Friday was quite the unique experience for McCallie School junior Jay Hardy.
The four-star college football prospect's surreal experience began with on-campus visits from Alabama coach Nick Saban and Tennessee defensive line coach Tracy Rocker and concluded with him helping the Blue Tornado basketball team maintain a respectable outcome against nationally third-ranked IMG Academy from Bradenton, Florida.
With a standing-room-only crowd packing the McCallie Sports and Activities Center, IMG, which boasts a who's-who roster of future college talent, won 66-49 over the Blue Tornado in the nightcap of Friday's Dr Pepper TEN Classic.
"Just a really crazy and fun day," said Hardy, who scored nine points against IMG. "I'm used to seeing Coach Rocker around school because Tennessee has been recruiting me pretty heavily for a while, but it was like some sort of dream to see Coach Saban actually on our campus.
"I thought we played pretty well against a team that's really like a traveling all-star team. They're all big-time recruits, but we hung in there."
After Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, a Villanova signee, grabbed a rebound and laid in a go-ahead putback basket midway through the first quarter, IMG never again trailed. The Ascenders (25-1) pushed their lead to 16 by halftime and maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half.
"Wherever we go, we already feel confident that we'll get the win, so we really just want to play well and put on a good show for the fans," said Armando Bacot, a North Carolina signee who scored 12 points. "The only pressure on us is we knew the gym was packed and we wanted to give the fans what they came to see."
Fellow 6-foot-10 starter Robinson-Earl led IMG with 25 points, while guards Noah Farrakhan (a four-star junior prospect) and Josh Green (an Arizona signee) added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
McCallie (16-8) was led by Neill Dickey's 17 points.
"This was an opportunity for our kids to compete against and measure themselves against some of the best players in the country," McCallie coach David Conrady said. "The scary thing in that is that if it goes sideways we could get embarrassed against that type talent, but I thought our guys competed well and represented us well for four quarters.
"It was good to see that effort, and now the key for us once we get back into our region schedule is to be consistent with that type effort."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.