By SAM LANCE
NORTH AUGUSTA, SC — Class of 2026 four-star prospect Cole Cloer recently announced he’s down to eight schools. The 6-foot-8 wing from Hillsborough (NC) has been a key piece for Nike EYBL’s Team CP3 this summer and is one of the most college-ready wings in the country.
Here’s how he broke down his top eight:
Alabama: “Alabama’s been a top five team in the country for the last three or four years. They play an NBA style offense. Coach [Nate] Oats is one of the best coaches in college basketball. I think in terms of how anybody in the country would want to play, that’s how they play. You know what I mean? They run-and-gun, shoot the ball a lot, score a lot points. The coach lets them play. He trusts his guys. So that’s probably the biggest thing.”
Florida: “I mean, Florida just won the national championship. Todd Golden, great young coach. Players’ coach. He’s one of the best coaches in college basketball also. Great program. It’s starting to become a basketball school. A lot of these SEC schools you can say they’re more so football, but they love their basketball. They play an NBA style offense. They play an NBA style. Just the way coach Golden coaches, you’re almost scared he’s going to go to the league. You’re almost scared he’s going to leave Florida and go because of the way they play. So yeah, it’s a great place.”
Indiana: “Coach Rod Clark, he was at Tennessee before. I’ve grown to know coach Clark over the last three, two and a half years. Tennessee was one of the first big schools to start recruiting me. So I got to know him through there. And then coach [Darian] DeVries, great coach. Indiana loves their basketball. They’re kind of in a rebuilding stage with the new coaching staff, but that could be a good thing. They need players to come in. They need players to produce. They need players to build around. So that’s a good part of it.”
On 2026 commit Prince-Alexander Moody’s pitch: “He wants me to come of course, but he ain’t forcing anything on me. We’re good friends. I played him the past couple years. Great player for Takeover. Great player. He’s a real hooper who plays hard. He’s going to be really good at Indiana.”
Louisville: “Pat Kelsey completely turned that program around. He flipped it upside down. They were down in the bottom of the ACC for the last couple of years. They get PK, and PK completely changes the message. He’s talking as if they’re the best team in the ACC. He’s not backing down from anybody. His confidence is to the ceiling. Play an NBA style offense. You recognize a lot of these teams play NBA style — which is — there’s a reason for that. But yeah, Louisville loves their basketball. They’re the pro team in Louisville. It’s a great program.”
North Carolina: “North Carolina has probably been recruiting me the longest out of any of these schools. And it’s North Carolina. It’s one of the most historic programs in the country. It’s one of the best teams in the country every single year. They have been like that for 60 years. Coach Hubert Davis, I love coach Hubert. I’ve gotten to know him a lot. Coach [Jeff] Lebo, coach [Sean] May. I’ve gotten to know Marcus [Paige] a lot. They’ve made me a priority since going into my sophomore year, and they’re continuing to make me a priority now, which says a lot. It’s 35 minutes away. So it’s close.”
NC State: “Coach Will Wade, great coach. He was great at LSU. He was great at McNeese. There’s a reason his teams win, and that credit goes to him. He gets great players. His confidence — it stands out. Going to the ACC, new conference for him and a basketball conference in Raleigh where love their basketball, compete with the Duke’s and Carolina’s, he’s speaking as if they are a Duke or Carolina. So it says a lot that he’s gotten a lot of good players in the portal. Great coach. I went to watch their practice. NBA style practice. I think they’ll be really good this year.”
UConn: “UConn, it’s, I mean [laughter]. Coach [Dan] Hurley, best coach if not one of the best coaches in college basketball. They’ve been the best team over the last 20 years in the country, their basketball program over the last 20 years. They’ve won what, two out of the last three national championships. They produce pros. UConn is about their basketball. Connecticut is about their basketball. Coach Hurley is all in. Just the tone of his voice, the first time I’ve ever talked to him, the tone of his voice was just like, ‘Let’s go.’ There wasn’t any friendly talk really, it was like ‘Let’s get to business.’ And I was like ‘Dude, hell yeah let’s do it.’ But yeah, great coach. Great program. Produce pros. That’s my dream, win basketball games. It’s just a great program.”
Virginia: “Coach [Ryan] Odom, coach Ahmad [Thomas], coach Bryce Crawford, they were all at VCU before. They were one of the first programs to start recruiting me at VCU, and then they moved to Virginia. I love the way they play. VCU was just smaller before, so I wasn’t necessarily trying to go there. But now that they made the move to Virginia, I was like ‘All right, let’s do something.’ Because I love coach Odom. Great coach. Great person on and off the floor. I mean Virginia, great program. People always talk about how great Charlottesville is. They’re in the ACC, a basketball conference. It’s a great program.”
The official visits Cloer has locked in are Louisville (Aug. 30), Florida (Sept. 6), UConn (Sept. TBD), North Carolina (Oct. 10) and Alabama (Oct. 18). He’s still working on setting Indiana, NC State and Virginia. Cloer said he’ll cut it down again from eight to three or four. As for a decision timeline?
“There’s no point to really put a timeline on it,” Cloer said. “I could commit after my first official visit, or I could wait until after Christmas. I’m open to whatever, so.”
An important factor in Cloer’s decision will be development.
“The goal is to get to the NBA,” Cloer said. “So wherever I feel like will put me in the league, that’s where I’ll be.”
The four-star also recently made the move to transfer to IMG Academy for his senior season. He’s excited to play with some great players he’s built bonds with like Trey Beamer, Chase Foster and Jermal Jones.
“I was trying to figure out what could prepare me the best for my freshman year of college,” Cloer said. “Whenever I step on campus, I want to make an impact. I want to be able to step on the floor. So looking at it from that aspect, it being a basketball specific school — school comes second, you know what I mean? And really learning how to take care of my body. How to use my body, maximize my size. Nutrition. The skill work. The schedule. The practices. It’s just college before college.”
Cloer is ranked the No. 24 overall prospect in the 2026 class by 247Sports. He’s averaged 15.5 points and 4.2 rebounds across four games at Peach Jam for Team CP3.
“I feel like I’ve made a jump in every aspect,” Cloer said of his summer. “I feel like I’ve focused on trying to play off my jump shot, playing off the shot. Once that opens up, the game just comes super easy. I think that’s probably been my most effective thing in my bag, playing off my shot. I’m 6-foot-8 and I can shoot it, so I feel like those people have to respect it. And not many people can block it. So I feel like starting to play off that’s helped me.”
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