Ryan Wright, the 6-8 senior power forward from Mississauga (Ontario, Canada) Loyola Catholic, is a prospect who’s been getting a hit by a big wave of recruiting interest since he played very well at the recent NBA Players Camp. At the Nike Camp last week in Indianapolis, he built on that performance, again looking good and athletic against more of the best players in the States.
“Right now I have a list of about ten schools, but I’m still fairly open,” Wright said. “They would be Michigan, Michigan, State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia Tech, UCLA, Stanford, Pittsburgh and Kentucky. I might be missing one or two but that’s mostly who I’m hearing from the most.”
Wright said all of the schools he listed have offered, except Kentucky. “I just started talking to them a week or two ago. I don’t think they’ve offered yet.”
He said he’s unofficially visited Michigan, Michigan State, UCLA, Pepperdine, and Stanford. “I want to try to visit Wisconsin or Pittsburgh soon, too. And really, all the other schools I named, I want to visit those, too, before I start narrowing down my list. At the end of summer, I’ll be looking to narrow my list, after all the camps and tournaments, and after I take a few more unofficial visits.”
When asked what schools he’d like to visit officially, Wright said, “I’d like to take an official visit to Wisconsin and Illinois. I’d like to take an official visit to one of those west coast schools. I’d like to go to both, but realistically, probably just one of them. And I don’t know which one yet.”
Wright said there are some factors that will weigh heavily in his narrowing-down process. “At the end of summer, I’ll go over it with my dad and go over the depth charts. I’ll look at who each team has at my position, and who they’re recruiting at my position. I want to play when I get to college. If I can get in a situation where I can play, that’s good.”
When asked if weather and location – specifically the weather on the west coast – would be a factor, Wright said: “The weather was obviously great on the west coast. It’s the west coast. But weather and location isn’t everything to me. I want to have the best experience in college, and get into the best situation for me to play in.”
Academics is a high-priority issue for Wright: “Academics are very important. I’d like to try as hard on the court as I do in the classroom. I’m a very competitive person, in the classroom too. And it’s paying off because I get very good grades. Hopefully I can go to a school with good academics. I’d like to play basketball for the rest of my life, but if that doesn’t happen I want to get a good degree. If I move back to Canada I could get a really good job. So I really want a nice degree.”
As far as his grades, Wright said that he has an 8 grade point average in his Canadian high school, which he thought translated to about a 3.5 in U.S. standards. He also said he’s taken the SAT twice and scored a 1060.