Penn State Basketball Recruiting: Recapping the First July Evaluation Period

July is the biggest month for college basketball recruiting, and for a good reason - it's the last chance for coaches to evaluate rising seniors and extend offers before the majority of those kids commit before their final season of high school basketball.

Last weekend was the first of three major evaluation periods in July, and Penn State's coaches were joined by a few hundred of their colleagues at the Nike Peach Jam in Augusta, SC, among other events, considered by many to be the premier event in grassroots basketball. The subject of Pat Chambers' evaluations was, of course, Team Final. The Philadelphia AAU program normally features Tony Carr, but Penn State's top target sat out the entirety of Peach Jam with a hip injury. Without their star guard, Team Final struggled to a 1-4 record, though the lone win came in an upset against top overall prospect Harry Giles' Team CP3.

In that upset over Team CP3, who wound up losing in the semi-finals on a crazy buzzer-beater, Team Final's Dylan Painter drew some rave reviews for his play:

Dylan Painter(PA) has seen his stock soar just as high as anyone this wk. Just so active, heck of a game yesterday vs one Harry Giles...

— CourtCred (@courtcred) July 11, 2015

Painter was rewarded for his efforts with three more scholarship offers, as Providence, NC State and Clemson threw their hats into the ring. The Hershey big man now boasts nearly 30 offers from a variety of mid and high-major programs, but he's still set on taking an official visit to Penn State once July is over, per City of Basketball Love. From the article:

"If I can pull in more [offers] that would be great," he said. "But I like the schools that have already offered me...they've been on me since they saw me."

If you needed proof that Chambers is putting the full-court press on the Team Final crew, here it is:

He is tired from making so many 3's! @AdamFinkelstein @TeamFinalHoops Team Final W/A big W! https://t.co/HmhgMiIkCt pic.twitter.com/Ctx4yLyYKF

— Paul Biancardi (@PaulBiancardi) July 10, 2015

Villanova and Penn State going three deep for Team Final crew led by Wright and Chambers #PeachJam

— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) July 11, 2015

Chambers and Anderson taking in Team Final's last game at Peach Jam this morning.

— Eric Gibson (@BSD_Eric) July 11, 2015

As for the member of Team Final that's currently committed to Penn State, Nazeer Bostick continued to prove his worth as a B1G-caliber player. ESPN's Jeff Borzello tweeted about the Horse's performance early on in the weekend:

Nazeer Bostick has been playing well for Team Final. Made a few jumpers, getting his own shot. Good pickup for Penn State couple months ago.

— Jeff Borzello (@jeffborzello) July 10, 2015

Joe Hampton, also committed to PSU, was not at Peach Jam - instead, the 6'8" power(?) forward was participating in the Under Armour All-America camp in Charlotte, where he detailed his recruiting saga and Penn State's plans for his future with Rivals.com's Edward Lewis.

2016 big man target Sedee Keita was also in attendance at the UA All-America camp, and SNY.com's Adam Zagoria reported that Penn State remains "in the mix" for the top-75 center, who will cut his list come August. CoBL confirmed at the Elevate Hoops Showdown (bottom of the page) that PSU is one of the schools that is "most in touch with him right now."

Quick Hits

-Chambers extended at least one new offer this weekend: 247Sports Composite top-100 big man Jayce Johnson picked up an offer on Saturday at the Under Armour event in Charlotte.

-CoBL caught up with sharpshooting 2017 guard Andrew Platek at Peach Jam, where the Albany City Rocks man noted that he's looking for a school that can combine quality academics and basketball. Penn State offered last month. If you continue reading that article you'll find an update on 2018 stud Cameron Reddish and his decision to attend Westtown (Pa.) starting next year.