When Indiana offered Virginia-based forward Nate Ament a year ago, he was a highly-ranked prospect on the radar of several top programs.
Now he’s a consensus top-10 5-star in the 2025 class, and the main schools recruiting him are most of the biggest brands in college basketball.
At 6-foot-9 with versatile inside-and-out skills, Ament is the prototype for the modern game.
Although he enjoys one of the more competitive recruitments in the country, Ament is trying to stay level headed.
“I’m just taking it one day at a time. I’m grateful,” he told The Daily Hoosier in Rock Hill S.C. “I’m just staying humble, not getting too ahead of myself, staying hungry because I’m not where I want to be yet. I feel like I have such a high ceiling because I haven’t achieved it yet.”
Ament says Louisville, Virginia, Indiana, North Carolina, UConn, Duke, Kansas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky are the main schools he’s hearing from.
He says he’s looking to take his visits in the August and September timeframe, but doesn’t have any set up just yet, with the exception of home state Virginia. That’s likely to change very soon, as Ament says he wants to see a lot of programs in the months to come.
That includes Indiana.
“I don’t have a date for a visit yet (at Indiana), but we’re going to set something up for sure I bet,” Ament told TDH.
What is the appeal of IU?
“Indiana, they’ve been pushing hard, the assistants are always in touch,” Ament told The Daily Hoosier.
“Mike Woodson is an NBA guy, he’s sent a bunch of players to the league. It’s kind of hard to not like a coach like that, especially someone of my status. He’s a great coach, and you love to be coached by someone like that. I feel like he knows what he is doing and would have a plan for me.”
Ament credits his improvement in his mid-range game and post moves as factors that contributed to his major rise over the last few months.
Watching Ament play several games over the last week, he appears to be a player who could thrive at either forward spot at the next level. And he’s looking for a college program that embraces his ability to play multiple roles on the floor.
“I don’t really feel like there’s a right (positional) pitch, per se, I feel like it’s more them letting me be able to play as many positions as possible and stay versatile because I’m a versatile player,” he said. “I don’t want to be boxed into a particular position, but at the end of the day where I go, I’m going to trust my coach.”
For their part, Woodson and his staff are operating like they believe they have a chance in this very crowded and competitive recruitment. The full staff watched Ament at one point last week at the Adidas 3SSB Championships, and they had eyes on him at all times.
Ament says given where he’s at with everything right now, it might make sense to wait to decide on a college until the spring.
“I don’t really have a plan, taking it slow. I haven’t cut my list down. I’m going to try to take as many visits as I can. I want to try to give every program that is still interested in me a chance, because I want to go where I’m wanted.”
For a player who can go play college basketball pretty much wherever he wants, what will ultimately fuel his decision when Ament picks a school?
“I feel like I have great relationship with all of the coaches who I hear from,” Ament said. “It’s going to be tough for sure. I’m just going to go where I’m most comfortable and where I’m wanted the most.
“It’s not really about the name for me, it’s about the best fit.”
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