By SAM LANCE
NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Jalen Montonati’s phone has been buzzing often over the past month. The 6-foot-7, 175-pound five-star wing from Owasso (OK) and the Mokan Elite EYBL program, holds nearly 20 offers from Power Five programs. And with the 2026 contact period opening June 15, several schools have been showing love.
“Really it’s everybody a lot,” Montonati said of his recruitment. “I can’t really narrow it down. It’s been pretty much everybody.”
For his first game at Nike EYBL Peach Jam, several of the coaches that have offered showed out to support. Montonati scored 13 points on Sunday in a nail-biting 71-69 loss to Team Durant.
After the game, Montonati caught up with ZAGSBLOG to chat the latest on his recruitment. While he said it’s hard to narrow it down, the wing did name Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Indiana as the schools most in contact. He broke down some of those programs to ZAGSBLOG, including Kansas, who were three deep with Bill Self, Kurtis Townsend and Norm Roberts to support on Sunday. Kansas: “Coach [Jeremy] Case and coach [Bill] Self have talked to me. I just like the culture that coach Self has built at Kansas. And there’s historical success of him getting wing guys like myself to the NBA. Just playing in Allen Fieldhouse would be really cool. Sell out crowd every night.” On Self putting specifically Mokan players in the league: “Yeah definitely. Like CB [Christian Braun]. Ochai [Agbaji]. They really have got to the league because of coach Self. And they really produced there. It’s just winning culture. That’s something I pride myself on is winning.” On Kansas being three deep: “It means a lot. It means a lot to see coaching staff’s put that time and energy into me. So I really appreciate that.” Oklahoma State: “They got a new coaching staff. Coach [Steve] Lutz has reached out, coach Keiton Page. The whole coaching staff has reached out. With that being my dad’s alma mater, a lot of people say I’m just a lock for there. But that’s not true. But just the historical success that they’ve had with Eddie Sutton, who my dad played for, just seeing that family. I grew up around it my whole life so it’s pretty special up there.” His father is Brian Montonati. He’s the Owasso High School head coach and he played at Oklahoma State for three seasons from 1997-2000. In final season at OSU, Brain was named Big 12 All-Conference and was the second leading scorer on an Elite Eight team. Brian also played eight years of pro basketball for Andrea Costa Imola in Italy, finishing his career in 2008. Oklahoma: “Another place close to home. Coach [Ryan] Humphrey and coach [Porter] Moser pride themselves on winning, a winning culture. With coach Moser’s success at Loyola, most recent success at Oklahoma this past year. Even though they didn’t make the NCAA Tournament, they started off really good. So just to see them have that winning culture is pretty cool.” Arkansas: “Coach [John] Calipari has reached out. Coach [Ronnie] Brewer has been on me since [Eric] Musselman was there. So you know just Arkansas is — Bud Walton arena is one of the best arenas in college. And with Cal sending a ton to the NBA, that’s a place I could potentially see myself going and being a one-and-done guy or maybe being a two-three-four year guy. Just getting to the league with him.” Texas: “I think they offered me last Peach Jam. So I’ve been in contact with them. They were at some of my games this past high school season, like coach [Frank] Haith. They had a really good season last year in a tough Big 12 so I’m looking forward to what they do in the SEC this upcoming season.” Texas Tech: “Coach Buff [Kellen Buffington] has reached out to me during the live period and you know since like eighth grade. So me and him have a pretty good relationship and they’re kind of one of the slept on teams in the Big 12. Nobody really ever talks about them. But they’ve had a couple good years together, especially this past year going to the NCAA tournament.” Baylor: “They recently just reached out. I’ve been in contact with coach [Scott] Drew, a couple other coaches there. Obviously coach Drew won a national championship, but his pro success, sending guys like Keyonte George, Jared Butler, a ton of other guys to the NBA. And then bringing in VJ Edgecombe is a big pick up for him. So I’m really excited to see what he can do with him and his success at Baylor.” Indiana: “Indiana offered me last high school season. I’ve been in contact with Adam Howard probably the most. Me and him have built a really strong relationship. I took an unofficial visit there whenever they played Northwestern. It was really cool to see Assembly Hall and the historic aura of that place. Indiana is one of the greatest basketball states, if not the greatest basketball state in America. So just to put on that uniform, it would be pretty cool.” Visit wise, Montonati has been to Kansas, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Indiana unofficially. He’s not sure about official visits this fall, but he “definitely” plans on taking more unofficials. “Kansas State is probably the first one I’m going to go to,” Montonati said. When looking at programs, Montonati wants to see schools that have a family environment, winning culture, and produce pros. “That’s one-two-three,” Montonati said. “I’m not really worried about money. I’m just really worried about getting my body the most ready to be successful in the NBA.” Of course, with Brian Montonati being a successful college player, pro player and Jalen’s high school coach, the young wing has learned many valuable lessons from his father. “Eddie Sutton is one of the greatest, if not the greatest college coach of all-time,” Montonati said. “So the toughness that he taught my dad was just you have to be an everyday guy, come in and work. You have to do the little things even though you might not want to. Like playing defense as hard as you can. Going to crash the glass every single time as hard as you can and going to crash the glass every single time on offense and defense. And just being a guy that everybody likes. A likable teammate. Just be a leader.” Montonati is ranked the No. 15 overall player in the 2026 class by 247Sports. His favorite NBA player is Jayson Tatum. Follow Sam Lance on Twitter Follow Adam Zagoria on Twitter Follow ZAGSBLOGHoops on Instagram And Like ZAGS on FacebookSeveral coaches here for 16u @MokanBasketball vs. @teamdurant_AAU
— Sam Lance (@slancehoops) July 14, 2024
Head coaches include: John Calipari, Bill Self, Matt Painter, Chris Jans and Damon Stoudamire.
Assistants here from Colorado, Tennessee, Iowa, Oklahoma State, Missouri, Pitt, Michigan State, Memphis, Oklahoma,… pic.twitter.com/eXEUlDqM2h
