Aundre Hyatt, a 6-6 Class of 2018 shooting guard, will reclass to the Class of 2019 and transfer to the Charlottesville (VA) Miller School from White Plains (N.Y.) Archbishop Stepinac.
“To improve my recruitment,” Hyatt, who just turned 16, told SNY.tv.
Hyatt’s stock has taken off recently as he has added offers from USC, VCU, UMass, St. Louis and South Florida.
“I just thought he needed an extra year of maturity to get stronger both mentally and physically,” his mentor, Mike Mathews, told SNY.tv. “We all know he’s exceptional in the classroom and super skilled on the basketball court. But with Aundre being one of the youngest kids in his class, I just thought he needed an extra year of maturation.”
Stepinac coach Pat Massaroni was surprised by the move and had hoped to keep Hyatt at the White Plains school
“Aundre had a great sophomore year at Stepinac,” he said. “We wish him the best of luck at his new school. Aundre has tremendous upside on and off the court. He took great strides this year and will continue to do so.”
Hyatt is the second high-profile New York-area star to reclass in transfer this month, following former St. Raymond’s star Sid Wilson, who reclassed to 2018 and transferred to Brewster (N.H.) Academy.
One Division 1 coach told SNY.tv he wasn’t convinced that reclassifying will necessarily help a player’s recruitment.
“At the end of the day, I believe kids are going to end up at the level they deserve to be at,” he said. “Reclassifying may take some immediate pressure off of kids to perform at a high level while they’re being evaluated. But at some point that pressure to perform is going to resurface and you better be ready regardless of what your classification is. You may receive some new offers as soon as you reclassify but it’s yet to be seen if those offers will still be on the table come decision making time.”
