Basketball Recruiting Update: End of the Quiet Period

It’s been almost 6 weeks since the last basketball recruiting update and there’s good reason for that. Not a lot happened. The team traveled to Italy and that obviously took them away from trying to actively recruit. It also corresponded nearly exactly with the quiet period that ran from August 1st through this past Sunday. That meant coaches could not have face-to-face communication with recruits unless it happened on their own college campus.

However, the quiet period ended on Monday and that meant the coaching staff was out and about making it clear who their priority targets were in the next several classes.

2020 Recruiting Class

Cade Cunningham, Montverde Academy, Arlington, Texas.

Combo Guard, 6’7, 215. 5 star, #2 overall.

Cunningham is the top ranked uncommitted prospect on the board in 2020 and might be the top ranked prospect overall depending upon who you ask. He included the Huskies in his top-5 earlier this summer and announced two weeks ago that he would be taking an official visit to each location and that Washington would get the last one on the weekend of October 19th (same weekend as the UW-Oregon football game).

This race has been presumed all but over ever since Oklahoma State hired his older brother as an assistant coach. But the longer this thing drags out the more doubt has to creep into everyone’s mind. Washington got a shot when Coach Hopkins coached Cunningham with USA Basketball this summer. It’s tough to know how this kind of thing actually affects a recruit but North Carolina, Kentucky, and Florida all had their head coaches visit Cunningham yesterday while UW only sent an assistant.

2021 Recruiting Class

Paolo Banchero, O’Dea High School, Seattle, Washington.

Power Forward, 6’10, 235. 5 star, #5 overall.

No surprise that Banchero was one of the primary visits for the coaching staff. He’s local, he’s a legacy, he’s one of the best players in the country. The Huskies will be considered the favorites for him until he goes out of his way to shower effusive praise on another program. Until then, Banchero is going to use all of his visits on other programs while knowing he can step on the UW campus whenever he wishes. It’s going to be a long drawn out battle for the best prospect to come out of Seattle in a long time. Get ready for it.

Peyton Watson, Long Beach Poly, Long Beach, California.

Small Forward, 6’7, 170. 4 star, #39 overall.

This is the first time that we’ve mentioned Watson in this space because he never tweeted out an official offer from the program previously. Both the Washington and Arizona coaching staffs were in to visit Watson yesterday and he scheduled official visits to both programs which suggests they’re the front runners. His recruitment has almost entirely been confined to the West Coast and he seems like a kid that will stay in the Pac-12 unless a Duke or Kentucky come sniffing around.

Watson is an athletic and lanky wing the likes of which the Huskies could really use on this current roster. 2021 means Watson would potentially be coming in to take the spot of Nahziah Carter and he is definitely a much higher rated recruit than Carter was coming out of high school. We’ll see where the Huskies stand with Watson after he comes up the weekend of the UW-USC football game when a number of high profile football recruits will be visiting.

Jackson Grant, Olympia High School, Olympia, Washington.

Power Forward/Center, 6’9, 205. 4 star, #66 overall.

Coach Hopkins will be down on Thursday to check in with Grant who the Huskies are doing very well with. He took an unofficial visit to both Stanford and Washington in the last few months but will be booking an official to UW for later in the fall. He also has official visits set up with Wisconsin and Stanford and those appear to be his top-3 at the moment. Grant got some experience with USA Basketball this summer and will be headed back to participate in a mini-camp this October.

2023 Recruiting Class

Jaylin Stewart, Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington.

Combo Guard, 6’4.

Would you like to feel old?

That is the son of ex-Rainier Beach star Lodrick Stewart and nephew of ex-Husky great Tre Simmons. He’s also an incoming freshman at Garfield which means there’s no ranking associated with him as of yet. But you can bet that if the coaching staff offers him in the first week of his freshman season that he’s a special talent. Especially with those bloodlines. His father attended USC rather than UW but with an uncle like Tre Simmons and growing up in Seattle you have to think that the Huskies are going to be early favorites. Keep this one on the back burner and we’ll see how he looks in his freshman season.

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

STILL A CHANCE

Noah Taitz, SG, 6’3, 175. 4 star, #106 overall.

Kendall Munson, PF, 6’8, 210. 3 star, #161 overall.

Mitchell Saxen, C, 6’10, 210. 3 star, #273 overall.

PIPE DREAM

Cade Cunningham, CG, 6’6, 215. 5 star, #2 overall.

THE BLUTARSKY (0.0%)

Joshua Christopher, SG, 6’5, 215. 5 star, #10 overall.

Jalen Green, SG, 6’5, 170. 5 star, #3 overall.

The 2021 List

IN A GOOD SPOT

Shane Nowell, SG, 6’5, 190. 4 star, #67 overall.

Jackson Grant, C, 6’9, 205. 4 star, #66 overall.

John Christofilis, SG, 6’4, 170. 4 star, #166 overall.

Peyton Watson, SF, 6’7, 170. 4 star, #39 overall.

Paolo Banchero, PF, 6’10, 235. 5 star, #4 overall.

STILL A CHANCE

Nolan Hickman, PG, 6’1, 180. 4 star, #97 overall.

TOO EARLY TO TELL

Zaon Collins, PG, 6’1, 165. 4 star, #62 overall.

Will McClendon, SG, 6’3, 190. 4 star, #137 overall.

Malik Thomas, SG, 6’3, 190. 4 star, #126 overall.

Trey Patterson, SF, 6’7, 170. 4 star #37 overall.

THE BLUTARSKY (0.0%)

Franck Kepnang, C, 6’10, 220. 4 star, #23 overall.

Jaden Hardy, CG, 6’4, 185. 5 star, #8 overall.

Jonathan Kuminga, SF, 6’8, 205. 5 star, #1 overall.

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