I watched some full games of some HS recruits in the 2026 class. Two of them impressed me. Here are a few thoughts:
6-9 center Davion Atkins is very active. He does a very nice job of hedging the screen and getting back under the basket. He isn't quite as quick about it as Adem Bona (who is?), but he seems very advanced on defense for a high-school kid. He is also a very good rebounder. He has long arms and uses them.
Atkins is thin and needs to put on some muscle. He was getting pushed around a bit by the opposing center. He has some decent footwork around the basket, but he can improve that. He has a nice looking three-point shot even if it didn't go in much. I expect by the time he gets to college he will be enough of an outside threat to keep teams honest.
My friend compared 6-5 Anthony Felesi to Jordan Adams, and that might be a good comparison. He doesn't have a traditional basketball body, but he is very strong and uses that strength well.
He is a very good rebounder. He is also very good at using his strength and clever moves to get to the rim. It reminds me a bit of Great Osobor.
He is also a very good three-point shooter.
He plays on a team loaded with D1 talent, including AJ Dybantsa Jr., Washington-bound JJ Mandaquit Jr. (who looks terrific), BYU-bound Xavion Staton, and Jackson Rasmussen (headed to Idaho). He looked very comfortable playing on a team where he was clearly not the star, but he made significant contributions.
These are both kids who are unlikely to start as freshmen, but would be outstanding 3-4 year players at UCLA.
Apparently, a number of 5-star players have demands to be guaranteed to start and featured in the offense as well as off-the-charts financial demands.
Many of these guys are not interested in a team-oriented game, and some have former-NBA parents who would be major problems. There are definitely some 5-stars that Cronin would be happy to sign, but these two guys are the type you can use to build a program.
Overall, high-school recruiting is much less of a factor in college hoops than it used to be. Events like Peach Jam (which is going on right now) are not the make-or-break recruiting events for college coaches.
However, these are examples of the kind of kids that a program like Purdue builds their team around.