The recruitment of the 2019 class has been ongoing for the past few years, but yesterday things were taken to the next level. The date marked the official day that college coaches could first have direct contact with the rising junior ranks.
We reached out to some of the best on Thursday at the NBPA Top 100 Camp to discuss their recent conversations with college programs.
Super polished and a major offensive threat, Matt Hurt holds scholarship offers from some of the best nationally.
“This morning, I got a text from Louisville, UNC, Duke, Kentucky, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Virginia, Ohio State, Indiana, and most of the Big Ten schools,” he said. “Coach K wants to talk tonight and so does UNC, too.”
“Coach (Richard) Pitino called me at 12:01.”
Ranked among the top-10 of his class, Scottie Lewis is not a new face to the game of recruiting.
However, that didn’t stop a number of powerhouse programs from getting in touch with him.
“The first person that contacted me was St. John’s,” he said. “The first phone call I got was from Darris Nichols from Florida and after that was Louisville, Villanova, Mike White with Florida again, Duke with Coach (Jon) Scheyer, and UConn. It was a little overwhelming.”
Slotted in alongside his five-star teammate and best friend Scottie Lewis with a well-talked about package deal, Bryan Antoine’s phone was also abuzz.
“So far, I have heard from Duke, Villanova, Stanford, St. John’s, Florida, Maryland, and Rutgers,” he said. “Coach K called me this morning just to let me know that I am a priority.”
Maxey, a pure bucket getter, was not short for interest on Thursday as a number of programs nationwide made sure to get in touch with him.
“I talked to Michigan State, Stanford, UNLV, Mississippi State, Notre Dame, Villanova, Texas, Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, Oregon, Arizona State,” he said. “Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas all called me, and Ohio State and UNLV each contacted me right at midnight.”
A top prospect from the Midwest, Keion Brooks has already led a high-major recruitment since hitting the high school ranks. He noted the schools in touch with him on Thursday.
“Today I have heard from Louisville, Michigan State, Indiana, Ohio State, Iowa and Notre Dame,” he said.
Tough, athletic and entertaining, Joey Baker has become a giant commodity this spring as a few of the bluebloods made sure to get on the phone with the Team Felton product.
“I have heard from Florida, Louisville, I got a lot of texts, too, from Duke, UNC, Kansas, USC, Yale, Vanderbilt and a lot of others,” he said.
One of the top interior bigs in the 2019 class, Kofi Cockburn kicked the day off by hearing from Duke, UCLA, Kansas and South Carolina.
Landing an offer from Tennessee, Armando Bacot heard from some of the very best on Thursday as Virginia, Maryland, Florida, Duke, Louisville, Baylor, Miami, Iowa, VCU, Virginia Tech, Cal, UNC, Oklahoma State, Georgetown, Penn, Penn State and Providence all were in touch with the top-25 big man.
Hagans showed that he might be the best on-ball defender in America during his early time at the NBPA Top-100 Camp, all of which has made his phone ring nonstop. He has heard from Alabama, Auburn, Texas Tech, Florida, UNC, UNLV, Georgia, Kansas and Kentucky.
Sitting firmly as a five-star prospect in the 2019 class, Christian Brown is already a priority recruit on the East Coast. Thursday solidified the fact, as he heard from Kentucky, UMass, Auburn, Georgia, Virginia, South Carolina, N.C. State, Kansas, Yale, Florida and Stanford.
The recruiting process is not something that Cole Anthony has begun to focus on, though he did speak with a few schools on Thursday.
“Indiana, Louisville, UConn, Stanford and Miami were about the only schools that reached out,” he said.
