Eli Ellis - The Next Big Thing In College Basketball
He's accomplished a lot in OTE, but now off to South Carolina, is Eli primed for a great college career?
After winning the OTE championship from his game winning buzzer beater, Eli Ellis has solidified himself as the greatest player in Overtime Elite history. Eli Ellis has not only won multiple championships and MVPs, but his clutchness and leadership have earned him a legendary status in OTE. After sealing his career with a game-winning, contested mid-range jumper, he's headed to South Carolina to play Division 1 basketball.
Today, I’ll be talking about why he’ll be the next great player to come out of OTE.
For those who don’t know, Overtime Elite is a basketball league based in Atlanta, Georgia for high-schoolers. It’s honestly just like professional basketball. There are 8 teams, the Cold Hearts (unfortunately my favorite team, they were the worst in the regular season, only winning three games,) the Diamond Doves, Blue Checks, Fear of God Athletics (the clothing brand has it’s own squad,) Jelly Fam, RWE (Rod Wave Elite,) City Reapers (made it to the OTE finals,) and finally, the OTE champions, YNG Dreamers.
Back to Eli, let’s talk about how his OTE career all began.
2023 Draft
After being selected as the last pick in the 2023 OTE draft, Eli Ellis became the youngest player in the league’s short history. He was only a sophomore then, and had a lot to prove. Could he live up to the hype? Could he struggle, or could he actually succeed, was the question.
First Season
And that question was answered quickly. Despite being the youngest player, not the strongest, and shorter, Ellis put up a respectable 14 points, 2 assists, and 4 rebounds per game. These were good stats, not only because he was only a sophomore, but when you remember that this team was led by the back-to-back MVP and 5th overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft, Ausar Thompson, and his twin brother, who was selected 4th by the Houston Rockets that same year, Amen Thompson. For a smaller, young guy like Eli, these stats showed that he would one day become the greatest player in league history, breaking records, winning league MVP’s and championships.
Second Year (Now With YNG)
In his second season, Ellis joined the YNG Dreamers, where his growth truly took off. He was spectacular. He broke records, and won his first MVP award. In his legendary MVP season, Ellis averaged 33.4 points, 5 assists, and 6 rebounds.
Final Year At OTE
In his final year in the league, Eli Ellis was incredible. Not only was he just so much fun to watch, but he broke even more records. Ellis averaged 32 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. This past year, Ellis dominated the league, winning his second MVP award and last night, won his second championship, capping it off with the game-winning shot.
Records Broken Since Joining OTE
Ellis set the OTE scoring record with 55 points in a game, a feat he repeated several times throughout his career. He also holds the OTE record for most 3-pointers in a game, with 9. And in an incredible display of clutch performance, Ellis scored 28 of his 43 points in the fourth quarter of a game against the Blue Checks, setting the record for most points in a single quarter.
From the last pick to becoming the greatest player in league history, Ellis has accomplished an extraordinary amount. Now heading off to college at South Carolina, I’m sure he’ll ball out like he did in OTE.
I had the pleasure of talking to Eli through Instagram DMs before, and after his game-winning buzzer beater for the title, I asked Eli a question for you guys.
Me: “You know, I’m thinking of writing a post about your OTE career for my site, would you like me to include anything that you think my followers would like to know about you?”
Eli: “I gave it my all bro”
He sure did.