Basketball Recruiting Update: End of July Evaluation Period

We have now hit the end of the July evaluation period. For the next 6 weeks a coach isn’t allowed face-to-face contact with a recruit unless it’s on their own college campus. Which means that any recruiting news we get is likely to come in the form of kids taking official visits to UW.

Class of 2019

Cole Bajema, SF, 6’7, 185. Lynden Christian H.S, Lynden, WA.

Unrated by any service.

Other Offers: Virginia, Xavier, Oregon State, Pepperdine, San Francisco, Santa Clara

The Huskies extended an offer to Cole on Saturday night which marks the first new offer for 2019 in several months. Bajema had a stellar week playing for Friends of Hoop and was noted by several outlets as a standout performer. 247 also listed him as one of the players who improved their stock the most during the July evaluation period. He was the Washington 1A player of the year this past season averaging 23 points and 7 rebounds per game as a junior for Lynden which is near the WA/Canada border.

Josh Gershon had an interview ($) with Bajema on Friday. At the time Lynden had no power conference offers but had interest from UW, OSU, WSU, and Michigan. The Huskies pulled the trigger on Saturday and the Beavers followed a few hours later. Then good old Tony Bennett and Virginia offered this afternoon. Still, Washington seems to be in a great spot here. Bajema’s older sister is a member of the UW volleyball team and Washington is obviously the closest D1 school to his hometown. Hopkins can’t get enough 6’6+ shooters in his system and Bajema would represent another one.

Given all of that, if Hopkins puts the full court press on Bajema I’d be pretty surprised if he chooses elsewhere. We’ll see where Bajema gets moved to in the recruiting rankings following this weekend but given the raves he’s gotten from guys like Gershon it will probably be in at least the top-200. (P.S: Note that this highlight video is a year old. But it’s the most recent one I could find.)

EDIT 8/4/18: So much for that. Bajema committed this morning to Michigan seemingly the second that they offered. After writing this the information started to trickle out about how much Bajema coveted that Michigan offer. Before moving to Washington he grew up in Michigan and was raised rooting for the Wolverines. He also sent footage directly to John Beilein to get on their radar in the first place. Given all of that it quickly became evident that Michigan would be the the team to be beat if they offered. The term dream school gets overused but it seems evident that Michigan most certainly is that for Bajema.

P.J Fuller, PG/SG, 6’4, 170. Garfield H.S, Seattle, Washington.

247Sports: 4 star, #52 overall; Rivals: 4 star, #52 overall; ESPN: 4 star, #71 overall

Other Offers: Arizona, Florida, Florida State, TCU, USC, Oregon

Fuller has added 8 offers in the last month and continues to be one of the top talents on the West Coast. Eric Bossi at Rivals spoke to Fuller this weekend and got a quick update from him. So far the only official visit that he knows he’s going to take is to TCU. That may seem odd but P.J has a pre-existing relationship with one of the assistant coaches. I don’t know if that’s enough to pull P.J away from the West Coast but they aren’t a fluke to be in his top-5. Hopkins was in attendance for several of Fuller’s games this week and UW continues to make him a priority.

Jaden McDaniels, SF, 6’10, 200. Federal Way H.S, Federal Way, Washington.

247Sports: 5 star, #5 overall; Rivals: 5 star, #4 overall; ESPN: 5 star, #4 overall

Other Offers: Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, San Diego State, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, UCLA

There were no interviews with McDaniels as not much has changed since he was covered by several large outlets a few weeks ago. Hopkins and up to 3 assistants were at most Seattle Rotary games watching McDaniels and others. Mostly I wanted to tantalize you with this clip:

Class of 2020

MarJon Beauchamp, SG, 6’6, 175. Rainier Beach H.S, Seattle, Washington.

247Sports: 5 star, #21 overall; Rivals: 5 star, #21 overall; 5 star, #24 overall

Other Offers: Arizona, Arizona State, Florida State, Washington State

Beauchamp talked to Corey Evans at Rivals about the state of his recruitment and included a quote about some of the top teams. Here’s what Beauchamp had to say about Washington:

“They are on me really hard. I think they are good. I like Coach Hop (Mike Hopkins) and the 2-3 zone that he brought there. I think that I would fit into it well with my long arms. I go up there all of the time to shoot around. They are the only program that I have really been to.”

That’s by far more information than he provided for any other school. It makes sense since he is still more than a year away from being able to sign and he hasn’t really gotten into serious recruitment mode yet. For at least a few years it was understandable that Hop wouldn’t have a stronger relationship with the local kids as any other program given his recency. But with the class of 2020 it seems like he’s been able to enact the kind of advantage the local school is supposed to have. Whether they win it or not expect UW to be in it with MarJon until the end. Although there is a clear red flag that he’ll be attending his 3rd high school in 3 years this upcoming season (Nathan Hale then Garfield then Rainier Beach) and seems likely to pull off the improbable 3-peat of state 3A titles while at 3 different schools.

L.J Cryer, 6’1, 180. Morton Ranch H.S, Katy, Texas.

247Sports: 4 star, #71 overall; Rivals: 4 star, #86 overall; ESPN: 4 star, #51 overall.

Other Offers: Baylor, LSU, Texas, Texas A&M, Virginia Tech

The Huskies offered Cryer this week although I’d be shocked if he ended up in Seattle. I can’t recall the last time UW pulled a basketball player out of Texas and Cryer already has offers from every major school in his home state as well as several from nearby states. Washington also already has offers out to several other 2020 point guards who seem more realistic targets.

Daishen Nix, 6’3, 185. Trinity International, Las Vegas, Nevada.

247Sports: 4 star, #82 overall; Rivals: 4 star; ESPN: NR.

Other Offers: Kansas, Minnesota, UNLV

One of those more likely point guards includes Nix. Washington had Coach Hop plus 2 assistants at one of Nix’s games this weekend when he supposedly played quite well. Washington was the first power conference school to offer. However, Kansas putting in an early bid as well will be tough to beat.

The 2019 List (in approximate order of likelihood to sign with Washington)

IN A GOOD SPOT

Cole Bajema, SF, 6’7, 185. NR (will change very shortly).

P.J Fuller, PG/SG, 6’4, 170. 4 star, #53 overall (247 composite).

Noah Williams, PG, 6’5, 175. 3 star, #291 overall.

STILL A CHANCE

Jaden McDaniels, SF, 6’10, 200. 5 star, #4 overall.

PIPE DREAM

Isaiah Stewart, C, 6’9, 245. 5 star, #5 overall.

THE BLUTARSKY (0.0%)

Nico Mannion, PG, 6’3, 180. 5 star, #17 overall.

Joe Girard III, SG, 6’1, 178, 4 star, #116 overall.

Brian Antoine, SG, 6’5, 168. 5 star, #10 overall.

Scottie Lewis, SF, 6’5, 184. 5 star, #9 overall.

Josh Green, SF, 6’6, 190. 5 star, #11 overall.

Wendell Moore, SF, 6’5, 210. 5 star, #21 overall.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, PF, 6’9, 231. 5 star, #18 overall.

The 2020 List (in approximate order of likelihood to sign with Washington)

IN A GOOD SPOT

Lamont Butler, PG, 6’1, 172. NR.

MarJon Beauchamp, SG, 6’6, 175. 5 star, #21 overall.

Noah Taitz, SG, 6’3, 175. 4 star, #83 overall.

Isaiah Cotrell, PF, 6’9, 200. 4 star, #47 overall.

STILL A CHANCE

Julian Strawther, SF, 6’7. 5 star, #22 overall.

Daishen Nix, PG, 6’3, 185. 3 star, #173 overall.

Franck Kepnang, PF, 6’10, 220. NR.

PIPE DREAM

L.J Cryer, PG, 6’1, 180. 4 star, #63 overall.

THE BLUTARSKY (0.0%)

Johnny Juzang, SF, 6’6, 200. 4 star, #27 overall.

Joshua Christopher, SG, 6’4, 190. 5 star, #12 overall.

Jalen Green, SG, 6’5, 170. 5 star, #1 overall.

Evan Mobley, 6’11, 200. 5 star, #2 overall.

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