So I figured this was worth a standalone update as things are changing minute-by-minute.
Here is the latest on each top recruiting target
Daquan Davis (Overtime Elite- Baltimore, MD)
Davis wants to come to GT and the staff wants him at GT. He has some people around him clouding and trying to make the decision about money. However, the #2 school FSU has its own issues including whether or not Leonard Hamilton returns. They also had some reported NIL payment snafus this year and that overlapped with Davis being on a visit down there and that was not a great look. Several of the FSU assistants are looking to bail out if they can get a job this offseason on another staff like Steve Smith who will be interviewing for mid-major jobs as a HC and Jarrod Lazarus who is the glue guy on his staff who wants to be a full-time assistant somewhere. The family sees the unraveling at FSU as a major problem. Davis really likes being in Atlanta and the reality is the situation is probably better here for him long term to make money via the profile of being an elite player in Atlanta versus Tally. There will be some headaches taking Davis, but they believe he is worth the headaches.
Davis' weird OV went extremely well and may have closed it out for the Jackets.
All signs point to GT, but stuff can change between now and his decision in a couple of weeks.
Justin Pippen (Sierra Canyon- Chatsworth, CA)
The staff are thinking about taking both Davis and Pippen now. That would be three interesting guards along with Jaeden Mustaf (Overtime Elite- Bowie, MD) who already signed. Pippen is more of a combo guard like Mustaf if you project him out and look at how his brother and dad continued growing. Pippen's situation is similar to Davis where the other main schools involved are also facing near-term coaching changes. This comes down to space IMO and fit. Also like Davis, Stoudamire is inviting some headaches by having the Pippen extended family circus around his program. Does he want to deal with that?
Xavier jumped into the mix along with GT, Stanford and A&M. Xavier coach Sean Miller is a possible candidate for several other jobs including Ohio State while Buzz Williams hasn't really caught fire at A&M but is likely safe for another year with the AD situation there and Stanford is expected to fire Jerod Haase after an absolute collapse the last few weeks will give him a losing record in league play for the 5th time in eight years with just one winning season and one NIT bid there and no NCAAs.
The other big target Doryan Onwuchekwa (Faith Family Academy- Dallas, TX) appears to be a GT/TCU race now.
So that is recruiting.
On the team side, they are preparing a large NIL package for Baye Ndongo to keep him. Right now Miles Kelly is the highest-paid player and will have to take a more reasonable cut if he wants to return for another season which he does. His NIL deal was set up for a top 15 ACC player and he has not performed like one and I think everyone involved understands, he is a piece not the thing you build it around. Damon has done a lot for him to expand and improve his game and now he has to put that together with better players around him to market himself for a future pro career with a good senior season.
With Ndongo, he is happy, the primary goal there is keeping it that way and keeping poachers away from him. He likes the situation and his teammates and the staff here so he wants to stay.
The really interesting one for me is Tafara Gapare because two weeks ago I thought he was actually going to get squeezed out, but he is an X-factor guy and shows enough flashes where you want to build around him. It will be interesting to see if he squeezes someone like Ibrahima Sacko out of a spot.
Stoudamire views this like the pros because the players are getting paid and are not tied to the program so he is trying to put together the best team he can year to year.
There are 13 spots and this is how I see it right now.
I expect to return and class for next year (6 players)
Tafara Gapare (Jr.)
Nait George (So.)
Baye Ndongo (So.)
Kowacie Reeves Jr. (Sr.)
Ibrahim Souare (R-Fr.)
Lance Terry (R-Sr.)
Commits (3)
Jaeden Mustaf (Overtime Elite- Bowie, MD
Darrion Sutton (Overtime Elite- O'Fallon, MO)
Cole Kirouac (North Forsyth- Cumming, GA) I'm curious if he somehow ends up as a gray shirt or blue shirt
So that puts you at 10. If they take Davis/Pippen and Doryan that leaves two more spots. If they need that spot then it gets interesting with someone like Kirouac IMO. He is a project guy.
On the bubble
Miles Kelly (Sr.) does he try to cash in and see if there is someone willing to pay him more
I expect to leave
Amaree Abram (just didn't work out)
Deebo Coleman (should graduate)
Ebenezer Dowouna (I wonder if he would change himself to a NIL walk-on to come back)
Ibrahima Sacko (I think he gets squeezed out, also there is a huge cultural barrier with him because he doesn't speak English well so he is hard to coach and they have someone interpreting for him, which seems like a lot for his skill set).
So that is where things stand.
Here is the latest on each top recruiting target
Daquan Davis (Overtime Elite- Baltimore, MD)
Davis wants to come to GT and the staff wants him at GT. He has some people around him clouding and trying to make the decision about money. However, the #2 school FSU has its own issues including whether or not Leonard Hamilton returns. They also had some reported NIL payment snafus this year and that overlapped with Davis being on a visit down there and that was not a great look. Several of the FSU assistants are looking to bail out if they can get a job this offseason on another staff like Steve Smith who will be interviewing for mid-major jobs as a HC and Jarrod Lazarus who is the glue guy on his staff who wants to be a full-time assistant somewhere. The family sees the unraveling at FSU as a major problem. Davis really likes being in Atlanta and the reality is the situation is probably better here for him long term to make money via the profile of being an elite player in Atlanta versus Tally. There will be some headaches taking Davis, but they believe he is worth the headaches.
Davis' weird OV went extremely well and may have closed it out for the Jackets.
All signs point to GT, but stuff can change between now and his decision in a couple of weeks.
Justin Pippen (Sierra Canyon- Chatsworth, CA)
The staff are thinking about taking both Davis and Pippen now. That would be three interesting guards along with Jaeden Mustaf (Overtime Elite- Bowie, MD) who already signed. Pippen is more of a combo guard like Mustaf if you project him out and look at how his brother and dad continued growing. Pippen's situation is similar to Davis where the other main schools involved are also facing near-term coaching changes. This comes down to space IMO and fit. Also like Davis, Stoudamire is inviting some headaches by having the Pippen extended family circus around his program. Does he want to deal with that?
Xavier jumped into the mix along with GT, Stanford and A&M. Xavier coach Sean Miller is a possible candidate for several other jobs including Ohio State while Buzz Williams hasn't really caught fire at A&M but is likely safe for another year with the AD situation there and Stanford is expected to fire Jerod Haase after an absolute collapse the last few weeks will give him a losing record in league play for the 5th time in eight years with just one winning season and one NIT bid there and no NCAAs.
The other big target Doryan Onwuchekwa (Faith Family Academy- Dallas, TX) appears to be a GT/TCU race now.
So that is recruiting.
On the team side, they are preparing a large NIL package for Baye Ndongo to keep him. Right now Miles Kelly is the highest-paid player and will have to take a more reasonable cut if he wants to return for another season which he does. His NIL deal was set up for a top 15 ACC player and he has not performed like one and I think everyone involved understands, he is a piece not the thing you build it around. Damon has done a lot for him to expand and improve his game and now he has to put that together with better players around him to market himself for a future pro career with a good senior season.
With Ndongo, he is happy, the primary goal there is keeping it that way and keeping poachers away from him. He likes the situation and his teammates and the staff here so he wants to stay.
The really interesting one for me is Tafara Gapare because two weeks ago I thought he was actually going to get squeezed out, but he is an X-factor guy and shows enough flashes where you want to build around him. It will be interesting to see if he squeezes someone like Ibrahima Sacko out of a spot.
Stoudamire views this like the pros because the players are getting paid and are not tied to the program so he is trying to put together the best team he can year to year.
There are 13 spots and this is how I see it right now.
I expect to return and class for next year (6 players)
Tafara Gapare (Jr.)
Nait George (So.)
Baye Ndongo (So.)
Kowacie Reeves Jr. (Sr.)
Ibrahim Souare (R-Fr.)
Lance Terry (R-Sr.)
Commits (3)
Jaeden Mustaf (Overtime Elite- Bowie, MD
Darrion Sutton (Overtime Elite- O'Fallon, MO)
Cole Kirouac (North Forsyth- Cumming, GA) I'm curious if he somehow ends up as a gray shirt or blue shirt
So that puts you at 10. If they take Davis/Pippen and Doryan that leaves two more spots. If they need that spot then it gets interesting with someone like Kirouac IMO. He is a project guy.
On the bubble
Miles Kelly (Sr.) does he try to cash in and see if there is someone willing to pay him more
I expect to leave
Amaree Abram (just didn't work out)
Deebo Coleman (should graduate)
Ebenezer Dowouna (I wonder if he would change himself to a NIL walk-on to come back)
Ibrahima Sacko (I think he gets squeezed out, also there is a huge cultural barrier with him because he doesn't speak English well so he is hard to coach and they have someone interpreting for him, which seems like a lot for his skill set).
So that is where things stand.
