LOUISVILLE — The College of Louisville males’s basketball program has retired simply 5 jersey numbers in its gilded historical past. Of these 5 famend gamers, three stay alive. Saturday evening, all three of them had been in the identical place on the similar time—watching an AAU recreation, of all issues.
They had been observing a prospect who might probably be the bridge between the Cardinals’ previous and future.
Darrell Griffith, hero of the 1980 nationwide championship group and the ’81 NBA Rookie of the 12 months, sat on an aluminum bleacher close to heart court docket. Pervis Ellison, star of the ’86 title group and the No. 1 NBA draft decide in ’89, stood behind one of many benches. Russ Smith, the scoring dynamo who led the 2013 nationwide champs*, watched from the baseline.
The article of their consideration was flashing up and down the court docket at Nike’s EYBL occasion within the Kentucky Truthful & Exposition Heart, taking part in at a pace no one else might match. DJ Wagner was exploding previous defenders to the basket, showingcasing a Ja Morant ambidexterity starter set. Befitting a third-generation star, Wagner’s basketball IQ complemented his ability and athleticism in a means that had him considering and shifting a step forward of the competitors.
Wagner is being closely pursued by each Kentucky and Louisville.
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Wagner, newest in a line of Camden, NJ, hoops royalty, is the No. 1 participant within the class of 2023, in response to 247Sports and ESPN. That is regardless of being on the youthful aspect of his class; he simply turned 17 in early Could. The 6’2″ guard’s faculty selection might boil all the way down to the largest Kentucky vs. Louisville recruiting showdown because the Nineteen Eighties—when Rex Chapman selected blue over purple in ’85, and fellow Camden product Billy Thompson selected purple over blue in ’82.
Wagner has household issues both means. His father, Dajuan, the nation’s no. 1 prospect in 2000, which was John Calipari’s breakthrough recruit at Memphis. His grandfather Milt was a former Louisville nice who performed on the 1986 title group—and was simply employed final week because the Cardinals’ new director of participant improvement and alumni relations. And there’s one different thread connecting DJ to each packages: William Wesley. “Worldwide Wes,” a kingmaker, fixer, mover and shaker of renown and thriller, has decades-long ties to the Wagner household, Calipari and new Louisville coach Kenny Payne.
There isn’t any scarcity of people that consider DJ Wagner is destined for Kentucky. However Louisville is in fierce pursuit, because the throng watching Wagner on Saturday made vividly clear. The Bat Sign went out to indicate up in pressure—each followers and, extra notably, former gamers. This turned a casual reunion.
Along with the fellows who’ve their jerseys hanging within the rafters, not less than 15 different recognizable Louisville basketball alums had been in attendance. They ranged from the Nineteen Sixties (Wade Houston, who went on to develop into Denny Crum’s prime assistant after which the top coach at Tennessee) to the ’80s (not less than 10 who had been members of both the ’80 or ’86 groups) to the 2010s (along with Smith, ’13 starter Chane Behanan was in the home). There have been additionally 4 present Cardinals in attendance.
Kentucky followers had been surprisingly scarce. Sure, this was a de facto Louisville dwelling recreation, however there are tens of hundreds of Kentucky followers that dwell within the metropolis. And Massive Blue Nation takes its recruiting very significantly.
Essentially the most intriguing individual within the constructing may need been Daddy Wags himself, Milt Wagner. It is a recruiting lifeless interval, which suggests faculty coaches couldn’t attend the three-day event, however the latest member of the Louisville basketball workers was there. Milt Wagner’s preexisting relationship with the star of this EYBL cease dates again to the crib.
Milt was dressed as neutrally as doable: a black shirt with white stripes, an Below Armor jacket, denims. The one trace of his employment may need been on his toes: He was carrying black Adidas sneakers, the model that outfits the Cardinals. His position Saturday was ostensibly that of a proud grandfather.
The Wagner household collectively declined remark—nothing from Milt, nothing from Dajuan, nothing from DJ That is maybe as a result of Milt’s brand-new job creates a murky NCAA compliance scenario.
That is instantly from the affiliation’s guidelines handbook: “In males’s basketball, throughout a two-year interval earlier than a potential student-athlete’s anticipated enrollment and a two-year interval after the potential student-athlete’s precise enrollment, an establishment shall not make use of (both on a wage or a volunteer foundation) or enter right into a contract for future employment with a person related to the potential student-athlete in any athletics division noncoaching workers place or in a energy and conditioning workers place.”
Louisville officers have mentioned there’s not but something definitive about Milt Wagner’s standing and its potential impact on DJ’s recruitment. However the faculty might make a few arguments for hiring Milt as one thing greater than a ploy to land his grandson.
First, Wagner does have earlier faculty basketball teaching expertise, it is simply dated. He was an assistant at UTEP and Auburn below Tony Barbee (a former Calipari assistant) from 2006 to ’14. And earlier than that he was coordinator of basketball operations for Cal at Memphis from ’00 to ’06. (Extra on that in a second.)
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Second, Wagner has a preexisting relationship with Payne that predates DJ’s delivery by 20 years. Payne enrolled at Louisville as a freshman in 1985, which was Milt’s final season as a Cardinal. Certainly one of Payne’s first experiences at U of L was consuming a meal at Milt’s residence, and a lifetime friendship was shortly established.
For those who’re on the lookout for latest precedent by way of Milt’s employment, suppose Oklahoma State hiring Cade Cunningham’s brother and Missouri hiring Michael Porter Sr. Cannen Cunningham was introduced aboard in Stillwater after serving as an assistant director of video operations at Tulane; Porter Sr., father of touted prospects Michael Jr. and Jontay, had been an assistant for a yr at Washington and earlier than {that a} ladies’s assistant at Mizzou.
Neither Cannen Cunningham nor Michael Porter Sr. coached at these colleges after their family had been completed taking part in there. The rip-off was fairly clear, but it surely was green-lighted by the NCAA. Hiring Milt most likely would not be an obstacle to signing DJ, both.
Milt Wagner joined Louisville as its new director of participant improvement and alumni relations.
Scott Utterback/Courier Journal/USA TODAY NETWORK
The humorous half is that that is Act II of the Rent Milt Recruiting Stratagem. To borrow a favourite line from former Louisville legend Crum: What goes round comes round.
In 2000, when it was broadly anticipated that Crum would land Dajuan Wagner and revive his flagging recruiting efforts, Calipari as a substitute swooped in and acquired him. One of many massive the explanation why: Cal employed Milt Wagner for the place talked about above after which went the additional mile by signing Dajuan’s marginally gifted highschool teammate and greatest good friend, Arthur Barclay. Crum resisted stress to make Dajuan a package deal deal.
“This was a Louisville child from the start, they usually misplaced him.” That is a quote from Could 2000 at one other AAU occasion in Louisville. The topic was Dajuan Wagner, then tearing up the circuit. The speaker was Worldwide Wes, who had a heavy affect on Dajuan from a younger age. Wes’s involvement with an array of younger gamers started in Camden within the Nineteen Eighties with Milt Wagner and Billy Thompson.
Not getting Wagner was one of many remaining blows to Crum’s Corridor of Fame profession—the 2000–01 group went 12–19, and Crum was pressured out on the finish of it. In the meantime, with Wagner as his one-and-done, breakthrough recruit a yr later, Calipari went 27-9 and received a share of a convention championship.
Quick ahead one technology, and Louisville is attempting to do unto Calipari what Calipari did unto the Cardinals. And the place Worldwide Wes lands on this tussle might matter.
I referred to as Wes on Thursday. He answered and instantly requested what he at all times requested after we’ve talked previously, “Is that this off the file?” My reply: “It is no matter you need it to be.” His reply to my reply: “We’re off the file.” And so we had been.
Wes is now an govt with the New York Knicks, an American success story by the use of the gritty basketball subculture. Even when he wished to talk on the file about DJ Wagner or something taking place on the faculty stage, he is prohibited by NBA guidelines. So he wasn’t going to go there, and wasn’t even going to supply his ideas for publication on long-time good friend and short-time Knicks colleague Payne lastly getting a head teaching job.
However it could be naive to suppose Wes hasn’t supplied his endorsement of Payne getting the Louisville job after being handed over in 2018 for Chris Mack, and it could stand to motive that he championed the hiring of Milt for a second time. Now comes the query: Does Wes have the behind-the-scenes juice to impression DJ’s faculty selection the way in which he did Dajuan’s? And in that case, would he champion his previous Louisville buddies or as soon as once more come down on Calipari’s aspect?
This a lot we all know: After years of some previous heroes feeling disconnected from this system, Louisville is buying and selling closely on nostalgia at this level. It is bringing the Nineteen Eighties band again collectively in a present of assist for Payne and attempting to assist him get off to a quick begin. “You’ll be able to see the ambiance has modified,” says Ellison, who’s this system director of the New Jersey Students AAU group DJ Wagner performs for. “You’ll be able to perceive the thrill constructing—the fan base is worked up, the previous gamers are excited. It should be an thrilling time below coach Payne. His message is an incredible message. That younger man has been profitable at each stage, and I believe the college made an incredible selection.”
How a lot the heroes of yesteryear can impression a 2023 recruit stays to be seen—however they preferred what they noticed of DJ Wagner final week.
Griffith’s jaw dropped after one Wagner play—a steal, a fluid behind-the-back dribble to his proper, and a crossover again to blow previous a defender and end together with his left hand. I requested Dr. Dunkenstein—Louisville’s all-time males’s main scorer—if he had that transfer at age 17. He shook his head no.
Russ Smith, who scored greater than 1,900 factors as a Cardinal, raves about DJ’s recreation. “He is superb going downhill,” Smith says. “He is acquired vary, however he is acquired to get a bit of extra constant. I believe he’ll match effectively with any guard mixture you place with him. I like his body and his measurement—that may get him to the following stage. He can see the ground and suppose the sport. But when he needs to, he can get you 30 or 40.”
Smith pauses for a second, then provides, “I hope we get him.”
The most important Kentucky vs. Louisville recruiting battle in many years might rage for just a few extra months earlier than choices are made. No matter the way it ends, DJ Wagner’s generational story line and household ties to each colleges make it one of the vital fascinating recruitments ever.
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