2026 Ballislife All-American Game: Top Standouts from Thursday's Practice

SAN DIEGO – One of the most anticipated weekends of the year on the prep hoops calendar is here once again, as some of the top boys’ and girls’ players from across the country have congregated to America’s Finest City for the 2026 Ballislife All-American Game at SeaWorld.

Photo Credit: Ballislife

An action-packed weekend tipped off on Thursday with player arrivals in the morning, followed by a scheduled four-hour practice at Point Loma Nazarene University’s picturesque Golden Gymnasium. Practice began with the usual warm-up drills before 5v5 runs broke out, as the boys and girls each played a 20-minute scrimmage with two ten-minute halves. I can’t spoil too much about what happened on the court before Saturday, but just know there was plenty of high-flying action, with standout performances from Tajh Ariza, Colben Landrew, and Abdou Toure.

Following the 5v5s, the boys’ game participants were split into three teams of five to take on a five-man unit featuring Ballislife’s biggest streetball stars, including Nasir Core, Skoob, and Zae. All three runs were high-energy contests with plenty of motivation to win on each side. The prep hoopers wanted to get the better of some guys who are legitimately notorious in the space, while the streetballers wanted to prove that they can hang with a crop of soon-to-be NBA talent.

UConn commit Colben Landrew going crazy at the Ballislife All-American practice! pic.twitter.com/yLkWtctbZ9

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 24, 2026

As it would turn out, the prep hoopers ended up taking two out of the three games to 15. Landrew especially caught attention during the showdown, finishing the third and final contest with an unbelievable and-one despite hard contact from Skoob at the rim. All Skoob could do was laugh at the crafty shot-making, and that clip already has 1 million views and is climbing on Ballislife’s Instagram account.

3-Point Contests Are Set

After all the runs were complete, we still had to determine who would be shooting in Friday’s 3-Point Contest at SeaWorld’s Nautilus Amphitheater. Three racks of five balls were placed around the perimeter at the corners and at the top of the key, and there was no time limit or money balls, so it was a pretty natural exhibition of shooting talent. Jaidyn Guinter led all girls’ shooters with nine makes, while Chikae Desdunes, Lilly Williams, Bella Fleming, and Gigi Battle each made eight to round out the field.

Get tickets to this weekend’s BILAAG at SeaWorld: https://t.co/Nr1vmlGIAE pic.twitter.com/FcL7g69xOi

— Ballislife.com (@Ballislife) April 24, 2026

The qualifications for the boys’ contest were a bit more dramatic. Abdou Toure led all shooters in the main round with 13 makes to join Tajh Ariza and Colben Landrew in Friday’s contest, which left two spots remaining. The problem was that there was a three-way tie between Luke Barnett, Caidyn Bailey, and Jonathan Sanderson for those final two spots. Pressure, right?

For Barnett, pressure made diamonds. He wowed everyone in the gym by making all 15 attempts during the overtime round to secure his spot, while Caidyn Bailey knocked down 13 to earn the final spot. Barnett even made a bold prediction for his follow-up act, declaring at dinner that he was “not making less than 20 shots” out of 25 in the main contest on Friday. Can he back that up? You’ll have to tune in to find out, or wait for the post-recap on the website tonight.