville), Matt Painter (Purdue), Sean Miller (Texas) and Dan Hurley (UConn). Assistants from pretty much every Power Five school in the country were in Council Bluffs as well.
Kinney has taken an official visit to Purdue and unofficial to Kentucky so far in his recruitment process. He said he’ll be taking an official visit to Oregon on Sept. 6, and he’d like to see Arkansas, Louisville, Kentucky and Texas as well, but no dates have been set yet.
The five-star guard broke down some of the programs involved to ZAGSBLOG:
Arkansas: “Chuck Martin and Brad Calipari [are mainly in contact]. I mean, coach [John] Calipari, it really speaks for itself. There ain’t much to say.”
Kentucky: “Shoot, being a Kentucky kid, going to Kentucky, putting that jersey on, it’s just a little different, you know? That’s like everyone’s goal growing up. They want to take that Kentucky visit. They said they want to keep me in the state.”
Louisville: “They changed the whole program around. They made it to the ACC championship. They didn’t make it far in March Madness, but still just the fact that they turned the whole program around. Only two conference losses. [Pat Kelsey], he has a lot of energy, you feel me? I like how he let Chucky [Hepburn] hoop.”
Oregon: “Coach Josh [Jamieson], he’s been recruiting me since I was in eighth grade. He was one of my first offers when he was at Louisville. So him just sticking with me throughout this process, I just want to give Oregon a chance.”
Purdue: “I like the arena. I like how they play, the playstyle, the coaching staff. And I feel like their fans are real fans. I like the atmosphere there. [Matt Painter] just talked a lot about Braden Smith. That was a real big topic.”
Kinney was able to watch practice, hang out with the team and catch the Ohio State game on his visit. “They lost but it was still crazy in there.”
An important factor in Kinney’s recruitment will be the relationships coaches have with their players.
The five-star describes himself as a well-rounded point guard who can play both sides of the ball. He’s working on playing with pace and his overall touch. His best trait?
“Just my length,” Kinney said. “Being able to play defense with length and still being able to go out and produce on the offensive side.”
Kinney suited up for RWE for his junior season at Overtime Elite. He’ll be running it back with the program for his senior year.
“Really I just got better all around as a player mentally and physically, from the weight room, to the court, to just being out there by myself,” Kinney said of his junior year. “This is the best situation possible. You got everything you need right here. The trainers, the weight room, just all types of different things.”
Kinney is ranked the No. 14 overall prospect in the 2026 class by 247Sports. He’s originally from Newport (KY).
Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter
Follow ZAGSBLOGHoops on Instagram
The post Five-star Taylen Kinney shows elite scoring ability at 3SSB Session 2, updates recruitment appeared first on Zagsblog.