Getting recruited for college basketball isn’t just about talent anymore—it’s about timing, exposure, and understanding a game that’s changing faster than ever. We touched on this topic when we sat down for an interview with Coach Craig Carter of South Kent. With years of Division I coaching experience and a deep understanding of today’s recruiting landscape—including the impact of the transfer portal and NIL—Coach Carter offers practical, honest advice for families navigating the path to college basketball. If you’re looking for real-world strategies to maximize your exposure and land a college offer, you’re in the right place.

The Modern Recruiting Landscape: Transfer Portal, NIL, and Exposure

The Evolving Timeline for Offers and Recruiting

Cory: With the transfer portal and NIL, talk to me about timing. In the old days, you’d come in in August, get a great open gym period, get an offer, sign, and be done. Tell me what you’re advising your players on now with the June scholastic period, open gym, and the season. How are you talking to families about how the process works these days?

Craig: So what I’ve been talking to parents about now is make sure you have a bang-up spring and summer so you can drum up some interest. Because just like you talked about earlier, when schools find out you’re going to take an extra year to come play at a prep school and to play in a NEPSAC AAA, which is super, super competitive, a lot of high-level guys come out of here.

We had a guy go to Kansas, we had a kid go to Pitt, UC Davis, UMass, Iona, Harvard. And so we got a guy going to Iowa next year from here. So other schools—Cincinnati, Penn State, you name it. There are some high-level guys in our league. And so what that does is it brings those eyes to you.

Now it’s your job to make those eyes stay on you, right? It’s not my job to keep calling plays just for you. It’s your job to play the right way so that they look at you and say, “Okay, I know that Cory’s going to be at South Kent next year. I’ve got to stay in touch with Craig. I’ve got to figure out, hey, who’s he playing AAU with? What’s his schedule? Can I get his number?” Absolutely. Stay in touch with him, Coach. I’m telling you, what you’re seeing now is going to be different in September. Get on him, offer him, right? And then I start working, you know, the way I have to work it with them as well.

But the job is to make sure that you are somebody people have to have, right, on any level. And that comes with work. It doesn’t come with me telling somebody to take you. I can’t do that. All I can do is put your product in front of them and then I can talk to you about your character, what kind of kid you are, your work ethic, how you are in the community here at South Kent. All of that stuff matters, right? And then I’m willing to do that for everybody, you know what I mean? But you have to give me something to, for lack of a better word, sell, right? You have to give me something to put in front of them. And all I’m going to ask you to do is work for the things you tell me you want. That’s it. And then when you do that, more times than not, something good is going to happen for you.

How the Transfer Portal and NIL Have Changed Recruiting

Cory: Now, more action is happening after the season now. Would you agree with that?

Craig: All this stuff’s going to happen after the season. So now, right when everybody’s starting to get bumped out of their conference tournaments and their seasons are over and then they’re starting to have their end-of-the-year conversations about who’s going to be on their roster and whatnot next year, now you start getting phone calls. “Hey, you know, Craig, I heard about Cory. What can you tell me? What does he have?” “Coach, you should bring him on, talk to him. Here’s his film.” So, you know, all of that stuff is happening now.

Now, once the portal opens, there’ll be a combination of all of that. Everybody thinks they’re going to get in the portal and get their version of Cooper Flagg. It’s not going to happen. What people never see is a lot of people get in the portal and a lot of the portal stuff doesn’t work out for whatever reason. A lot of it, when people get guys, they’re like, “Wow, he’s not what I thought he was going to be.”

So what’s going to happen is you just have to push yourself in a position that somebody is going to get portal fatigue and say, “You know what? I know everybody else is doing that. We’re going to go back old-fashioned. I’m going to recruit high school kids, kids that are going to be hungry, kids we can work, kids we can mold, right? And maybe build a relationship and have them stay here for a while and not worry about getting in the portal.” So there’s going to be a combination of it all. But if you’re not prepared to be one of those guys that they call because you’ve been working and you’ve been doing what you had to do and you helped the team win—so we’re playing later on into the season—you’re still going to miss out. So again, it all comes back to preparation. It all comes back to the investment that you make in yourself. And then letting that work take you where you need to go.

Actionable Strategies to Boost Your Recruitment Profile

Maximizing Exposure and Building Relationships

Cory: When you have families talking to you and they want to know, like, they’re getting ready to make a big investment, their son to play with you for eight to nine months. And they say, look, what are we going to get out of this? Like, we want to get a scholarship or we want to play at the highest level. You know, there’s pressure. I feel it. You feel it. What do you say to families when they’re trying to figure out like, how much playing time am I going to get? And what’s going to be the end result?

Craig: I tell them that your son dictates playing time, right? Everybody’s going to get an opportunity. Because I’m a firm believer in young men and young women should be allowed to either play themselves into more time or play themselves out of the time they’ve already got, right? So I’m going to give you that opportunity. But you have to earn that opportunity. And I can’t just say, well, because your mom and dad are paying this money, I’m just going to let you play 20 minutes a game, right? And then we get beat by 40 because you’re not in the gym. You’re not working out on your body, not working on your shot, not working on your handle. You’re not coming in, watching film. You’re not talking with coaches to help you be better, because then it becomes a detriment to the program. It becomes a detriment to other kids in the program. And then that’s not fair to them either. And so what I will tell them is you need to have an honest conversation with your son.

If I make this investment in you and I get a phone call that you’re not getting up and taking advantage of the fact that the assistant coaches are in the gym wanting to work out with you all day long, I’m going to bring you home because you might as well just do that here. You can sleep the day away home and I can save money, if that makes sense. And so I want kids to make my job hard. I want you to say, “We got 14 kids that could play because they’re all doing everything.” And then I still have to make a decision. Then still somebody’s going to be upset. But then I can say to any college coach that comes in here when they come watch us in practice and watch me have two good teams compete against each other, “That kid can play for you. I know he’s only playing six or seven minutes for me, but I’m telling you right now, you bring him in, let him work out for you. You’ll see he’ll impact your team right away because of the work he’s putting in.”

The Importance of Film, Social Media, and Strategic Hustle

Cory: Let’s say a kid comes from overseas or a kid has been injured or a kid’s on the wrong AAU team and they don’t get the exposure in the spring and summer you talked about. And they’re coming in August without that foundation laid. Now, what kind of process do you say to those families?

Craig: Now that process is we have to be strategic in what level we think he is. And then we have to get as much film as we can, because people are going to start getting out less and less, right? And start getting that to them, right? And so I implore parents and like most of these AAU events now are filmed, right? Whether it’s BallerTV, PlaySight, something, somehow, some way, people are putting stuff on video. Well, get as much video as you can from the summertime. And then what we’ll do is come August, right? We’ll start pumping all that video out when I know guys are coming to school here. “All right, Cory’s coming to school here. He’s a 6’6 wing, really shoots it, here’s some film on him. Coaches, my open gym times are here.” So now they say, okay, I can get involved with this kid right away.

So there are ways to drum up interest, right? We just got to be strategic and we got to hustle. And I have a great staff of guys who are really good with video stuff and do a good job of posting stuff on social media, so people start to follow us. When I got my job at Florida State, I got a big jump and when I got the job here, all right, when I became the director. And so all of a sudden I had all these people that wanted to follow me, whether it be college coaches, prospective students, things of that nature. And so with that following, as it continues to grow and grow, now you get more and more eyes on you and we pump stuff out on a daily, weekly basis to help people.

Key Takeaways: Turning Hard Work into College Basketball Opportunities

Coach Carter’s advice is clear: the recruiting landscape is more competitive and complex than ever, but the fundamentals haven’t changed—hard work, preparation, and honest relationships are still what get you noticed. Whether you’re a player, parent, or coach, focus on what you can control and give yourself every opportunity to succeed. If you have questions or want personalized guidance on your prep school or recruiting journey, reach out to me at PREP Athletics. We’re here to help you every step of the way.

For more on building your basketball profile and maximizing exposure, check out our Guide to Basketball Highlight Videos and How to Build Relationships with College Coaches.

Learn more about the NCAA Transfer Portal and NIL rules to stay up to date on the latest changes in college basketball recruiting.

If you’re looking into prep school, reach out to us at PREP Athletics. We’re here to help you explore your potential and make choices that align with your athletic and academic future. We’ve also got a long list of resources to get you started in the right direction, so check out our YouTube or our podcast to dive deeper.