USA TODAY International Edition
Navigating the recruiting challenges
Bryce Hopkins knew his second recruitment would be different. Like, really different.
A four- star, top- 40 national prospect from Chicago, Hopkins decommitted from Louisville on Aug. 9 – smack- dab in the middle of a pandemic that had prevented him and his basketball peers from taking official recruiting visits since the end of March.
So, on Oct. 26, without taking any official visits to his finalist schools, the 6- foot- 7 forward picked Kentucky over Illinois, Indiana, Oregon, Texas, California, Michigan, Iowa State and Providence.
“I wouldn’t say it was harder,” Hopkins said of figuring out his second recruitment, “but I would say it was just you have to get a feel for it.”
Hopkins is one of many basketball prospects across the country who either have made, or are trying to make, college decisions without actually visiting the schools.
In response to the COVID- 19 pandemic, the NCAA has banned any Division I on- campus or in- person recruitment since the end of March. And it certainly doesn’t look like that ban will be lifted any time soon, as states across the country are reporting record- high coronavirus case numbers.
As a result, basketball prospects currently face the daunting task of committing to, and trusting, a program without in- person, one- on- one engagement with their future coaches – especially if they hadn’t already unofficially visited the school before COVID- 19.
It’s like “navigating through new waters,” five- star guard Max Christie said.
“It’s definitely difficult. It’s like something that we’ve never done before and I don’t think anybody in the past has, ei
ther,” said Christie, a 6- foot- 6 guard who committed to Michigan State in July. “Luckily, I was at the tail end of ( my recruitment) when COVID happened. But I mean, it’s got to be difficult for everybody that’s in the middle or early stages.”
Christie, a product of Chicago’s northern suburbs, said he was down to a final three of Michigan State, Villanova and Virginia when he made his decision.
He had already taken an official visit to Tom Izzo’s program in January, which gave the Spartans an upper hand when the virus struck.
Although he said Michigan State was always his front- runner, Christie said he would have liked the opportunity to take official visits to Villanova and Virginia – schools he had never unofficially visited, either.
“I just wanted to go to those campuses and get a feel for the campus itself, meet some of the players, the personnel, the coaching staff, and just see if that’s
somewhere where I fit,” Christie said. “And unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to do that. But when I went to Michigan State, I just felt like it was a necessity that I go there. It felt like I was wanted there. It just felt like it was the place I wanted to go to.”
Coaches and players USA TODAY spoke to believe the ban on official visits will affect different types of prospects in different ways.
Christie thinks the ban has a more significant impact on players in the earlier stages of their recruitment, when fewer unofficial visits have taken place.
Peter Kaffey, coach at powerhouse Compass Prep in Arizona, isn’t very worried about his star point guard TyTy Washington, a four- star talent who’s considering Southern California, Mississippi, Arizona State, Auburn, Creighton and Illinois. Instead, Kaffey worries for the late bloomers and prospects outside the top 100 or 150 who didn’t have as many recruiting visits and conversations before COVID- 19.
“( For elite talent), it’s not going to be as stressful as a kid where it’s like, ‘ OK, we know that you’re a D- I player. We know that you’re a mid- major- to- highmajor,’ but people haven’t seen you that much,” Kaffey said. “The 2021 class is a mystery right now.”
Sonny Vaccaro, the former Nike, Adidas and Reebok marketing executive who helped create shoe company influence in recruiting decades ago, said the ban on official visits, which the school pays for, will have varying effects depending on the prospect’s socioeconomic status.
For instance, although he couldn’t take official visits, Hopkins and his family drove 5 hours to Lexington, Kentucky, and spent the night in a hotel so Hopkins could tour Kentucky’s campus. They did the same thing with Providence during a family vacation. In an official visit, Kentucky and Providence would have paid for all travel and lodging.
Washington, Kaffey’s star point guard at Compass Prep, traveled with his family to Illinois’ campus late last week.
Another example at the mid- major level would be Indiana wing Chris Mantis, whose finalist schools are Drake, Appalachian State, Valparaiso, IllinoisChicago, Ball State and Purdue- Wort Wayne. He told USA TODAY he and his family are currently taking their own unofficial visits to those schools to help with his decision.
Hopkins said he felt fortunate to be able to have those campus visit opportunities.
But not every family has the means to travel hours away and spend the night at a hotel, Vaccaro said. In this era of no official visits, that puts those kids at a disadvantage.
“It’s crucial,” Vaccaro said, “because it’s limited to how the less- fortunate ones have opportunities.”