For the better part of the last two years, Clark had been hearing about the recruiting event that is June 15 and all of the excitement associated with finally being able to talk and text directly with the college basketball coaches who have had to keep in touch through their high school and AAU coaches until this point.

What his peers didn’t tell him was how tired he would be the following day after communicating with coaches from midnight until.

“It was a long night,” Clark said.

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Par for the course each year for the for the top rising juniors around the country; the NCAA only permits college coaches to make unlimited calls and texts to recruits on June 15 after their sophomore year.

“I’m enjoying it so far,” Clark said. “I’m just taking it all in. It could be a Division III school or the top school in the country, I’m just blessed at this point to be getting the interest.”

A common practice for college coaches on this day is to race to be the first to contact elite prospects right at the stroke of midnight in hopes of strengthening their sell of prioritizing the prospect over everyone else.

Widely regarded as the top point guard in the 2022 class, IMG Academy’s (Bradenton, Fla.) Jaden Bradley is well aware of this tactic, but said “first or last, it doesn’t make anyone stand out more or less to me.”

So far Bradley has heard from Maryland, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Kentucky, Kansas, Alabama, Arkansas, Notre Dame and North Carolina.

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“I know that I’m not the only player in the country they want,” Bradley said. “I’m just glad to be able to talk to them on my own. I talked to Coach (Roy) Williams this morning. He was wishing me luck at IMG and telling me about how he’ll plan to come see me there. Just having that direct line is different and, right now, it’s pretty cool.” 

Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) shooting guard M.J. Rice said “the best part of June 15” is that it marks the day that the “most important relationship” throughout the recruiting process begins to form.

Rice has already heard from North Carolina State, Duke, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Providence, Oklahoma State, Winthrop, Vanderbilt and Louisville since midnight.

“It’s important for coaches to connect with our parents, but the real relationship that needs to build is between them and us,” Rice said. “Now, we can start to get to know the coaches on a different level; just what the coach is like and their personality and things like that. All of that helps us make the best decision for us in the end. I’m loving it.”

That said, Clark is aware that the time will inevitably come when the communication will get overwhelming, but for now he’s opting to live in the moment.

“We’ll only have this June 15 time once,” said Clark, who has heard from Florida State, Stanford, TCU, BYU, DePaul, Penn, and others. “Guys have told me that it can get stressful with all of the coaches hitting you up all the time, but, right now, it’s new to all of us in this class. I try not to think too far ahead on things like that. I’m just appreciating being in position to experience it right now.”