Fathers in the crowd lean over to their kids and tell them to watch how the Link Academy Lions play defense. At the Bass Pro Tournament of Champions, the nationally recognized power has become an example of how one is supposed to play the game.
Jaws drop at the sight of the size the high school basketball team possesses. You can hear the adults telling the youngsters about their NBA size and their potential to play at the next level. After the game, they rush to get their autographs, hoping they’ll get signatures from the next Ja’Kobe Walters and Jordan Walshs.
It’s the type of respect the Link Academy program, founded before the 2021-22 season, has come to demand from those who watch them put on a show. It’s the type of respect that also leads to the best high school basketball players leaving their homes to develop their skills in Branson, Missouri.
“It was a no-brainer,” Chris Cenac Jr., a five-star prospect signed with Houston, said. “I wanted to come here and work to get better, and that’s what it’s been since I got here.”
First-year Link Academy head coach Chad Myers, a former assistant at New Mexico State and former head coach at IMG Academy, was tasked with assembling another Link Academy roster to compete at the national level after Bill Armstrong departed for an assistant job on Baylor’s staff.
He became the head coach of a brand that has gained national recognition, winning the Chipotle Nationals championship in 2023, the program’s second year in existence. He scouted many different summer tournaments, trying to build a roster full of the nation’s best.
It led to him landing a top-10 senior in the country, six four-star recruits and a handful whose stock will continue to rise as they play a national schedule. They compete every day in practice or every other day against one of the toughest schedules in the nation.
It wasn’t a difficult sell to his New Orleans five-star signee or his Milwaukee-raised prospect, who is signed with Alabama.
“Coach Chad was at all of my AAU games, which meant he was very invested in me,” Darius Hannah said. “I also know the history of Link. Guys come in, they work and they create players. It’s an environment where you can do nothing but get better. That’s the type of person I am. I just want to get better.”
Hannah noticed Link Academy in recent years by paying attention online before Myers started recruiting him to attend the school, which is based at Camp Kanakuk. He saw Elliott Cadeau, now North Carolina’s starting point guard, emerge as one of the best players in the nation.
A year ago, the program featured Tre Johnson, who some outlets considered the country’s No. 1 recruit until Cooper Flagg reclassified. Johnson is now considered a potential lottery pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, as he leads Texas and scores 18.7 points per game.
“I’ve been seeing the success from all of the other players before he even reached out to me,” Hannah said. “When he did, I was like, ‘This is going to happen.’ I’m glad I’ve definitely made the decision for sure.”
Living in Branson, the Lions aren’t attending shows, walking the Branson Landing too frequently or visiting Silver Dollar City on a weekly basis. They’re playing basketball, which is all they want to do anyway.
Cenac and Hannah are among the many who, in the program’s early years, uprooted their lives and moved to the Ozark Mountains. With the national notoriety, the program continues to receive, they certainly won’t be among the last.
They help the Lions continue to be the example of what elite high school basketball is supposed to look like for the many young eyes in the audience.
“We believe each other, and we try to work every day,” Myers said. “We have a whole team of like-minded guys that want to go be successful college basketball players, so we put that in one environment, and it obviously breeds success.”
