3 Big Things: July Edition

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Closing out July with a mixture of looking back and looking forward. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>International Oklahomans</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In June, [player_tooltip player_id='1552319' first='Jalen' last='Montonati'] continued the recent trend of Oklahomans winning Gold with Team USA. Now the rising Owasso Ram star has a new challenge to close out July and into August. Thanks to his father's overseas career earning him an Italian passport, the younger Montonati is a rare dual national player. Earlier this month, Montonati flew over to Italy to play for their U16 at the 2023 Euro U16 Championships. In a warm up contest, the elite shooter poured in 23 points in a win over Poland. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>On Saturday, the actual tournament begins with Italy taking on Turkey. <a href="https://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u16/2023/games">The full schedule and streaming can be found here</a>. Good luck to the young Owasso Ram as he tries to add to his Gold Medal collection.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There is another 918 player that is spending his summer on international duty. Class of 2024 prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1195717' first='Diego' last='Ochoa'] played with Mexico's U17 squad at the 17U FIBA Centrobasket in Belize. The Broken Arrow Tiger helped his team to an appearance in the semifinals. And now will look to build on his international experience with a bigger role this winter as BA looks to remain a power in Class 6A. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Districts Are Coming</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://prephoops.com/2023/07/ossaa-adm-and-rule-changes-shake-up-high-school-basketball/">It was touched on last week with the ADM and private school rule changes shifting the Oklahoma basketball landscape</a>. Now there is an expectation that this week will have an announcement of the districts assignments for Class 6A and 5A. Class 5A has a fairly even amount of east side and west side teams, so projecting the split for 5A should be straight forward. But the imbalance of more west side and east side teams should make a spicy reaction (<a href="https://twitter.com/Liltwin_84">trademark the Jackboyz</a>) to how they divide the east-west side split for Class 6A.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Districts are a huge step for Oklahoma high school basketball, as after the ranking controversies of previous years, the playoff seeding will be straight forward. With the added bonus of the games in late January and early February having meaning beyond a conference title. The playoff seeding swings that will come with late season district games will add an extra element to contests. Especially as there are rumors there will also be changes to the Regionals and Areas formats for Class 6A and 5A. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There will be instant reaction on the website to Districts being released. Plus "Too Early" previews of all four districts throughout the month of August.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Recruiting Heating Up</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>There are now three Oklahomans committed to Divison One programs. [player_tooltip player_id='1367217' first='Dayton' last='Forsythe'] chose to stay in state with Oklahoma, while [player_tooltip player_id='1343196' first='Cedric' last='Dixon'] is headed north to Omaha and [player_tooltip player_id='1295751' first='Adonis' last='Holiman'] is headed south to Texas A&amp;M Commerce. Dixon is expected to make his official visit in August or September, while Holiman will have his official visit on the weekend of October 21st. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Other Oklahoma seniors with D1 options include [player_tooltip player_id='1332074' first='Dylan' last='Warlick'], [player_tooltip player_id='1367222' first='Trashaun' last='Combs-Pierce'], [player_tooltip player_id='1343195' first='Chris' last='Mason'] and [player_tooltip player_id='1367214' first='Luke' last='Gray']. And a new D1 offer was made tonight. Catoosa' [player_tooltip player_id='1295662' first='Titus' last='Miller'] tweeted out that he was offered by the Air Force Academy in Colorado. <a href="https://prephoops.com/2023/07/primetime-invitational-starting-5/">Miller had a strong spring and summer, that show progression with the promising "3 and D" playing more to his size and athleticism</a>. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A note on the 2025 front, there has been some rumblings that the chase for Oklahoma's top 2025 prospect [player_tooltip player_id='1391433' first='Carlsheon' last='Young'] is heating up. And there's potential that after fall visits, they physical two-way guard could look to make a college decision this winter. That will be something to monitor as along with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, Young has offers spanning coast to coast. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/Carlsheon_Young/status/1685758150102646785","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Carlsheon_Young/status/1685758150102646785 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->