Penn State Basketball: Three important news stories for the week
By Evan Smith
3. Recruiting Update
Following the success of the 2022 recruiting class, we check on Micah Shrewsberry and Co’s big targets for the 2023 cycle.
Having two guards committed already in Braeden Shrewsberry and Logan Imes, sights are set high, starting with Ohio’s Devin Royal. The four-star small forward announced his final nine, with Penn State making the cut along with B1G brethren Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan (and also Alabama, Clemson, Marquette, Miami, and Ole Miss). According to the 247 Sports rankings, Royal would be the second highest recruit in program history, trailing just the Pat Chamber’s recruited Tony Carr. And just this morning, Royal announced he’d release his final three schools this Friday.
Another recruit to keep an eye on is Amani Hansberry from Washington DC. The power forward is listed at 6-foot-8 and would be very helpful for the Nittany Lion’s low post game. He visited campus on March 24. His visits since included Boston College, Illinois, and Virginia Tech with the Fighting Illini seeming to be our biggest competition for the 140th-ranked player in the 2023 class.
Visits are a crucial way to determine a recruit’s true interest and June was a busy month for Micah Shrewsberry. Carey Booth, a 6-foot-9, top 100 player (No. 70), visited on June 1. The name should sound familiar as he is the son of former Nittany Lion great Calvin Booth, the current Denver Nuggets General Manager. Another name heard consistently in recruiting circles is Reid Ducharme, ranked No. 97. The 6-foot-4 small forward from New Hampshire has also visited Syracuse and Xavier. The other visit was from DeShawn Harris-Smith from Virginia, a shooting guard on June 27, his first visit to a college thus far.