Springtime shutdown means opportunities lost for basketball recruits

When basketball at the NBA and college levels hit a hard stop earlier this month, Caleb Furst and his Fort Wayne Blackhawk Christian team were preparing to travel to North Judson for that weekend's regional, hoping to take a step toward a potential Class 2A state title.

First, the games were supposed to be played without a crowd. Soon after, they were canceled altogether, and so ended Furst's season, denied a chance to add a 2A title to the 1A crown Blackhawk won last season. Furst's team ended the season 20-3 and ranked second in its class.

"Obviously it was sad, but a lot of people are dealing with a lot worse things," Purdue's 2021 commitment said. "At the end of the day, we're healthy, we all feel good, and we're very fortunate and blessed to not be sick.

"If (basketball is) the worst of our problems, we're not too bad off."

Same deal and a similar outlook for Trey Kaufman of defending 3A champ Silver Creek, which closed the season 22-2 and ranked No. 1 its class. Its two losses came to state 4A powers Lawrence Central and Bloomington South.

"I thought we would have won," Kaufman said of the state tournament, "and that's probably something we'll talk about for a while, because not only were we one of the favorites to win and we hadn't lost to a 3A team since last year.

"That's definitely disappointing, but at the same time, everybody's health is far more important than that. You have to do what's best for everybody, but I do feel bad for Taylor Betts, the senior on our team. But the rest of us, we'll go out and try to win it next year."

Such is life for players all over, denied their postseasons amidst an event of worldwide consequence, the COVID-19 pandemic.

While Furst and Kaufman know their seasons are over, Ethan Morton must wait to find out whether his high school career has concluded, using the time to rehab a mild ankle injury.

Pennsylvania's state tournament has been postponed. Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association officials reportedly discussed their next steps Monday morning.

"From what I've seen and heard, they're just going to wait and see," Morton said last week. "I know the PIAA has been in contact with the governor's office. I wouldn't be surprised if they postponed it even longer, because I don't think the state basketball tournaments are the top priority for the governor right now. I'm usually not a super-optimistic person, but you do hold out a little bit of hope that maybe they'll just keep postponing it (and then it'll eventually happen), but it's a hard situation and I understand it."

And if the tournament never resumes ...

"It is weird and you never want to go out on a note like this," Morton said, "but I can always look back and know I was fortunate to have a long season and accomplish most of the things I wanted to accomplish. Some of the spring sports might not get a chance at it at all. You have to keep everything in perspective."

Morton, who was named Gatorade Player-of-the-Year in Pennsylvania last week, led his Butler High School team to the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League championship, the crowing achievement of his high school career.

"That's a moment I really talked a lot about and dreamed about, thought about a lot since I started playing high school basketball," Morton said. "It was something I've wanted to do for a very long time and being there a couple times and losing was tough. It was awesome to get that experience no matter what happens the rest of the way."

The WPIAL title may have made Morton whole, so to speak, before his high school career met a quick ending during the state tournament, if it in fact did.

Now, Morton's home, doing what players all across the country are doing, online schoolwork, keeping in shape the best they can and so on.

"My mom's going to have me do more chores around the house and I'll try to keep her happy doing that stuff," Morton joked. "It is nice having some family time."

Furst said he's getting shots up outside whenever he can. Same for Kaufman, who's also kept busy with a yearlong project for his English class, while taking up video games for the first time. Morton's taking care of his ankle and intends to dive into some film.

In Morton's case, he's counting down the days until his enrollment at Purdue this summer, assuming nothing changes in that regard.

For Furst and Kaufman and those like them, they're also facing an atypical spring and summer, being that the spring grassroots season — April and May represent more than half the "summer" season — is likely to be canceled entirely.

From a recruiting perspective, the nationwide shutdown on in-person recruiting has cost players opportunities to make spring visits, and the loss of the spring evaluation period means an important opportunity for players to get seen is lost.

For Furst, it doesn't matter. He's committed to Purdue already.

For Kaufman, it might matter, and he admits that things have changed, that he may bring his recruitment to the forefront of his mind sooner than he might have already.

For Dallas' Harrison Ingram, he says, ""It won't affect my recruitment."

The NCAA's new junior-year official visits provided him a chance to visit some of the leading contenders for him — Purdue being one of them — and he had no set plans for spring visits prior to things shutting down, though he said he might have tried to visit Virginia and North Carolina.

As for the spring evaluation period, the Rivals.com five-star prospect believed Duke and Kentucky might have been watching, but said he's not all that concerned with attracting new entries to a recruitment that already has Purdue, Stanford, North Carolina, Kansas and many others fully involved.

"It's not that big of a deal to me," Ingram said. "I'm very comfortable with what I have now."

For all of them, now it's just a matter of laying low for a while, maybe in some cases making important decisions.

And, of course, being responsible.

"I'm dealing with it the way everybody else is," Kaufman said. "I wish I could go to the gym and do certain things like everybody else does, but it's a pandemic and we have to make sure to stay inside and social distance.

"I'm just trying to do my part."

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