The folks at McDonald's may not be sure where he's from, but they're certain that O.G. Anunoby of the Jefferson City Jays is one of the nation's top players in boys basketball.
When the list of state finalists was announced Thursday for the McDonald's All-American Games, Anunoby was conspicuously absent from the list of Missouri players. But that's because he was erroneously listed among the honorees from Mississippi.
As it is, the Indiana University signee will be one of just six honorees from Missouri. The others include another Hoosiers signee, Waynesville's Juwan Morgan; a pair of Missouri signees in Blue Springs South's Kevin Puryear and Pacific's Cullen VanLeer; Hickman's Jimmy Whitt, an Arkansas signee; and Landry Shamet of Park Hill, who has signed with Wichita State.
California leads all states with a whopping 81 nominees, while Florida is next with 38.
On the girls side, Missouri has nine finalists, with one of them being Incarnate Word's Napheesa Collier, who played her freshman season with the Jefferson City Lady Jays.
Three of the remaining eight finalists hail from Rock Bridge - Sophie Cunningham, Carly Offerdahl and Cierra Porter. The others are Hillcrest's Kelsie Cleeton, Blue Springs South's Cloe Lane, Kearney's Taylor Doan, Lee's Summit's Eriyonna Irvin and Park Hill's Riana Everidge.
The final list of 24 boys and 24 girls to play in the games, which are set for April 1 at the United Center in Chicago, will be announced Jan. 28.