Yeah, this is huge!

Excellent

Big get. Look for us to land another top 50 kid in that class. Maybe even 2.

To expand upon what I said, from what everyone is saying and I will echo it here:

We should be getting:

Jarvis Hayes Jr (son of assistant coach Jarvis Hayes if you were unaware). Top 30 player who attends Woodward right now.


Someone we can compete for:

Nassir Anderson. #8 player in the nation and it is between us and Auburn.


Someone people think we can get but I know we will not:

AJ Williams. Was #1 in 2028 but now #5 in 2027. I think he is a Duke lock. Can go into more depth on that if need be.

Dook digging deep into their $80 million war chest to secure AJ?

Yeah apparently AJ's favorite player is Jayson Tatum and Tatum has taken him on like a mentor to train with him and offer advice so he is also pushing for AJ to go to Duke. Cannot blame the kid at least hope we just put up a fight and don't bend over and lay down for a kid in our backyard.

BallDawg, how do you think we are suddenly becoming so attractive to high school recruits? Is it primarily that we are suddenly offering more? I'm sure there are a few contributing factors such as growing in consistent success and the style of offensive play. Just curious if there is an outlying factor at play why we are being considered more now than the past few years.

I would love to say it is because Mike White has done a much better job at fostering relations with high school coaches in the state, the Stegman renovations and upgrades, recent regular season success, and overall strong athletic facilities with good academics, however it is mainly money. While do not get me wrong, these are all factors helping the program out, it is not the main reason why. It is true that Tom Crean essentially tarnished all relationships with the best HS basketball programs in the state of GA and for whatever reason just refused to recruit within the state (besides Ant essentially but that is a story for another day), and that the Steg has undergone renovations, and CMW has found success we didn't have under Crean, along with UGA being an overall great school for student athlete, our NIL was upgraded.

A few months ago the Prize Picks CEO donated $10 million dollars to be strictly used on the basketball program with the hopes of going after an elite(s) recruit in the 2027 class. I actually was neighbors with his son who was very cool and his dad is who I met as well, and I am stoked that we are lucky to have a good alumni like him. While this money will not last forever and we may only truly see the elite recruiting for the next 2 maybe 3 years, it definitely helps and is why we are able to compete with these true basketball schools with huge donors for these prospects right now.

With this money and the hope to bring in these elite prospects that means the pressure on CMW is going to be as high as it has ever been. So if he lands some of these guys like we hope he is 100% going to be coaching for his job and we should make him feel that pressure. If he fails with these resources not only is it proof that he is never going to win on this level (anything meaningful), but it might be the straw that breaks the camel's back and discourage any future investment into the basketball program from future donors and the athletic departments (which we know Josh Brooks already seems to do).

Very interesting to see how it will play out.