Even with three high level commitments having signed and the season already underway the Gators aren’t done relentlessly pursuing an elite class.
Judah Mintz is a name that might sound familiar to you and that’s because the Gators recruited him heavily ever since 2020 when they started looking at the 2022 class. Florida was considered to be one of the favorites but ultimately things didn’t work and he ended up making a relatively early commitment to Pittsburgh.
If you haven’t been paying attention to ACC basketball, Pittsburgh has struggled mightily the past few seasons, and the final straw for Mintz might have been their season opener. Pittsburgh played the Citadel, a military academy that’s historically a basement team in the Southern Conference.
Citadel beat Pittsburgh 78-63.
Mintz announced his decommitment within the next 24 hours.
How Mintz ended up committing to Pittsburgh in the first place was a bit of an interesting convergence of a number of situations. For starters, going through recruitment in a pandemic is hard, particularly for someone in Mintz’s situation. Mintz has been a top-100 player for most of his high school career, so early he was getting interest from all the blue bloods with Villanova and North Carolina considered to be favorites to land him alongside the Gators. The thing is, he wanted to make an early commitment, and Villanova and North Carolina didn’t want to take it. However, other high majors saw that he was high on Villanova and North Carolina’s big board, so they didn’t want to spend time recruiting him thinking they didn’t have a chance.
Mintz’s timeline was that he wanted to make official visits and a commitment right as Florida happened to lose Darris Nichols and Jordan Mincy to head coaching jobs, something that didn’t help the momentum the Gators had with Mintz.
Ultimately Mintz wanted to lock in a decision early, and all the factors involved pointed him to Pittsburgh. But, Pittsburgh’s struggles have been far too much for a 2022 recruit, and he decommitted.
I’m hearing the Gators are heavily in the mix to land Mintz and he would be a tremendous addition to what is already an outstanding class featuring Malik Reneau, Jalen Reed, and Denzel Aberdeen.
Mintz is a 6’3” combo guard, someone who can take some lead guard duties but also is comfortable moving away from the ball. Throughout his high school career he has been an all out scoring threat, someone who can get it done from deep, the midrange, and at the rim with incredible craft. His catch and shoot three-point stroke is still developing but his instincts to get into the paint and score are what makes him one of the most talented bucket getters in the 2022 class.
To start his high school career Mintz played at Gonzaga High in Washington, DC, a place that allowed him to be an alpha dog and learn to be a leader. Now he’s at basketball powerhouse Oak Hill academy and there he has proven his ability to score can translate against high level size and athleticism. Florida has historically recruited Oak Hill extremely well, and they’ll try to make Mintz the next stud from there to join the Gators.
It hasn’t been confirmed by Mintz but sources are saying he would like to make his decision soon and the Gators are in the lead. He would be a tremendous addition alongside the 2022 commitments Florida already has, and landing him would take what’s already a fantastic class to another level.