2025 Seattle-native Kaden Powers commits to Rutgers Basketball
Rutgers Basketball landed its third commitment of the 2025 class, with Seattle-native guard Kaden Powers committing.
BB Recruiting 2025 Seattle-native Kaden Powers commits to Rutgers Basketball
- Thread starter Richie O
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2025 Seattle-native Kaden Powers commits to Rutgers Basketball
Rutgers Basketball landed its third commitment of the 2025 class, with Seattle-native guard Kaden Powers committing.
TKR Pod: 2025 SG Kaden Powers Commits to Rutgers Basketball
The TKR Podcast offers an instant reaction Rutgers Basketball landing 2025 guard Kaden Powers.
Great to see a commit from the pacific northwest. Kaden's high school Rainier Beach in Seattle has produced a number of NBA players; including Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson, and Dejounte Murray.
Alleged 3 point accuracy. We’ve had many hypothetical shooters through the years, Gavin being the latest.
It’s a little different now, though. I would think a higher percentage of 3 star recruits will be going to mid-majors, since it makes less sense to develop players at a P5 over the course of years only to have them leave to the highest bidder. If they can’t contribute immediately, there’s a higher chance that it’s a wasted scholarship. Perhaps they can contribute immediately and of course, there will be exceptions, but we’ve already locked in 3 3-star freshman. I also understand you can’t just relay on rankings and Pike has shown good judgement for the most part. I still think we should be focusing on highly ranked freshmen who can contribute immediately, transfers, and grad students. The 3 stars can be gotten later if needed. Even before NIL, this three man class would be considered disappointing.
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I hear you on a lot of this. But Pike DID focus on 4- and 5-star recruits for the 2025 recruiting class, and he basically whiffed on all of them. We have to get SOME freshman in the early signing period, as you don't want to be left just chasing the leftovers in the spring signing period, nor do you want ALL portal guys in the spring.
I think that Mark is a borderline 4-star PG who has been hovering around a 150 ranking all year, and could very well climb. So I think he is certainly worthwhile for an "early" signing. And although Powers is outside the top 150, he's not too far outside.
Knowing his clips are just "best hits" highlights, as most clips are, I still like his film A LOT. He has skills ... certainly has an excellent mid-range (drive and pull up, fadeaway, step back) game, with good legitimate 6'4" to 6'5" size ... and if Richie also says he has solid 3-point range ... you can win games with a bunch of players like that.
I understand there are various ranking services but Powers is the one that worries me the most. 247 has him ranked 225 nationally (for reference that’s behind Jalen Miller in his class). His offers were hometown Washington, Idaho, Illinois-Chicago and James Madison, Utah State, San Jose State, Weber State, UT-Arlington, Montana, and Seattle according to them.
15 scholarships does make it a little less important than in the past and I certainly don’t expect to duplicate last year’s class. However, we went from 2, 3, and 116 to 178, 205, and 225 nationally. That cannot be spun any way but disappointing.
The stars aligned for our current class. It's almost inexplicable. The coaching connections to the Harper, Bailey, and Sommerville families were too strong for other programs to break. The fact all three players are in the same class... again, simply unfathomable.
Unfortunately, it just so happens that it appears we don't have the proper connections to get a top 75 recruit in the 2025 class. My guess that changes next year... especially if Pikiell proves he can coach (i.e., develop and improve) our superstar recruits this season. There's a lot of chatter out there from those who think Pike won't allow Harper and Bailey to shine the way in which they are capable. We shall see.
It's only disappointing if you had the unrealistic expectation that we would continue to get 5 stars each class. We are not and never will be a blue blood. Last year was an anomaly. If you're this disappointed, that's honestly on you.
Powers was in the Rivals 150 in spring of 2024, so i don't think this is a lack of talent or skill issue. He's a legitimate player IMO and is really the truest shooting guard, that's actually a guard in the Pike era.....
We had Montez Mathis in the Top 150, who was more of a downhill driving guard who wasn't a shooter.....we also landed Jaden Jones and Gavin Griffiths, who really had SF or PF height and length, but really didn't possess guard skil sets on both ends of the floor.
Most of the other guard commits were combo guards. Powers is probably the best catch and shoot HS recruit RU has landed that isn't in the 4* or higher range. I think RHJ had a lot of catch and shoot capability and Powers is in that realm as a shooter. Can be put together the other aspects of his game that showed up this summer during the Peach Jam Circuit?? I'm fairly comfortable that his tape indicates he will knock down shots.
We had Montez Mathis in the Top 150, who was more of a downhill driving guard who wasn't a shooter.....we also landed Jaden Jones and Gavin Griffiths, who really had SF or PF height and length, but really didn't possess guard skil sets on both ends of the floor.
Most of the other guard commits were combo guards. Powers is probably the best catch and shoot HS recruit RU has landed that isn't in the 4* or higher range. I think RHJ had a lot of catch and shoot capability and Powers is in that realm as a shooter. Can be put together the other aspects of his game that showed up this summer during the Peach Jam Circuit?? I'm fairly comfortable that his tape indicates he will knock down shots.
I clearly stated I didn’t expect that. I also didn’t expect to get what we got. My expectation was somewhere in between. This looks more like the class with Reiber etc.
lol. There are two rankings. The composite says 179 but if you look at Rutgers class with the 3 players, it says National 225.
It’s silly to say we’ll never be anything. Do you think anyone thought Gonzaga would be a “blue blood” 20 years ago?
Unless we manage to get 5 star freshman.....the strength of future roster is going to likely come from transfers. Of course there are outliers such as Geo who come in as freshman and kill it.....but the difference with freshman ranked from 150 - 250 will probably not manifest until sophomore or junior seasons. By then because of the portal/NIL, its only a guess which programs they will even be on.
