Full Breakdown: Four-star SG Darren Harris
Darren Harris of Fairfax (VA) Paul VI announced last week that he is committing on October 22. The 6-foot-5 shooting guard is the No. 41 player in the 2024 On3 150 and the No. 48 player in the industry-standard 2024 On3 Consensus.
The four-star played up in age for the Team Takeover program on Nike’s EYBL 17u Circuit this summer. He averaged 9.2 points as a starter, helping to lead his team to the Peach Jam final game.
Harris listed his final four schools as Maryland, Ohio State, Duke, and Miami. With a commitment date set, let’s do a full breakdown of Darren Harris’ game.
It starts with the shooting
Darren Harris is in on the shortlist in the conversation of the best shooter in high school basketball. At 6-foot-5, Harris has solid positional size, but it is his confidence to pull up at any time on the court.
“I’m an elite shooter,” Harris told On3 in October. “I play with a lot of confidence and a high basketball IQ.”
The four-star shooting guard has excellent balance. He is shot-ready at all times and does a good job fading with his ball handler to find open spaces and clean angles for delivery.
Harris averaged 2.0 threes made per game during 18 EYBL games this summer.
The ball comes out of his hand clean, and the release is repeatable and consistent. His footwork when shooting off movement is precise. He is able to get his shoulders squared to the basket, even when he leaves the floor facing the pass.
Harris’ offensive repoitoire
While Darren Harris’ offensive game is centered around his shooting, he has developed attacking closeouts. Off ball reversal is where he is most comfortable; Harris can attack the basket, in straight lines, off two dribbles.
Harris is an average athlete with average length, so he can get in trouble finishing at the rim. His development of a couple of floater variations may be useful as he continues to move forward. The four-star guard does utilize two dribble pull-ups. He is comfortable getting into the open space, whether it be a side-step or in the mid-range if he gets a defender flying by off a ball fake.
Harris plays balance, off two-feet. I have seen some jab-step action to help get him into the jump shot off the bounce, but that is something I would like to see him utilize more.
Long noted as a pure shooter, his scoring game has developed. Harris averaged 9.2 points with a 49.3 effective shooting percentage during EYBL play. His 0.720 points per possession put Harris in the 88th percentile amongst his peers.
Harris on defense
This is the side of the ball that will come into question with Darren Harris. That said, the 6-foot-5 wing gives good effort and has a high IQ as an off-the-ball defender. He understands angles and defensive footwork, which get him in position to contest passes and shots.
Harris finished in the 75th percentile among his peers, giving up 0.594 points per possession during EYBL play. While his average quick-twitch and length can get him beat when defending on an island, he can be an effective defender. His man only shot 34.7 percent against him this summer.
Harris on his recruitment
“I’ll be looking for where I fit best,” Harris told On3. “The place that will prepare me for the next level because that is the goal. Player development is big for me, and a family atmosphere will be huge. I want to play fast like we do at Paul VI and with Team Takeover.”
On3s Recruiting Prediction Machine
Darren Harris will announce his college decision tomorrow, October 22. The final four schools he is choosing between are Maryland, Ohio State, Duke, and Miami. Harris took one official visit to Duke on October 14.
On3s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) gives Duke a 95.6 percent chance of landing the four-star shooting guard.
The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create RPM, the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. Starting from the ground up, On3 built an entirely new product that utilizes data, human expertise, and machine learning.