Scouting Notes: Aidan Chronister at the Quincy Shootout

QUINCY, Ill. — Sometimes, numbers neatly arranged on a spreadsheet wash out context around a player’s skill set. 

For wing Aidan Chronister, they tell us that almost 90 percent of his shots for Sunrise Christian Academy come from behind the arc. That’s not a subtle hint. That’s the data screaming at you through a bullhorn.

Still, I’m a slave to nuance. I wanted to see how Chronister, the No. 69 player in the 2026 class, cooks up that shot diet. So, I schlepped five hours west to see the Buffaloes tangle with Wasatch Academy at the Quincy Shootout.

How long did it take to affirm the impression conveyed by Chronister’s stats in the EYBL Scholastic league? About two minutes. Because the 6-foot-7 Arkansan shoots the ball effortlessly: a wide base, shot pocket at the sternum, right hand behind the ball, energy transfer straight up, release point just above the eyebrow, flick of the wrist and thumb down.

And during a 67-59 loss, most of Chronister’s touches came to him spacing out to the weakside corner, filling behind a driver, or coming off a screen on inbounds play. He finished with 12 points on 4 of 9 shooting, including seven attempts beyond the arc. 

Afterward, I asked coach Kyle Linstead to offer a loose projection for the junior, who transferred to SCA over the summer. Linstead cast a quick look around, chuckled, and delivered this appraisal.  “We try to be cautious about comparisons,” he said. “But it’s hard not to think about Gradey.”

That’s Gradey Dick, who passed through Sunrise before spending a season with Kansas and coming off the board with the 13^th pick in the NBA draft. Ambitious? Probably. As a junior, for example, Dick shot a ridiculous 45.2 percent from long range. Right now, Chronister checks in at a 36.5 percent clip.

Oh, and there’s this, too. “I think I can do more than just shoot,” Chronister said. But for this season, though, the shape of Sunrise’s roster has resulted in being typecast and a role that Chronister’s embraced as a necessity. 

“We’ve got a lot of great guards,” Chronister said. “I’m willing to do whatever coach wants me to do. If he just wants me to shoot it, it’s what I’ll do.”

And shoot it, he has. Per Synergy Sports, his ten most common play types end with Chronister letting it fly from deep. And when left alone, he’s knocked down 43.8 percent of those looks. On film, though, those shots don’t really get your blood flowing. Again, you’ll most likely find him in the corner while a ball screen unfolds. He’s also a natural zone-buster.

Now, Chronister does get into his shot off movement, but right now, the most productive touches come in dead-ball situations. On inbounds plays, he’s frequently curling toward the corner over staggered screens. Or he might set a back screen for a big before receiving a pindown to pop out to the wing. When SCA’s running offense, he’ll occasionally shake loose in the corner from staggers along the baseline.

Meanwhile, Chronister’s also savvy about sprinting to the deep corners for kick-outs after SCA breaks pressure.

“Obviously, the floor spacing and the quick release are what stick out the most,” Linstead said. “But day in and day out, Aidan is a motor-up dude. He can play really, really hard.”

When he was still at Rogers High, a Class 6A school about 30 minutes north of Fayetteville, Chronister found abundant breathing room. He could quickly sprint into open space. Closeouts, relatively speaking, were slow. And even if a defender rotated on time, Chronister’s frame and release made them moot.

“That space is gone now,” Linstead said. 

Framed another way, Chronister’s shooting nearly 37 percent from bonus land against rosters packed with the kind of athletes he’ll see nightly in a high-major conference. The upside is what could happen once he finishes this season acclimating – and why a loose comp to Dick isn’t outlandish. 

And similar to Dick, Chronister’s shooting will make more of a dent if he can diversify his shot diet. That means putting the ball on the floor. “You’ve got to ripe through and be the first to initiate contact and drive those straight lines,” Linstead said. “He’s still gotta get to a place physically where he can do that.”

For his part, Chronister said that aspect of the game isn’t a complete unknown. This past summer, he manned all three guard spots with AAO Flight, which plays on the Puma-backed Pro16 circuit, bringing the ball up the floor, playing as a second-side initiator, and attacking closeouts. He expects that to happen again when grassroots season fires up in spring. 

“Plays are going to be run through me, too,” Chronister noted. 

It’s also how Missouri projects Chronister to fit on its roster. He said the staff’s pitch entails him sliding up the positional ladder to the combo guard spot, similar to how Tamar Bates is used in some lineups to get Caleb Grill on the floor.

“They see me as someone like that,” Chronister said. “Someone who’s a shooter but also a playmaker.”

Would that potentially conflict with the Tigers’ pursuit of JJ Andrews, a fellow Natural State native and a physical slasher? Not necessarily. “We think they complement each other,” a program source told me.

Linstead concurred with that assessment. Sliding Chronister down the positional ladder to play as a stretch four might entail packing as much as 25 pounds on his frame, and even then, he’d still be somewhat undersized. By contrast, he would only need more functional mass and strength to play off guard, where his size and length would be an additional boon defensively. 

Chronister knows those ambitions hinge on two obvious variables. “I’ve got to get my handle up,” he said. “And my body is on the lighter side. I’ve just got to get it college-ready. That’s the main thing.”

Only time, maturation, and a thoughtful conditioning program will reshape Chronister’s frame. As that happens, Linstead’s confident that Chronister’s upside will start emerging – on the defensive end. 

“He’s got room to grow defensively,” he said. “You know, guarding the ball and guarding the best players in the country. You don’t question him playing hard and chasing dudes. You know he’s going to contribute on the glass. But there’s room for growth.”

In the short term, though, Linstead said SCA’s staff is focused on the latter job – improving Chronister’s handle. That doesn’t exclusively mean drilling him on catch, rip, and go. Even if Chronister creates separation from a defender, he still needs to read the action around him. 

“Feel with the basketball in his hand and making plays for others,” he said. “Bouncing it in neutral and reverse sometimes instead of downhill. The league we play in will force you to do that – just like college will.”

There’s often a temptation to have players like Chronister build on their shooting prowess incrementally. For example, Trent Pierce’s coaches and trainers in his hometown emphasized him honing a one-dribble pull-up after a shot fake. But when he transferred to AZ Compass Prep for his senior season, that staff hammered home the need for him to apply rim pressure – a message carried over by MU’s associate head coach Charlton Young.

Linstead said that differentiation is one way he can better draw for Chronister in workouts. 

“That’s where I’ve got to do a better job as a coach,” he said. “In practice, we use him like we would in games. It has to be, ‘Hey, dude, no 3s today. You’ve gotta bounce it, create, and show some wiggle.’ We know Aidan is going to make shots for us. That’s where we’ve got to continue to push him. He’s so good at it, but those options need to be ready.”