INTEL: Ranking the contenders for 4-star Papa Kante

Papa Kante is the No. 32 ranked player in the 2023 On3 150. The 6-foot-10 post at South Kent (CT) School ranks as the No. 4 center in the 2023 class.

Kante averaged 10.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks while shooting 48.6 percent from the field this summer on Nike’s EYBL Circuit with the NY Rens.

The four-star announced his final five schools: Maryland, Memphis, Michigan, Pittsburgh, and Rutgers. He took and June official visits to Rutgers, Maryland, Pittsburgh, and Michigan.

Let’s go through the intel and rank the contenders for four-star center Papa Kante.

1. Michigan

Michigan head coach Juwan Howard made Kante a priority from the start. He took a personal interest in the big man, and it has made an impression. The visit went well, and the style of play and development intrigues Kante.

Michigan’s chances: 75 percent

2. Maryland

Assistant Grant Billimeier laid a lot of groundwork with this one, even from his time back in Seton Hall. The relationship is there, which also brings the trust factor – which is huge for Kante.

Maryland’s chances: 10 percent

3. Rutgers

Steve Pikiell went in early for Kante, and he remained consistent. A major draw here is Rutgers has the commitment of close friend Gavin Griffiths.

Rutgers chances: 10 percent

4. Memphis

The Tigers were a late addition here, but they were able to make a push because of the relationship Kante has with his former travel ball coach Andy Borman.

Memphis’ chances: 5 percent

Final thoughts

Relationships and trust go a long with Kante. The four-star told On3 that his trip home last month was the first time he had been back to Senegal in a couple of years. Each of the schools on his list has built a good relationship with Kante.

In speaking with Kante, Michigan head coach Juwan Howard has been very present for a long while. Kante told On3 in February that Howard was one of the only coaches, at one point, to make the trip to his high school to see Kante. Howard made that trip multiple times. The four-star also told On3 that Howard texted with Kanted a lot after his games to talk about his performances; Michigan was probably recruiting him the hardest at that time.

Grant Billmeier built a great relationship over multiple years with Seton Hall and now Maryland. Andy Borman, now at Memphis, coached Kante in travel ball. Tim O’Toole with Pittsburgh has been around Kante through O’Toole’s son being travel ball teammates with Kante. And Kante’s best friend is going to Rutgers. They all have relationships.

However, Juwan Howard put in a lot of work in this one, and the groundwork he laid early seems to have the Wolverines trending in the right direction.

As things stand, this one is looking like Michigan has been able to stand tall on top of this recruitment. There has been some fluidity involved with schools making pushes, and there might still be more of that to come. But with the intel gathered, when pressing ‘publish’ on this article, Juwan Howard’s Wolverines are trending to land this top five center in the 2023 class.

On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine

I have placed my expert pick in On3’s Recruiting Prediction Machine (RPM) for Papa Kante to choose Michigan. I set my pick with a 70 confidence level.

The On3 engineering group teamed up with Spiny.ai to create the industry’s first algorithm and machine learning-based product to predict where athletes will attend college. Starting from the ground up, On3 built an entirely new product that utilizes data, human expertise, and machine learning.