Top prospects go on record about their recruitment

July is a busy time for recruiting. College coaches travel across the country to evaluate talent, recruits trip to college campuses for visits, relationships are formed, and decisions are made.

I decided to ask a handful of top 2023 and 2024 recruits a series of questions to learn the latest on their college recruitment.

This will be a running story that will continuously be updated.

4-star Amier Ali (SF)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 27
Montverde Academy (FL) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Kentucky, Oregon, Texas, and Ohio State.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   Kentucky and UCLA.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   No I did not.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Coach Diebler (Ohio State) because we talk a lot and he checks up a lot.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them?
   Isaiah Elohim, Dedan Thomas, Dra Gibbs-Lawhorn.  

5-star Isaiah Elohim (SG)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 6
Sierra Canyon (CA) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Kentucky, Baylor, Gonzaga, UCLA, and Arkansas are recruiting me the hardest.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   I’d have to talk more about it with my family but Kentucky, Duke, Baylor, and Arizona. I’ve taken unofficials to UCLA.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   When I was a kid, it was Syracuse.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Coach Scott Drew (Baylor). We’ve had great talks about life and basketball and we communicate almost every day.
   Coach Chin Coleman (Kentucky). He’s extremely relatable and just a good dude in general. We talk very often.
   Coach Ronnie Brewer (Arkansas). We talk a lot about the program and its history and what they’re about.
   Coach Mick Cronin and the UCLA staff. They’re great guys and we have that east coast connection and toughness. Coach Cronin is recruiting me really hard.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   There are players I’ve had talks about it with and some are trying to recruit me but when I make my decision it’ll be because I want to be there. I’m not gonna base it off other people.

4-star James Brown (C)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 30
St. Rita (IL) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Right now, I would say Howard, Illinois, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, Texas Tech, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Missouri, and UCLA.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   Schools that I would love to visit that I haven’t visited yet would be Howard, North Carolina, UCLA, Texas Tech, Texas A&M, Michigan, and Duke.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   I had a few dream schools growing up — Ohio State, North Carolina, Duke, and UCLA.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   I think I’ve gotten to the closest relationship with Coach (Anthony) Solomon from Notre Dame. I say this because he is always reaching out to talk to me whether it’s a phone call or text. I know anything he tells me is facts and the truth and that he looks at me more than a recruit that he is trying to get. But more like a family member and I really feel the love from him!
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   There are a few people I wouldn’t mind teaming up with in college: Jeremy Fears, Liam McNeeley, Zay (Isaiah) Elohim, Boogie Fland, David Castillo, Ian Jackson and Morez Johnson. Me and Fears have talked about playing at Michigan State together. I’ve known him since like the 2nd grade. We’re both from Illinois and every time we play together it’s a problem for the other team lol. I’ve also talked about teaming up with my high school and AAU teammate Morez at U of I. Me and him together right now is already scary seeing us together under Brad Underwood in our home state would be a problem for the whole NCAA!!!!

4-star Cam Scott (SG)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 21
Lexington (SC) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Oregon, South Carolina, North Carolina, College of Charleston.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   I plan on visiting Oregon in October. I’m looking to set up South Carolina, UNC, and Florida State visits soon as well.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Yes, I was a big Duke fan growing up.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Chuck Martin at Oregon. Considering he was one of the very first people I talked to college recruitment-wise. He was one of the easier coaches to build a bond with and it also help how much he gets along with my family.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   Nobody specific as of now but teaming up with some top players is something I could see myself doing.

5-star Baye Fall (C)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 9
Accelerated Schools Aka Family Services Found (CO) | Class of 2023

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Seton Hall, Texas, Arkansas, Oregon, Rutgers, Auburn, Colorado.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   I’ll be visiting Texas on September 10th. In the same month, I’ll visit Rutgers, and I also want to revisit Arkansas and Seton Hall.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Not really.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Seton Hall because I got a good relationship with Coach Shaheen Holloway.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   I want to play with Assane Diop (cousin) if it’s possible but other than that, a couple of guys have told me that they want to team up with me.

4-star Liam McNeeley (SF)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 15
Montverde Academy (FL) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Texas, Indiana, Iowa, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, and Oklahoma State are recruiting me the hardest right now.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   I want to take official visits to Indiana, Stanford, and Iowa. (McNeeley has unofficially visited Texas, TCU, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State)
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   I did not have a dream school growing up. I cheered for everyone from the blue bloods to the small local schools.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   I have become the closest with Coach Beard at Texas. Texas is the school that I’ve taken the most visits to, and he has also come to see me play quite a bit.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   I wouldn’t say I want to team up with anybody right now, but I’m really excited to take official visits with other guys that are also being recruited by the same school, and just talk about that possibility.

4-star Jason Asemota (SF)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 14
Hillcrest Prep (AZ) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   The school that is recruiting me the hardest right now I would say is Baylor for certain.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   A school I would love to visit would be UNC and Oregon.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   My dream school growing up was definitely Oregon. Ever since I was a kid, I always wanted to go there.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   A college coach I formed the closest relationship with would definitely be Coach Jakus from Baylor. We talk almost every day, either on the phone, text, or Instagram.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   I don’t really want to like get into the whole trying to recruit someone to play with me in college or some other player have a say in where I should go because I feel as if this is more a lifelong decision. I want to go in knowing I really want to do this rather for myself, rather than my friend saying it’s a good school.

On3 5-star Yves Missi (C)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 33 | On3 Ranking: No. 6
West Nottingham Academy (MD) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   I would say Michigan, UCLA, Kansas, Stanford, Georgetown, and DePaul are some of the schools that are recruiting me the hardest.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   I would like to visit almost all the schools that are recruiting me like UCLA, Michigan, Kansas, etc.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Growing up when I was in Cameroon, my dream school was definitely Duke.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Since June 15th, I didn’t really build a “strong” relationship yet with any coaches.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   Not really.

On3 5-star Somto Cyril (C)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 20 | On3 Ranking: No. 10
Hamilton Heights Christian Academy (TN) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Tennessee.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   Texas, Marquette, Michigan, South Carolina, Tennessee.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Yes, Kentucky.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Rick Barnes at Tennessee. I went to most of their games last year.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them?
   For now, I don’t have an answer for that.
   
   Note from Somto Cyril: “Overall, these answers are based on what’s going on now. They could change.” 

4-star Coen Carr (SF)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 54
Legacy Early College (SC) | Class of 2023

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Vanderbilt, Indiana, Cincinnati, Tennessee State, Tennessee.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   UConn, Cincinnati, LSU, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, NC State.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Oregon.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Coach Stackhouse (Vanderbilt) because he’s been to the NBA and he played by position at the highest level. Also, Coach Ya (Yasir Rosemond) at Indiana because I’ve known him since I was a freshman.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them?
   Stephon Castle (UConn) and Gabe Cupps (Indiana) have been recruiting me a lot.  

4-star Derik Queen (PF)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 12
Montverde Academy (FL) | Class of 2024

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Maryland, Arizona, Indiana, Seton Hall.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   Arizona and Indiana.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Yes, it was Kentucky.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   Either Maryland or Arizona.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them? 
   Not sure yet.

4-star Isaiah Miranda (PF)

On3 Consensus Ranking: No. 26
Southern California Academy | Class of 2023

1. Which schools are recruiting you the hardest?
   Right now, UCLA and Georgetown are going the hardest. They had someone at all of my games in the first July live period. USC and UConn show a lot of love too. New schools like UNC, Oklahoma, Arizona State, and Washington have been making a push lately.
2. What schools would you like to visit? 
   I’ve already visited UCLA, USC, UConn, and Georgetown, so I’d really like to see Oklahoma and UNC. I’m working on some dates with them now.
3. Did you have a dream school growing up? 
   Growing up, as a kid, I loved UCLA, UNC, and Oregon so I would put them all in that dream school category.
4. Which college coach would you say you’ve formed the closest relationship with and why?
   There have been a couple of coaches I’ve really connected with. Matt Brady (Oklahoma) has been recruiting me early since he was at Maryland so we’ve built a good relationship over the past two years. I really connected with Coach Cronin and Coach Savino at UCLA, they remind me a lot of my coaches at RI Elite. The whole Georgetown staff is awesome. Every time we talk it’s all love and jokes. I feel really comfortable with those guys.
5. Is there anybody you’d like to team up with in college or is anyone recruiting you to join them?
   I would love to play with Mikey Williams or Marvel Allen. Those are my guys, plus they’re both great point guards.