Xavier Booker came into Ohio State’s recruiting camp last week exhausted.
Within 24 hours, he had returned from the Pangos All-American Camp in Las Vegas, played in an all-star game in Indianapolis before taking the court with his Cathedral High School teammates at the Schottenstein Center against Devin Royal and Pickerington Central.
For the 6-foot-11, 215-pound power forward, that’s just been his life this summer, a life that’s not slowing down anytime soon as a schedule filled with team camps, summer league games and the NBA Top-100 camp in Orlando, Fla. continues.
Booker admitted how hired he was, especially at the all-star game in Indianapolis the night before the Buckeyes’ recruiting camp. But it’s something he would not change.
“It feels great, obviously,” Booker said. “It’s a blessing. I’ve worked for this, so it’s an opportunity to keep building and building, never stopping.”
Booker’s offer list is one that seems to be building and building, never stopping.
In the summer before his senior season, the four-star power forward holds offers from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan State, Purdue, Xavier and Duke. Booker’s held on to his Ohio State offer for about a year after taking part in a group visit last June, building a relationship with both head coach Chris Holtmann and assistant coach Jake Diebler ever since.
“Coach Holtmann, Coach Diebler, we have a strong relationship,” Booker said. “I try and talk with them every day. They reach out to me, checking in on me to see how I’m feeling, how my body’s feeling, so definitely a good relationship with them.”
Booker said Ohio State views him as a versatile big, one that can do similar things that E.J. Liddell did for the Buckeyes in the past three seasons despite being four inches taller than the projected 2022 NBA Draft first-round pick.
“They could see me doing the same things,” Booker said, saying that he’s spending his summer working on his ball handling skills, along with his dribble pull-up, his midrange jumper and his 3-point ability.
Booker’s recruitment is still going strong, while he admitted he’s a bit too busy to secure visits at this point, with one junior official visit left to use and five senior visits at his disposal coming soon.
It’s a volatile situation, he said, with more schools swooping in and giving offers when the 2023 four-star power forward wants to narrow down his option list. What he’s looking for in a school hasn’t changed all that much.
“Definitely just a school I know I fit in like in every aspect,” Booker said. “Like athletically, for one, just making sure I have a good relationship with the coaches, I fit into their coaching style, play style. And also like, importantly, academics, that I know I have academic advisors looking after me, keep on checking my grades and stuff, making sure I am doing what I am supposed to be doing in the classroom.”
Even with schools like Kansas, Duke and Michigan State in the running for the Indianapolis native, Booker said he wants to use an official visit on Ohio State.
It’s a huge program, he said, with a big stadium and a big platform to show what he can do. It’s the product of the work he’s put in.
“It’s definitely a blessing,” Booker said.
