City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin) +
Owen McCue (@Owen_McCue)
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MANALAPAN + NEPTUNE, N.J. — The Hoop Group’s Jersey Jam Fest brought together a whole lot of talent to the Jersey Shore this weekend. Programs from the Nike, Under Armour and Adidas circuits came together along with those from the Hoop Group’s own circuit for a weekend of competition, as teams prepare for the first grassroots live period in mid-May. 

The CoBL staff was in attendance during 16U games on Saturday and Sunday at the MultiSports Kingdom in Manalapan as as well as during some 17U competition on Sunday at the Hoop Group headquarters in Neptune; 

Here’s Pt. 1 of our coverage from the weekend; CLICK HERE for Pt. 2:

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Munir Greig (2027 | PSA Cardinals EYBL 16U)

Heading into his freshman year in the Philadelphia area back in 2023, Munir Greig made quite the name for himself. During the first offseason where college coaches will be able to directly contact him come June, Greig is hoping to have a similarly profile raising summer before his junior campaign at Archbishop Carroll.

“I’m excited for the EYBL circuit, get my name back out there,” Greig said. “It’s out there, but I want it to get more out there.”

Rivals has Greig ranked among its Top 40 prospects in the Class of 2027. Former Villanova coach Kyle Neptune offered him back as a rising ninth grader in 2023. Penn State offered him last July and Seton Hall offered Greig this past December during his season with Carroll.

He said Marquette recently started showing interest.

The high-major interest is well-founded for a prospect that now stands at 6-7 with and lengthy reach. He plays a downhill style of basketball slashing his way to the hoop, but looks plenty comfortable handling the rock and initiating offense as well as attacking the rim.

“I’d describe myself as a playmaker,” Greig said. “I can dribble the ball. I can handle, I can attack. I can kick out to teammates.”

Greig has produced in both of his seasons at Archbishop Carroll, amassing more than 600 points already in his career.

He averaged 11.0 ppg and 5.6 rpg as a freshman for the Patriots. This past season, with point guard Ian Williams out the entire season, Greig had an even bigger role, scoring 14.1 ppg and leading the team in both assists (3.5 apg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg).

There’s more to be accomplished, however, both individually and personally after a young and talented Patriots squad has had ups and downs during his first two seasons on campus.

“I’ve been in the gym lately everyday, working hard everyday, so next year we should be better,” Greig said.

Greig shot 25-of-84 (29.8%) from beyond the arc as a freshman and this season was 19-for-70 (27.1%) from deep. He’s shown the ability to get hot from deep in the past and a focus this offseason has been dialing in that long ball to become more consistent and make him even scarier on the offensive end.

“My jump shot. I’m really working on that, getting that back how I want it,” Greig said.

As far as his recruitment, Greig didn’t have too much to say about the prospect of hearing directly from coaches later this summer. 

He’s in the gym striving to get the best out of himself and wants to find someone who can continue to make that happen at the next level.

“I just want a coach who’s going to coach me and push me to get where I want to go,” Greig said. — Owen McCue

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Patrick Jajua (2028 | Team Final EYBL 15U)

After a solid freshman season at Pennsbury, Jajua’s taking a big leap this offseason into the most competitive hoops of his life. After playing with Philly Pride Bucks last year, Jajua got the opportunity to join Final’s top group of 15s during his freshman season, and he jumped on it. 

Now he’s teammates with many of the area’s top freshmen, including the St. Joe’s Prep twins of Justin and Julian McKie, Malvern Prep big man Logan Chwastyk, Wood’s Rowan Phillips and Penn Charter’s Carter Smith. In just a few weeks, they’ll be traveling around the country to play some of the best other 15U teams in the country on the Nike circuit. 

In his first couple events with Final, he’s already seen the difference, going up against other circuit squads; on Saturday, that was a game against an Adidas-backed New Heights (N.Y.) squad, Final winning it despite a rabid comeback attempt from New Heights.

“It’s definitely a different level of competition that I haven’t been to yet, I’m just loving the experience here,” Jajua said. “I’m super-excited about (the competition level) because it’s definitely a different type of development. Especially coming from the SOL, playing with these guys that are from the Inter-Ac, Catholic League, stuff like that, it’s definitely going to help me develop. Not just the players, but also the coaches.”

A 6-foot-2, 150-pound guard, Jajua is the cousin of former Bensalem standout Leo Vincent, who played at both Sacred Heart and Southern Illinois, averaging about eight points per game in 71 career games. He cited his cousin and a fifth-grade growth spurt as getting him to really commit to basketball at a young age, and is seeing the results of his work thus far paying off. 

He jumped right into a starting role on an otherwise-veteran Pennsbury squad, this past year, helping the Falcons to a 13-12 record, including a 7-3 mark and second-place finish in the SOL Patriot conference. Though he’s got a smooth outside shot and the ability to attack the rim, Jajua tended to play more of a point guard role initially in his high school career, with seniors like Grayson Gozum (Moravian) and Michael Roccograndi tending to do more of the scoring. 

With that pair moving on, Jajua knows more of the scoring load will be on his shoulders next year.

“I definitely want to become a better scorer, and have a better scoring mindset,” he said. “Since last season I was at the point guard position and I had a very pass-first mind, I want to be able to mix in scoring with that way more this time.” — Josh Verlin

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AJ Stewart (2027 | K-Low Elite 3SSB 17U)

Over the last few months, Stewart’s looking like he’s building towards a breakout junior season. 

The 6-4, 170-pound guard at the Westtown School saw some varsity minutes behind a loaded senior class, this past season his first year at the school after two at St. Mark’s (Del.). Even though he didn’t get too many opportunities in a guard/wing rotation that also included Cam Wallace (Temple), Jahmare Memphis, Jayden Kelsey (Lafayette), Jayden Forsythe and others, he knew he was benefiting from being around them on a day-to-day basis. 

“It was amazing,” he said. “Every day I guarded Cam Wallace, and I got better and better every day. Towards the end of the season, scoring the basketball just got a lot easier, playing defense [got easier], just [got] more athletic in general.”

Playing with K-Low Elite at the Donofrio Classic this month, Stewart was one of the couple underclassmen on a team that was mostly K-Low’s impressive 2025 class, a core that led the way to the Donofrio’s 63rd championship title. But he made the most of his time, showing his prowess as an outside shooter and proving he could hang in the up-and-down, physical atmosphere at Conshohocken. 

“It built my confidence,” he said, “playing against all those people that are ranked higher than me, that have a lot more exposure than me. It (felt) good to prove them wrong and win the championship.”

The son of former Rowan star, La Salle assistant and Immaculata and Georgian Court head coach Terrence Stewart, AJ is aiming to follow his older brother Amiri Stewart to the Division I landscape. An Archbishop Carroll grad, Stewart started his career at D-II Wilmington University before transferring to Sacred Heart this past year, averaging 12.5 ppg in 32 games (29 starts) for the Pioneers. 

He looked the part in a win on Saturday, scoring 16 points and grabbing two rebounds as K-Low Elite beat EYBL squad PSA Cardinals 51-46 in OT. Stewart hit three 3-pointers, including one in OT, adding the game-winning foul shots in a first-to-five point extra period. A lanky guard with a compact outside shot that’s no doubt his best current offensive weapon, Stewart is showing he can attack close-outs and get to the rim, and he uses his length well defensively.

With a summer of recruiting events coming up with both Westtown and K-Low, Stewart’s hoping to have some Division I coaches hitting him up by the time his junior year gets underway. As would be expected, his dad’s given him all the advice he needs to get noticed. 

“‘Just be real talkative and play hard as s**t,’” Stewart relayed. “‘As long as you’re playing hard and compete and talk, you’ll get noticed.’ He told me I have a good enough offensive skillset to get noticed by coaches; all I have to do is talk and compete.” — Josh Verlin

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MJ Thompson (2027 | K-Low Elite 3SSB 17U)

Thompson’s jumping right into the grassroots deep end. 

Last spring and summer, at the end of his freshman year of high school, the Council Rock South wing guard was playing baseball for the Golden Hawks, not playing any type of travel or summer hoops. But after a breakout sophomore year with CR South, Thompson got the opportunity to play on the Adidas circuit with K-Low Elite’s main 16U squad.

“(CR South head coach Andrew) Rogers is friends with [K-Low director] Lonnie Lowry,” Thompson said, “so he really connected me up with them and I’ve been to all the tryouts and they really like me, so they put me on the team.”

It’s a big opportunity for one of the brightest young talents in the Suburban One League, who showed he belonged on Saturday while playing for K-Low in an overtime win over the PSA Cardinals, a Nike EYBL squad out of New York. 

Thompson scored 12 points on 5-of-7 from the floor, hitting a smooth catch-and-shoot 3-pointer and taking it to the rack a few times, including an and-one drive-and-finish with his off hand, adding a mid-range pull-up jumper as well that found nothing but net. 

Division I basketball is in his family; his mother, Heather (McGinty) Thompson, played in 111 games at Drexel (1997-01). College basketball is certainly in MJ Thompson’s future, though he’s just at the beginning of that stage of the process. The first live period of the spring isn’t until mid-May, when K-Low will be in Council Bluffs (Iowa) for the Adidas tour; it’s certainly possible that a few similar performances to Saturday’s will have a few D-I coaches reaching out. 

Thompson’s teammates include plenty of area sophomores with significant experience in high-level hoops, both with K-Low Elite and their respective high school teams. That includes state champs Jayvon Byrd (West Catholic) and Naz Tyler (Father Judge), a three-year varsity starter in Silas Graham (Haverford School), and more. 

“They play a lot slower but also fast,” he said. “They make the right reads, all make the right reads. It’s just putting in work 24/7, they’re in the gym every day and I’ve just got to match that to play with them.” — Josh Verlin

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