Top-10 junior Nate Bittle being prioritized by five programs, sets commitment timeline
Oregon has had its fair share of highly-rated players to come out of the state, one who could arguably end up as one of the top-rated recruits and prospects in state history? Nate Bittle.
The 6-foot-10 incoming senior attends Crater High School in Oregon and has been leading them to titles and has also earned himself several honors. Bittle won the Prep Boys’ player of the year, the MaxPreps’ Oregon Player of the Year, and the Oregonian/OregonLive 5A Player of the Year.
It was well deserved as he finished his season averaging 25 points, 11.3 rebounds, and my favorite stat, four blocks per contest. In my opinion, Bittle has easily established himself as one of the nation’s top shot-blockers. He’s proved it at the USA Basketball camp, he proved it on the UAA circuit and has easily shown it in high school.
With that, he’s been pursued by tons of programs throughout his high school career. At an early point in his recruitment Duke, Kentucky, and some others had shown interest but now he’s being prioritized by five programs.
“Some schools that text me and calls me the most are Oregon, Gonzaga, UCLA, Arizona, and Michigan,” Bittle told Stockrisers.com
The newer program here in Michigan. They started to show their interest back in March and haven’t really given up since. Phil Martelli is the lead man on this recruitment but Bittle says that he hears from a Michigan staffer almost every morning.
As far as the other programs go, Oregon has been seen as a favorite to land Bittle since they were one of his first power-five offers and are his local high-major program. The staff has made it evident he remains a top-target for them. “I have done a zoom meeting with Oregon and they have shown us buildings and stuff of their school so it’s good,” Bittle said.
Bittle luckily was able to take visits to schools this season. He’s visited Oregon unofficially several times but UCLA, Arizona, and Gonzaga were able to nab him on big official visits. “I have taken official visits to UCLA, Gonzaga, and Arizona so that was really nice getting to see all the schools and how their program is run.”
He took his first one to Arizona in September and Sean Miller has zoomed with him and been on him hard since and even prior to the visit.
UCLA and Mick Cronin have been making a major push since he was hired. Hosting Bittle for his second official visit in October. He’s been prioritized by the Bruins for almost three years, they’re eager to land him whenever he chooses to announce [read below].
As for Gonzaga, Bittle visited Spokane in January and an assistant watched him after that. Mark Few has seen him live several times. They actively watched Bittle in the summer of 2018 when they were making a major push at Nico Mannion and Josh Green, former AAU teammates of Bittle when they played for West Coast Elite.
Bittle has been vocal about making a choice prior to the early signing period and then signing right away. He tells Stockrisers.com ‘I will announce by or in November’ –- which is pretty significant news for the fact that he could choose a program sooner or later.