We’re getting into the homestretch for the class of 2024 recruiting targets who will commit to a college by the November early signing period. And most will likely sign early to get out in front of the spring transfer portal wave.
That’s just three months at most for prospects to take any final visits, make a decision and sign.
We currently have 13 class of 2024 players listed in IU’s “main group,” and that’s obviously far more than the Hoosiers could take in what projects to be a class size of around four. And with IU recruiting almost exclusively in the national top-50, of course each of those players have multiple high-end options.
It’s time to trim that list in the main group down, and the clues are out there on how to do it.
Things are looking positive for Indiana when it comes to 2024 combo-forward Liam McNeeley. We’ve written it before and will continue to say — he is the most likely to commit to IU at this point.
McNeeley has a second IU official visit scheduled to IU Sept. 8-10, and to our knowledge has no other official visits scheduled. If you’re looking for a domino to fall to get things rolling for IU, McNeeley is your guy.
Second official visits are rare, and McNeeley’s teammate and friend Derik Queen is also coming to IU for a second time Sept. 8-10. He also falls on the list of players Indiana both has a legitimate chance to land and are pushing hard to do so. Queen and McNeeley are teammates at Montverde Academy, and they will have taken both of their official visits to IU together.
2024 point guard Boogie Fland placed IU in his top-eight recently, which alone is more just news than notable. But yesterday it was announced IU coach Mike Woodson is speaking at the New York basketball coaches clinic at Fland’s high school next month, during a recruiting period when in person contact can be made. That’s the latest sign IU believes they have a legit shot to land the No. 1 ranked lead guard in the 2024 class, as Woodson isn’t one to make unnecessary trips.
There are also some interesting wildcards right now.
McNeeley and Queen’s Montverde teammate Asa Newell seems wide open at the moment. He’s visited IU twice and currently in the middle of a slate of visits to Gonzaga, Alabama, Texas and the G-League. His brother attends Georgia, and the Bulldogs are in the mix as well.
Fland, McNeeley, Newell and Queen are a complimentary 1-3-4-5 foursome, respectively.
Shooting guard Austin Swartz planned a visit to IU Aug. 18-20, but that hit the schedule before the NCAA announced its 2023-24 recruiting calendar. Now that window falls in a recruiting dead period, so ostensibly the visit will have to be rescheduled. Swartz has six other visits scheduled, so he’s not exactly looking at a lot of open dates at the moment. He originally scheduled IU as his first visit, so there’s at least some thought that IU carried significance.
Stretch forward Tyler Betsey recently narrowed his recruitment to seven programs, and said IU has been his best visit to this point. But there’s still a lot that stands between IU and a commitment. Betsey will take September visits to Alabama, Duke and Cincinnati, and look to announce a decision in the first half of October.
Indiana is also working to get Arkansas based shooting guard Annor Boateng on campus for a visit.
The above seven might just be the 2024 prospects still in the main group, with McNeeley, Queen and Fland leading the way.
Point guard Curtis Givens, shooting guard Travis Perry, and center Patrick Ngongba are three others still out there as possibilities but probably not in the main group at this point.
Not everything is optimistic.
We don’t pay much attention to recruiting predictions until things both get close to decision time, and the predictions start to come in waves.
There are a lot of signs pointing to overall No. 1 prospect Dylan Harper choosing Rutgers. Multiple national analysts across different outlets have placed predictions for Harper to Rutgers. Still no one is counting out Duke just yet, but IU does appear to be out of the picture.
Combo guard Jaeden Mustaf is just five weeks from a decision, and he’s picked up a prediction to Georgia Tech from well connected On3 national analyst Jamie Shaw. So that’s at least something to keep an eye on with his decision coming on Sept. 14.
Also, Florida wing Rakease Passmore just announced five more visits planned for the coming months, and IU is not on the list.
On3’s Updated Rankings for IU’s 2024 Targets:
On3 just updated their national 2024 rankings on Monday, along with the industry average of their own rankings plus 247, Rivals and ESPN. Here is where things stand according to the aggregated industry average with the above mentioned players, along with their height, position and home state. The first five are all 5-stars, the rest 4-stars.
1 – Dylan Harper, 6-5 CG (New Jersey)
7 – Boogie Fland, 6-3 PG (New York)
8 – Asa Newell – 6-9 PF (Florida)
10 – Liam McNeeley – 6-7 SF (Texas)
12 – Derik Queen – 6-9 C (Maryland)
24 – Patrick Ngongba – 6-10 C (Virginia)
28 – Annor Boateng – 6-5 SG (Arkansas)
30 – Tyler Betsey – 6-8 CF (Connecticut)
38 – Austin Swartz – 6-4 SG (North Carolina)
39 – Jaeden Mustaf – 6-5 CG (Maryland)
48 – Rakease Passmore – 6-5 SG (Florida)
53 – Curtis Givens – 6-3 PG (Tennessee)
82 – Travis Perry – 6-2 SG (Kentucky)
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