Turning quite a few heads lately
Nicolet junior forward Graham’s stock rises fast
A lot of us have been logging hours on Zoom video calls the past couple of months. In that regard, James Graham is no different.
But, while the average person's Zoom contacts include their mothers and bosses, Graham's include the likes of Tom Izzo, Leonard Hamilton, Mark Turgeon and Tom Crean.
Graham, a 6-foot, 8-inch forward from Nicolet, is one of the fastest-rising prospects in the 2021 class not only in Wisconsin, but the country.
In May, he has added 11 scholarship offers, all from high-major NCAA Division I programs. Seven schools have offered in the past six days.
What makes the national rise of Graham's profile all the more notable is that he went more than 10 months between
Division I offers after Milwaukee, where Nicolet head coach Al Hanson played, offered last June.
UNC-Wilmington became Graham's fourth offer, joining DePaul, Rutgers and UWM, in late April.
Days later, though, came an offer from Maryland that didn't just tip the scales in expediting colleges' interest in Graham, but rather dropped a boulder on them.
A slow start
Graham, a long, explosive athlete who can shoot, create his own shot and disrupt defensively with his length, was undoubtedly one of the best players in the state as a junior. He averaged 20.6 points per game for a Nicolet team that went 22-2, outscored opponents by an average of 24.2 points per game over its last nine contests and was pegged by many to repeat as the WIAA Division 2 state champions.
A transfer to Nicolet (he already lived in the district) from University School of Milwaukee following his freshman year, Graham was a WBCA first-team all-Division 2 selection this year, but notably didn't even nab an honorable mention on the AP all-state team.
The Knights' season was cut short by the coronavirus just before they were scheduled to play in the sectional final. That coincided with the end of a nearly year-long stretch when Graham felt he should have been drawing more college interest.
“My thing was that it was a long, sometimes tough, 10 months for me,” Graham said. “You go to practice every day, compete, work hard, put up really good numbers, first-team all-conference. You know you're a (NCAA) D-I caliber player, but schools aren't showing tons of interest."
Little did he know that the busiest one-month stretch of his life was right around the corner.
Since the Terrapins and head coach Mark Turgeon offered a scholarship May 4, more and more schools have
Nicolet forward James Graham has gotten 11 scholarship offers, all from high-major NCAA Division I programs, during May.
scheduled Zoom meetings, and more and more schools have offered Graham to join their 2021 class.
Among the 10 high-major programs to follow Maryland's suit are Florida State, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Xavier and, most recently, Auburn.
"I wouldn't say I was expecting the recruiting to pick up the way we have, but I was hoping the offers would pick up a little," Graham said. "It's been crazy."
Graham is in no particular hurry to make a decision, but a handful of schools have stood out in the early going.
Florida State and Maryland, among the very first high-major schools to show interest, are in contact with him “just about every day." Xavier and Virginia Tech are another two that have been in regular contact, with the Hokies in touch since February.
“If I had to pick who's recruiting me the hardest on a daily basis, it's probably Maryland,” Graham said.
Even with offers becoming commonin May, there have still been some eyepopping moments for Graham.
“The ‘wow' factors were, I'd say, Vanderbilt, Michigan State and Florida State,” he said. “Vanderbilt, obviously a great academic school and (head coach) Jerry Stackhouse is the one offering you, that's a ‘wow' moment. FSU was No. 4 in the country when the season ended. Then with Michigan State, you get on the phone with Tom Izzo and you're like, ‘This is Tom Izzo.' ”
As far as major in-state schools, Wisconsin, which has three four-star commits already in its 2021 class, has not contacted Graham. Marquette has had "some" communication with Graham, but not a significant amount relative to other programs.
Good marketing
Graham has gotten the question a lot this month: “How did you get so many offers so fast?”
The answer has multiple parts. First, there's a bit of luck to the timing. If there was no pandemic and the AAU season was going on as usual, Graham says, he would be receiving around the same amount of interest but spaced out over three to four months.
“It does feel good, but I'm a realist,” Graham said. “Schools are offering me this fast because they want to beat someone else in talking to me. It was jump-started by Maryland, to be honest.”
An out-of-state program like Maryland, which shared the Big Ten regularseason title alongside Michigan State and UW, can get the ball rolling for other schools to join the mix.
But make no mistake, Graham's efforts over the past year are the driving factors behind the plethora of interest.
On the court, he grew two inches, added muscle and an improved perimeter game. He nearly tripled his scoring average from his sophomore season (7.4 to 20.6) as he assumed a much larger role with Jalen Johnson and Jamari Sibley transferring and still scored 19.4 points per game after Johnson returned late in the year.
Graham also learned that, if the basketball thing doesn't work out, he would make an excellent marketer in the future.
“What sets me apart is off the court, how I market myself well," Graham said. “I want to show coaches my game film, my workouts, full five-on-fives, who I am as a person. I've been marketing myself in every way.
"People ask me how you get offers without playing games. I send my defensive highlights, my offensive highlights and full games to as many coaches as possible so they can see everything about me as a player.”
When he isn't in virtual meetings or doing schoolwork, Graham is likely to be found either running hills (which he does twice a day), lifting weights, doing conditioning drills or shooting in the gym. He's cut out fast food, soda and chips. He's on a mission.
“It's a recent thing,” Graham said of his workout and diet regimen. “I've been really intense with it. Now that I see myself as an elite player, I'm not satisfied to just get the offers. I want to like I should have the offers.”