How often do top college recruits watch basketball, and what do they look for?
For top college basketball recruits like class of 2024 (for now) standout shooting guard Ian Jackson, entire days, weeks and years revolve around basketball.
Whether it’s spending time practicing, playing and training during the school year or spending summers traveling the country on shoe circuits and the world for international competitions, there’s barely any separation time from the sport for the truly elite players.
During the Under Armour Next Elite 24 showcase event in August in Chicago, Jackson described to the Herald-Leader what an average school day looks like for him.
Jackson — who attends Cardinal Hayes High School in the Bronx in New York City — works out from 6 a.m. until 7 a.m., then calls an Uber to get to Cardinal Hayes before classes start at 7:50 a.m.
After school ends, Jackson works out with his trainer from 3:30 until 5:30 p.m. Then there’s about 90 minutes to eat and relax before Jackson is back working on his basketball craft from 7 until 8:30 p.m.
Then he goes home, completes some homework and goes to bed.
“I just want to be great, really. Just knowing that it’s going to get tiring, I understand that part, but it’s me just wanting to be great and wanting to actually play at the highest level and be one of the best players ever,” Jackson said of his exhausting schedule. “That’s definitely what keeps my head going.”
So in those quieter moments when Jackson isn’t practicing, playing or working out, is he thinking about or watching basketball?
“I have no real separation time, really. I watch a lot of college basketball, watch a lot of different sets, a lot of college coaches and stuff like that, see how they play, see what works at the college level,” Jackson said.
His response reflects a common trend among his peers at the pinnacle of the basketball recruiting scene: They’ve given themselves to basketball, and there’s no off time.
Jackson — a strong candidate to reclassify from the 2024 to the 2023 recruiting class — is currently being recruited by the likes of Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and other high-major programs.
“I do try and watch some of the schools that are recruiting me to get a feel for their program and how things work when they’re on the court,” Jackson said.
Class of 2024 five-star point guard Boogie Fland — Jackson’s friend and fellow New York City high school star — also consumes as much basketball as he can when he’s away from the court.
“I watch a lot of college basketball, actually. Everybody that’s on TV, I watch. So no matter what the college is I watch it,” Fland told the Herald-Leader in Chicago. “If I know an NBA game is going to be on, I try to go away from college basketball. If I see any basketball on, I’m watching it.”
Still, Fland acknowledges that sometimes he needs a break from basketball given how much of his life the sport encompasses.
“You’ve always got to take a minute (away) from it. It can get overwhelming at times, so I probably just watch some of my shows that I like to watch or sleep or eat, things like that after I play a game,” Fland said, passing along “The Flash,” “Outer Banks” and several anime shows as his favorites to watch.
“You’ve just got to balance it. All the hard work you put in, you still deserve to have some fun in your life.”
This balance is struck even when elite recruits have conversations with top college basketball coaches like Kentucky’s John Calipari.
Justin Edwards, the current centerpiece of Kentucky’s 2023 recruiting class after committing to the Wildcats in July, said that when he spoke to Calipari during his recruitment process, the conversations were rarely about basketball.
“That’s what I like about him. We can have conversations and it just can be regular conversations, just him checking in,” Edwards said. “He’ll bring up basketball once in a blue. He’ll find out that something’s wrong with me or something like that, and he’ll ask about it. But outside of that we don’t really talk about basketball. I like stuff like that. I don’t like talking about basketball all the time.”
So what does that mean for Edwards’ basketball-watching habits?
“People say I’m weird, but I watch my own highlights. I tell myself, I used to watch old highlights of me from my freshman year and highlights of me now, and I’m like, ‘That’s a big difference,’” Edwards said. “I’m just proud of myself and where I’ve come. So why not? Back then I wasn’t able to search myself on YouTube, I can do it now.”
But before Edwards’ skill level earned him plenty of YouTube highlight videos, he still had his favorite players that he would study and watch, like Cade Cunningham, Kevin Durant and Anthony Edwards.
Soon enough, that changed.
“When I was in high school, I became my favorite player,” Edwards said. “All that, watching them, went out the window when I got to high school.”
