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Four-star big man Zach Loveday talks visits

RANKINGS: 2019 Rivals150 | 2019 Team rankings | 2019 Position rankings

2020 Rivals150 | 2020 Position rankings

Top 75 of 2021

Zach Loveday
Zach Loveday
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TAMPA -- One of the top big men in the junior class, four-star center Zach Loveday is a new age big man.

Slender and athletic, the 6-foot-11 big men at Huntington (W.V.) Prep can run like a guard, shoots with range and has earned his No. 55 ranking nationally.

“I’ve been told I’m more of a hybrid four and five man," Loveday told Rivals.com. "I’ve got the traditional five height, but the weight and physicality of that guy, I don’t have that yet. I’m more of a four there. I can take people off the dribble and shoot it, but I can still go into the post and stuff like that.”

His skills have earned him offers from Baylor, Florida, Michigan, Ohio State, Louisville, Purdue, Stanford, Indiana, Xavier, Stanford and others to go along with interest from West Virginia and Gonzaga.

IN HIS OWN WORDS...

Loveday discussed some of the campuses that he's seen and what stands out about them.

Ohio State: “Flexibiltiy stands out. Coach (Chris) Holtmann is flexible. Coach (Ryan) Pedon is the one whose really recruiting me and he’s an offensive-minded guy and he tells me it would be great to have you because you can flex yourself within the offense and play in the flow. Last year they had Keita Bates-Diop and they didn’t really know what to do with him at first. Then they flexed him in and it really fit and clicked because they made it fit him.”

Louisville: “That was awesome. I love Louisville. From playing with the Louisville Magic over the summer I still have a lot of connections down there and I have a lot of good friends that way. I like Coach (Chris) Mack too. He’s an outside-the-box thinker. I know you can’t see it on TV, but when you are there watching at a game the first thing he does when the players go to the bench is he gets the coaches together and talks things over. It’s not like he immediately goes to the bench. Little things like that are what I like about him and he’s got a good personality.”

West Virginia: “They’ve been having a little bit of a down year but I was kind of expecting that because they lost their best player in Jevon Carter. But, I think they will get back to the success. I like the uptempo and I like how (Bob Huggins) is up your butt all the time. I like the way he’s a stickler about everything. He’s not going to sugarcoat anything and tell you it’s good when it’s not. He’s going tell you straight to your face what sucked if he needs to and I love that about him."

Michigan: “That was one of those ones, I really wanted that offer. Their offense, their defense it is all awesome. They specialize with the skilled bigs and that’s something they push to me every time they talk to me and I see that more and more as I watch them. When I went up there they told me that I have Moritz Wagner’s build, that 6-foot-11 or seven-foot guy who when they get me can put 20 pounds on easy. I really liked their strength coach too, he’s a really good guy and one of the best in the business from what I hear.”

RIVALS' REACTION, WHAT'S NEXT?

After a mid year transfer to Huntington Prep, Loveday is still getting used to a new team and surroundings so his playing time has been up and down. But, there's no doubting his touch and ability to run making him a high upside proposition in the paint.

Michigan, Ohio State and Louisville all appear to be doing really well and Loveday said that Baylor, Gonzaga and Florida are others that he would like to try and see soon. That being said, we are talking about a player who is in no hurry to decide and he's very interested to see who comes out to watch him with the ITPS Wildcats on the Adidas circuit this spring and summer.

“I’m going to play through this spring session before I make any kind of cut or narrow anything down," said Loveday. "If I pick up an offer or two that I really feel that I want then I may have to narrow down in the summer or maybe end up playing through the summer if I’m picking up a lot of offers. Then in that August or September window, I would start to narrow it down.”

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