Chosen 25 shooting guard Cade Cunningham’s recruitment appears wide open. On May 30, he announced his top 10 schools spanning across the country from Florida to Washington.
But one of them just made a pitch to the No. 5 player in the 2020 class that none of the others can match.
Oklahoma State hired Cunningham’s brother, 26-year-old Cannen Cunningham, to be an assistant coach, according to ESPN.
This move doesn’t appear to solely be for recruiting reasons. Cannen can handle his own, as he played at Southern Methodist University from 2011-2015, had a stint in the G League and coached at Tulane last season as the associate director of video operations.
“I have gotten to know Cannen really well over the last year or so as I have watched his development as a coach,” OSU head coach Mike Boynton told ESPN.
“He has a great knack for player development and has a relatability with players that will be a tremendous asset to the continual growth of our program.”
But it can’t hurt Cunningham’s recruitment to bring in his brother. Oklahoma State was already a favorite to land the Montverde (Florida) star, as 247Sports‘ crystal ball listed that as the likely landing spot even before Cannen got the OSU job.
The other nine schools Cunningham listed in his USA TODAY Blog were Texas, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas, Washington, Memphis, Florida and Virginia.