Okay lots of things to unpack here so let’s start with recruiting.
RECRUITING....
Spoke with a mid-major coach who used to be at the high major level, so he has a ton of connections throughout. Regardless he was at the EYBL events down in Georgia last weekend and he told me there was a lot of talk about Rutgers being the favorite for the Dylan Harper. Now as mentioned previously, there is still a long way to go here as he doesn’t want to decide until after Peach Jam late July, but I really like Rutgers chances right now.
Next up I spoke with someone close to the Baye Ndogno situation and despite Georgetown putting in some inquires as I will call them, they are out. However I’m told the main reason he hasn’t signed yet is because his main recruiter at Rutgers, Karl Hobbs is now down at Georgia Tech and pushing to get him to join them down there. Now they did just add a transfer four-star forward with three years left in former UMass big man Tamara Gape, but the Yellow Jackets still have 4-5 scholarships left (waiting on a decision from one guy) so that shouldn’t play too much of an effect. On the flip side I’m told Rutgers continues to do work here as Knight and Thompson are pushing to keep him a Scarlet Knight. Long story short it's a legit 50/50 situation currently.
Now time for some Mackenzie Mgbako news. There’s a lot to unpack here, so buckle your seatbelts.
As reported yesterday by The Knight Report, Rutgers is most definitely involved with Mgbako. However it will be a tough battle since there are many options here as Rick Pitino has already met with him per Andrew Slater, Louisville who was the early favorite just after he requested his release from Duke, but UL always thinks they have guys locked up that they don't and finally there’s the G-League route where he would skip college altogether. Plenty of options here so it’s hard to get a true read on things.
So there’s a lot going on here, but the one thing we do know is that word coming out of Mgbako’s camp is that he wants to get this one done relatively quickly so a decision could come sooner rather than later.
ASSISTANT COACH UPDATE....
— As @RU72 posted recently, sounds like Rutgers is down to five candidates and a decision will be made off of that. Now we don’t know who the top five is, but according to one source that coach won’t be former DePaul / current Overtime Elite HC Dave Letaio. The source said that he is very comfortable working down at Overtime Elite and given his age (62), he might not want to be out and about on the recruiting trail nonstop anyway. Since then we have removed him from our hot board.
— One name that has creeped up the list a bit is Stetson asst. coach / Rutgers alum Jon Mitchell. As mentioned previously he is a name that we mentioned is interested in the job and he recently helped lead Stetson to a record of 17-14, the program’s most wins in 35 years and first winning season in 23 years. He also just helped the program land Minnesota transfer Treyton Thompson. Would be a welcomed addition to Rutgers. However I can’t say for sure he is a top five guy on the list or not.
RECRUITING....
Now time for some Mackenzie Mgbako news. There’s a lot to unpack here, so buckle your seatbelts.
So there’s a lot going on here, but the one thing we do know is that word coming out of Mgbako’s camp is that he wants to get this one done relatively quickly so a decision could come sooner rather than later.
ASSISTANT COACH UPDATE....
— As @RU72 posted recently, sounds like Rutgers is down to five candidates and a decision will be made off of that. Now we don’t know who the top five is, but according to one source that coach won’t be former DePaul / current Overtime Elite HC Dave Letaio. The source said that he is very comfortable working down at Overtime Elite and given his age (62), he might not want to be out and about on the recruiting trail nonstop anyway. Since then we have removed him from our hot board.
— One name that has creeped up the list a bit is Stetson asst. coach / Rutgers alum Jon Mitchell. As mentioned previously he is a name that we mentioned is interested in the job and he recently helped lead Stetson to a record of 17-14, the program’s most wins in 35 years and first winning season in 23 years. He also just helped the program land Minnesota transfer Treyton Thompson. Would be a welcomed addition to Rutgers. However I can’t say for sure he is a top five guy on the list or not.
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