5-star Mackenzie Mgbako sets commitment date, cuts list to 4

Mackenzie Mgbako, a 6-foot-8 small forward out of Gladstone (N.J.) Gill St. Bernard, tells On3 he will announce his college decision Friday, April 8th at 9:00 pm ET. The five-star recruit is down to four schools – Kentucky, Duke, Memphis, and Ohio State.

The No. 5 overall prospect in the 2023 class discussed each of the four schools involved in a previous interview with On3.

Ranking the contenders for 2023 5-star Mackenzie Mgbako

Mgbako talks finalists

Kentucky: “Coach Cal is an amazing coach. He likes to push it in transition. They have a young team with a few vets so that’s really nice. Just watching how they play basketball, offensively and defensively, is great. Coach(Orlando) Antigua is the one recruiting me, so he’s been recruiting me really hard and we’ve built a great repertoire with each other and a good relationship.”

Duke: “(Jon Scheyer) is a likable coach. Like when you meet him and get recruited by him, you see it first hand. He is a coach you want to be recruited by. He has that kind of feeling to him that makes you want to go to his team.”

Memphis: “It was nice, meeting with Penny (Hardaway), Emoni (Bates), and Jalen (Duren), it was nice. We went out for dinner, watched a practice, talked to Coach Penny, Rasheed Wallace, it was nice. (Penny) is very down to earth. He’s young. He’s on the court with you when you’re practicing and he will tell you the real deal because he’s been in the game for a while, so it’s nice to have a coach that knows the game, the ins, and outs.”

Ohio State: “It was amazing. I went to the football game against Akron. It was a great atmosphere, the fans were crazy. I met up with Meechie (Johnson) and Zed Key so that was nice as well. Just a great atmosphere, love the fans, love everything that has to do with it. I’ve built a great relationship with Coach (Tony) Skin.”