Six players from Walt Whitman and Walter Johnson high schools earned spots on the MoCo Hoops preseason Top 50 Watchlist for boys basketball, released Monday, August 3, giving Bethesda-area fans an early look at the talent expected to shape the 2026-27 season.

Whitman placed four players on the list: Max Williams, Grady Miller, Rowan O'Brien and Maxx Walton. Walter Johnson added two: Jeremiah Williams and Carter Brooks.

The Vikings' contingent is headlined by Williams, a senior guard who averaged 17.6 points per game last season and hit the go-ahead bucket in the final minutes of Whitman's 48-47 playoff win over Churchill on March 2. Whitman finished 2025-26 at 20-3 and reached the Class 4A state championship game before falling to Blake 60-44 on March 14.

O'Brien, a 6-foot-3 small forward who appeared on the varsity roster as a sophomore, is now entering his junior year. Details on Miller's and Walton's positions and class years were not available in the watchlist release.

At Walter Johnson, both Jeremiah Williams and Brooks turned heads during the Capitol Hoops Summer League. Williams posted 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals in one summer outing, while Brooks put up 34 points in another, per Capitol Hoops highlights. The Wildcats enter the season under head coach Chase Rieder, who brought on former Georgetown star and NBA veteran Jerome "Junkyard Dog" Williams as an assistant before the 2025-26 campaign.

Whitman was one of eight programs to place at least three players on the list, joining Magruder, Northwest, Churchill, Richard Montgomery, Seneca Valley, Springbrook and Wootton.

The MCPS boys basketball season tips off this winter.