Skilled big man looking to make decision soon

Three-star big man Luka Garza has seen his recruitment take off this spring while playing in Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League with Washington D.C. based Team Takeover.

Even though his offers just started coming in within the past couple months, Garza hopes to have his recruitment wrapped up relatively soon. He’s in the process of setting up official visits for this month. Among those under consideration are Alabama, Georgia, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Princeton and St. Joe’s. Iowa already hosted Garza for an official visit.

Garza broke down the schools that are involved with his recruitment.

Alabama: “I love their program. I love their staff and what Coach Johnson is doing over there. They had a really good year this year and they are only going up. He’s been talking a lot about how they would use me and my versatility. That’s very appealing to me.”

Georgia: “Same thing with Georgia. One of their main points has been the opportunity to play early there. They think I can come in and really have an impact very quickly. That’s very appealing to me as well. They also talk about how they can use me inside and outside. I really like my relationship with their coaches and that’s why I’m thinking about visiting over there.”

Iowa: “I had a really good visit there. I love the coaches and got to meet all the players. It was a great experience. It was first official visit and it was a lot of fun to meet the guys and sit down with Coach McCaffery to go over film. I saw parts of campus that I hadn’t seen before when I took an unofficial last Fall.”

Louisville: “I really enjoy my relationship with the staff, especially Kenny Johnson. He’s great and he’s really been talking about what they have done with skilled bigs in the past. They are among the top programs in the country, but they aren’t always bringing in the top guys in the country. They usually develop guys over four years. Their biggest selling point with me is they want a big man that can shoot.”

Pittsburgh: “Pittsburgh is awesome. That coaching staff did a great job at Vanderbilt. They had a lot of big guys that they have been talking to me about like Festus Ezeli, Luke Kornet and Damian Jones. They have done a lot with skilled bigs, so that is very appealing to me. My teammate with Team Takeover, Aaron Thompson, is committed and he’s a really good team player. It would be cool to play with him.”

Princeton: “The academic side is really appealing. I really like the coaching staff there and the way Princeton runs their offense really fits into my style of play. They play four-around-one where everything is centered around the big man. There are a lot of things I really like about them and how I would fit in. Academics have always been really important to me, and they are among one of the best.”

Once he finishes up his school year, Garza plans to knock out the rest of his official visits. If all goes to plan, he hopes to see each school he mentioned and come to a decision before the start of the July recruiting periods.

Going into the visit, it’s hard to get a feel for which way Garza is leaning. Iowa already hosted him on visits twice, so that shouldn’t be taken lightly. A lot of recruitments have been shaken up over the years on visits, so the next few weeks should be interesting for Garza.