Cade Cunningham: ‘My recruitment is still open’

By ADAM ZAGORIA

Cade Cunningham says his recruitment is “still open” despite the fact that Oklahoma State hired his older brother Cannen Cunningham to the staff and many coaches expect the Class of 2020 point guard to land there.

“I think I’m pretty far along [in my recruitment],” he told ESPN’s Paul Biancardi at halftime of the Peach Jam final. “My brother getting hired doesn’t speed me up too much. I’m just happy for him getting the job.

“I’ve always put out there and said that whenever I’m ready to commit, I’ll commit. If that was the spot I wanted to go right now, I would’ve committed by now so my recruitment is still open. I’m still open to all my schools.”

Cade Cunningham is a 6-foot-7 point guard from Arlington, Texas who plays at Montverde (FL) Academy. He is ranked No. 2 in the Class of 2020 by ESPN.com.

He is currently considering 10 schools including Oklahoma State, Duke, Kentucky, Kansas, Memphis, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

Coaches from most of those schools, including Kentucky’s John Calipari and Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, watched him this past week at Peach Jam, where he led the Texas Titans to the semifinals.

“I want to cut it down to way less than 10, probably around five,” he told ZAGSBLOG at the recent USA Basketball U19 trials in Colorado where he ultimately made the roster for the U19 World Cup in Greece. “Ten was a lot for me. I’m probably going to talk with my family some more and get it down to five. That is the goal.”

He added: “I want to play for a coach that is going to let me play my game. Obviously, a school that is going to compete right away for a national championship. I want to win my first year.

“There are a lot of things. I want to play for a team that plays defense, for sure. Those are the teams that win. Good coaches. I feel that all the schools in my top ten have great coaches. Just a coach that is going to let me do what I do.”

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