Have you ever watched something change for the better right before your eyes, in real time? Not just watched it grow, but watched it become something.
That’s what I feel like is happening right now with Twelve Time. Our first annual 12:12™ Combine just wrapped, we’re heading into our fourth season and honestly… wow. What else can I say? Every year, I walk into these gyms and find myself thinking about how far we’ve come. What started with family has grown into an even bigger family, and somehow, every season, that family gets a little bigger, a little stronger and a little more connected.
But here’s the thing: Twelve Time was never supposed to just be another basketball program. If you really spend time around us, you’ll understand that pretty quickly. There’s no hidden agenda. No gimmicks. No pretending. Just love for basketball, love for student-athletes, love for competition, love for family and love for the process.
And above all, there’s a belief that what God has given us through this game comes with a responsibility.
As our director always says, “It’s not ours to keep.”
That statement probably explains Twelve Time better than anything else I could write. We have an obligation to pass it down, pour into the next generation and teach them the game, but also teach them how to navigate life. Basketball is the vehicle, not the destination.
That includes helping our student-athletes understand that they are students first. We care deeply about academics because athletic success means more when it’s built on a strong educational foundation. That’s why we check their academic progress throughout the season. We want to know how our athletes are doing in the classroom, where they may need support and how we can help them stay accountable.
Because development is bigger than basketball.
Welcome to Our Habitat
For me personally, this is probably my favorite time of the year. Give me a gym full of young hoopers, coaches, parents and trainers. Give me basketballs bouncing, sneakers squeaking, music playing, people talking and athletes competing for hours on end.
Yeah. That’s my habitat.
It feels natural. It’s almost like watching a lion back in the wild. Put me around basketball and student-athletes who want to get better, and I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be.
But what people don’t always see is everything that happens outside of the gym. Twelve Time and EYBL basketball is a full operation: flights, hotels, transportation, meals, practice schedules, workouts, recovery, medical needs, laundry, jerseys, communication with families, game schedules, gym rentals, film, social media, recruiting, player development and academic accountability.
And then, of course, we actually have to coach basketball.
It takes a village. And that’s exactly what we have.
The Family Behind Twelve Time
At the top of this whole thing is our founder, Ja Morant, and this is one of the things I wish more people understood about Ja and Twelve Time. He could literally be anywhere in the world, but he chooses to be here. He chooses to coach. He chooses to spend time with these young men and women. He chooses to talk to them, challenge them, encourage them and teach them.
That matters because student-athletes know when you’re just talking, and they also know when you genuinely care. Ja doesn’t just put his name on this program and disappear. He’s involved. He watches. He coaches. He communicates. He pours into these athletes.
That’s leadership.
Then you have Uncle Phil, our Co-Director, who might be one of the busiest people nobody sees. Flights? He’s on it. Hotels? He’s on it. Food? He’s on it. Meetings? He’s there. Big decisions involving the program? He’s in the room. If these athletes need something, he’s figuring it out.
That’s what people don’t always understand about building something like this. The glamorous part is the gym. The real work happens everywhere else.
Then there’s our other Co-Director, Berry Winn, and the Winn family. I don’t even know if “thank you” is enough. They handle so many of the organizational pieces that allow Twelve Time to function. There are a million moving parts behind the scenes, and somehow they keep everything moving. Quite honestly, Twelve Time cannot function without the Winn family.
That’s family.
Five Teams. One Standard.
Right now, we’re building something special across multiple age groups. We have a 2029 girls team, two 2029 boys teams, a 2030 boys team and a 2031 boys team. Different ages. Different personalities. Different coaches. Different playing styles.
Same standard. Same family.
Everybody has a role. Coach P Lew and Coach Brown have been holding it down with our 2031 group, but that’s only part of the story. Coach P Lew will go from coaching to finding gyms for us in the area and helping organize workout sessions without hesitation.
And while I’m giving flowers, if you’re in the South Carolina area and looking for a workout, tap in with P Lew Workouts. Tell him TD sent you! And if you’re really feeling froggy, send your athlete to play for Coach Brown at Sumter High School.
I’m serious. These guys care about developing student-athletes.
Then you’ve got Coach Ced and his staff with our girls. They are literally the heartbeat of that group: the energy, the passion, the love, the accountability, the personality. Everything.
And did I mention Mama Jamie Morant stepped in and coaches them too? Come on now. How much more family affair can you get?
Then there’s Coach Orvin and BJ with our 2029 Elite team. Last year was their first year together, and they went 30-6. Thirty wins. Six losses.
Now, let me be clear: winning isn’t the most important thing to us. Development is. Character is. Relationships are. Growth is. Academic progress is.
But…
We still get it done.
That’s because the people leading these teams know what they’re doing. Coach JT and Coach Tee are two of the best basketball minds I’ve ever been around, and every opportunity they get, they pour back into this program.
Coach Tee is also a perfect example of why I keep saying this is bigger than basketball. This man will barbecue in his backyard for these athletes. He’ll let athletes sleep in his house. Feed them. Clothe them. House them. Protect them. Look after them as if they were his own.
Think about that for a second. That’s not his obligation. He chooses to do that.
You can’t fake that. You can’t put that in a marketing plan.
That’s culture.
Coming Home and Giving Back
Coach Tap is another big piece of what we’re building. He’s leading our 2030 EYBL team, and there’s something special about what he’s doing.
He’s coming home.
He’s showing the younger generation where he’s from that you don’t have to stay where you started. You can make it, come back, build and pour into the next generation. You can show student-athletes that the places they come from don’t have to determine where they end up.
That’s bigger than basketball, too.
And then there’s Diego Garcia, the man behind the plan. There is so much I could say about Diego that I’d probably need another article. He’s one of those people who doesn’t always need to be the loudest person in the room because he’s already working.
That same thing applies to the people responsible for making sure our athletes can actually perform at their best. Our physiotherapists and athletic trainers travel with us because we understand something simple: healthy athletes are better athletes.
Anything can happen. A turned ankle. A sore knee. A pulled muscle. Fatigue. Recovery. When you’re traveling, practicing and competing at the highest levels of youth basketball, having the right medical team isn’t a luxury. It’s a necessity.
That’s why we believe we have some of the best medical support in the country. Shoutout to Mo Wells, Danielle Baker and Trey Ford for everything they do.
Everybody plays a role.
And Then There Are the Team Moms
Let me tell you something about our team moms. They’re not just team moms. We might as well call them the secretaries of each team because they do EVERYTHING.
Travel. Logistics. Food. Jerseys. Laundry. Communication. Schedules. Making sure everybody knows where they’re supposed to be and when they’re supposed to be there. And somehow, they still have to be moms on top of all of that.
They hold this thing down in ways that sometimes don’t get enough recognition. So here’s your recognition: We see you. We appreciate you. We couldn’t do this without you.
Watching Them Grow Up
Perhaps the most meaningful part of all of this for me is watching the athletes who have been here from the beginning. Sheldon Davis. Hannah Riles. Ethan Leake. Dallas Mooring. Grant Pursley. Lailah Singletary. Kai Lowery. Just to name a few, because there are so many more.
I’ve watched some of these student-athletes grow up right in front of my eyes. I’ve watched them develop as basketball players, but more importantly, I’ve watched them develop as people.
Four years ago, they were young athletes coming into a basketball program. Now they’re approaching high school. And God willing, one day we’ll be watching them walk across college campuses, playing college basketball, graduating and becoming young adults.
Think about that.
When you spend four years traveling with a student-athlete, sitting in gyms with them, eating meals with them, riding in vans with them, talking to their parents and checking in on their academics, something happens. You celebrate their wins. You help them through their losses. You watch them mature.
That’s family.
Basketball might be how we met. But it isn’t why we’re still connected. These athletes will always be family.
Somebody Has to Tell the Story
If you’ve ever been to our social media pages, you already know @twelvetimebasketball is different. Some of the best basketball content in the business. But the people behind the camera are just as important as the people on the court.
What up, Nie! Riley. Graysen. Nate. All of them. It’s a well-oiled machine, from the photos and videos to the edits, stories and moments captured between the moments. Somebody has to tell the story of what we’re building, and these are the people making sure it gets told.
That matters because these aren’t just posts that disappear after a few days. They’re documenting a part of these athletes’ lives. One day, these kids are going to look back at those pictures and videos and realize, man… we were really a family.
The Part People Don’t See
I think that’s what makes EYBL season so special to me. People see the games, the highlights, the rankings and the uniforms. They see the social media posts and the wins and losses. That’s the part everybody gets to see.
What they don’t see are the 5 a.m. wake-ups, the late-night drives, the airport runs and the missed sleep. They don’t see the meals squeezed between games or the coaches sitting around talking basketball long after everybody else has gone home. They don’t see the parents sacrificing weekends or the athletes learning how to travel, compete, communicate and take care of themselves.
They don’t see student-athletes balancing practices, travel and competition with schoolwork and academic responsibilities. They don’t see the report card checks and progress report checks or hear the conversations about grades, effort, accountability and preparation. And they definitely don’t see the staff solving problems nobody else even knows existed.
But there’s another side to it too. There are the conversations in hotel hallways, the laughs in the vans, the prayers before games, the hugs after losses and the celebrations after wins. There’s that moment when an athlete finally figures out something we’ve been teaching them for months. All of those little moments become part of the experience too.
That’s EYBL. That’s Twelve Time.
That’s the part you can’t put on a stat sheet.
An Ecosystem, Not Just a Team
This is why I don’t call Twelve Time just a basketball team. It’s a program. It’s an ecosystem. It’s a village. It’s a family. And we’re building it with intention.
We’re teaching our athletes that they are students first and education has to remain a priority. We’re teaching them that talent will open doors, but character determines whether you stay in the room. We’re teaching them that winning matters, but how you treat people matters more. And we’re teaching them that success isn’t just about what you can get. It’s about what you can give.
Because eventually, they’re going to be the ones in these gyms. They’re going to be the coaches, mentors, big brothers and sisters and leaders. Hopefully, when that time comes, they’ll understand the same thing we understand now.
It isn’t ours to keep. We received it. Now we have to pass it down.
We’re Just Getting Started
I’m sure I’ve left somebody out, and if I did, please understand that doesn’t mean you’re any less important. That’s actually the problem with trying to write about Twelve Time. There are too many people to thank, too many stories, too many sacrifices and too many people who have given something to this program.
But that’s also what happens when something becomes bigger than the original vision. It becomes a community. It becomes family. And that’s exactly what I believe is happening with Twelve Time.
We’re not perfect. We’re still growing, still learning and still building, but we’re doing it together. From the youngest athlete to the coaches, from the team moms to the medical staff, from the photographers to the organizers, from the parents to the people working behind the scenes, and from the first athlete who believed in us to the newest student-athlete putting on that Twelve Time uniform, everybody matters.
That’s the culture. That’s the standard. That’s the family.
And if you ask me where we’re going, I’ll tell you exactly where we’re going: We’re not going anywhere.
In the words of the great Tee Morant, “Welcome to the Hostile Takeover.”
This is Twelve Time.
And we’re just getting started.
