Podcast: Key takeaways from the top September college commitments

Antonio Pemberton recently committed to Michigan State. (Thomas Netzer/Mass Rivals)

A frenetic month of September was capped off with commitment announcements from our top two college prospects in New England.

Within the span of a week, Antonio Pemberton committed to Michigan State and Bella Owumi committed to Florida. Each lead our Best of New England boys and girls prospect rankings and are two of the most well-known players in the region right now.

Steve Hewitt and Ethan Fuller caught up on the HoopWise Podcast to break down both decisions. They discussed what they learned through Pemberton and Owumi’s commitments and how the two stars will fit at their future schools.

Steve and Ethan also took a big-picture look at how the recruiting process has gone for the 2027 class as a whole and touched on other key names they’re waiting to see decide.

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Highlights

What do you expect out of Antonio Pemberton when he arrives at Michigan State?

Steve: “I think he can make an impact right away, Ethan. We talked about how hard it is for freshmen to to break in (and) how these rosters are pretty old. But what we’ve seen with him, and we talked about it with Vin Pastore when when he came on the pod this summer — (Pemberton) was on the 17U Rivals team as an eighth-grader and playing pretty good minutes on on that team. And obviously he’s played 17U pretty much throughout his high school career, playing against older players every year to get him ready for that kind of jump to college basketball. … Assuming (Jeremiah) Fears goes (to the NBA), I think they’re get they’re sort of preparing for the post-Fears era, assuming he’s gone. They’re gonna have a need at point guard and I think Pemberton can maybe slot in there.”

What stood out to you with how Bella Owumi made her decision to commit to Florida?

Ethan: “There is so much talk in college basketball about how the recruiting process has changed, and I think for people on the outside, so much of the conversation is ‘NIL, NIL, NIL.’ How much are you getting paid? How much are you getting promised playing time? And a lot of times it can feel like that’s the only thing that it seems like matters. … Owumi is committing to Florida because of real relationships she had with two coaches who were not even at Florida during that process. So I think that’s pretty cool. I don’t know how often that happens in college basketball and in the recruiting process, but clearly the relationships did matter to her and were an important part of making that decision.”

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