Florida basketball is going to be taking full advantage of the fact College GameDay is in town for football with a pair of high profile commits taking official visits. Cade Cunningham, the #2 or #1 player in 2020 depending on who you ask will be in Gainesville alongside 2021 talent Kowacie Reeves Jr., the #82 player in that class.
Cade Cunningham’s recruitment has been a unique one due to the fact that Oklahoma State hired his brother as an assistant coach in an attempt to land him. For that reason a lot of the top schools backed off Cunningham thinking it was a foregone conclusion he would be a Cowboy. Those rumors have been denied by Cunningham who maintains that he’s open to every school but not everyone is buying what he’s selling. A native of Arlington, Texas he attends Montverde Academy where the Gators can keep a close eye. The Gators certainly haven’t backed off and have stayed in the mix and there is some confidence within the staff that if Cunningham doesn’t follow his brother then the Gators are one of the leaders.
Oklahoma State has really struggled of late and does not have much of a pedigree when it comes to developing NBA talent. The fact that it isn’t historically a place where someone of Cunningham’s stature would attend makes things really interesting with the hiring of his brother as committing there may mean missing the NCAA Tournament and maybe even damaging his stock.
Cunningham is a 6’6” combo guard who can either be a lethal scorer or a true point guard. Every year there seems to be an NBA prospect in the 6’6” range who everyone claims is a big point guard and they rarely pan out but in Cunningham’s case he could be the real deal. He’s dominated every level of basketball in a way we haven’t seen from any top recruit the last few seasons and he’s going to be heavily in the mix for the first overall draft pick in the NBA.
While he hasn’t officially set a date for a commitment he has hinted that November 29th could be the date as he’ll be in Texas for a major tournament and that could give him an opportunity to announce in front of friends and family. Considering he hasn’t yet committed to his brother’s Oklahoma State staff should be a good sign for the Gators and if he waits until late November he will be able to see a few games played by each of his final schools.
Cunningham first visited Oklahoma State before visiting North Carolina. After his visit in Gainesville he’ll go to Washington and finally end with a visit to Kentucky in November. Every national recruiting analyst will tell you the Gators don’t have a shot here but sources tell me that isn’t necessarily the case and Florida has a good opportunity if he chooses not to be a Cowboy. One thing Florida has going for them is Omar Payne, a former teammate and extremely close friend to Cunningham. He’ll help host the visit and show him all that Florida has to offer.
Kowacie Reeves Jr. is a 6’2” guard from Macon, Georgia who has had a relationship with Florida for quite some time. The Gators were the first team to offer him and him and his family think extremely highly of Mike White. Some of the other offers he currently holds are from Clemson, Stanford, Arkansas, and Georgia Tech.
Reeves Jr. is considered to be one of the best shooters in the 2021 class. His stroke is as silky as it comes and he’s been knocking down copious amounts of three-balls since he was a freshman. He’s also an extremely intelligent player who has received a lot of quality coaching as he’s developed as a player. The staff probably sees him a player who could fill the Noah Locke role once he graduates and considering Reeves Jr. doesn’t have elite size he’s probably a four-year player who could be an excellent program piece for the Gators. Florida has been a leader here and there’s even some talk that Reeves Jr. might commit this weekend. While it seems like every player nowadays is reclassifying I don’t think that will be the case for him but no matter when he decides to enter college it very well may be in orange and blue.