‘Felt like a great place to be’: Recruit Isaac Abidde picks Wichita State basketball
Wichita State men’s basketball head coach Isaac Brown wanted to keep his 13th and final scholarship open this summer in case he came across a recruiting situation he couldn’t pass up.
That situation came along in Isaac Abidde, a 6-foot-9 athletic forward from Albany, Georgia, who announced his commitment to the Shockers and plans to reclassify to the 2021 recruiting class on Wednesday after taking an official visit with his family to WSU on Sunday and Monday.
“Isaac is super-athletic, shoots the three well, blocks shots and can guard the one-through-four positions,” Brown said in a statement. “He’s also a great kid, who I think can help our program. To get a guy of his caliber, this late in the recruiting process is a major win for us.”
Following his visit to Wichita, Abidde (pronounced A-B-day) returned home to Georgia but said he plans on being back in Wichita on Thursday and will enroll in classes. He will be on WSU’s campus just in time for when the Shockers resume their limited practice schedule this coming Monday.
He will be the third freshman in WSU’s 2021 recruiting class, joining big man Kenny Pohto and wing Jalen Ricks.
“I liked just about everything on my visit, but really it came down to the coaches and how comfortable I felt with them,” Abidde said. “This just felt like a great place to be.”
Much like in the recruitment of Ricks, who committed in June, Brown was able to swoop in late — he didn’t offer Abidde until July 10 — and win over a recruit with his personality.
“He just seemed like a real genuine guy and he feels like the kind of coach if I had a problem in my life, I could call him about anything and me and him can just talk about it,” Abidde said. “I really liked that about him.”
Abidde isn’t rated highly by recruiting services, but his potential is evident by the Mississippi State and Georgia Tech offers he received when he was a high school sophomore. While both of those schools faded in his recruitment, Abidde said he picked the Shockers over strong interest from Butler, VCU, Kent State and Stony Brook.
After leading Westover High School to the Georgia Class 4A semifinals this spring, Abidde earned first team all-class honors by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He originally planned to attend Loomis Chaffee, a prep school in Connecticut, and join the recruiting class of 2022, but the team only played three games last season due to the coronavirus pandemic and Abidde didn’t want to take the chance that would happen again.
Abidde came onto WSU’s radar this summer after a strong performance with AC Georgia on the Under Armour circuit. Coaches who have seen him play always start with his athleticism packed onto a 6-9 frame, which allows him to soar above crowds for rebounds, throw down an array of dunks and be a shot-blocking presence on defense. But the skill that Abidde has worked hard to add to his repertoire has been his shooting, which he routinely extended out to the three-point line this summer.
That’s exactly the type of high-upside player Brown was hoping to find late in the summer to take as the final scholarship player for the Shockers this upcoming season.
“He offered me the first time we spoke and coach Brown has been recruiting me hard ever since,” Abidde said. “I thought that was pretty big for a head coach to be the one recruiting me.”
Abidde said he didn’t know much about WSU before Brown reached out in July, other than recognizing the program’s NBA players in Fred VanVleet, Landry Shamet and Ron Baker. While he doesn’t know him well, Abidde said it was also comforting to have a fellow South Georgia player on the team in sophomore Monzy Jackson, who hails from Dublin — about a two-hour drive from Albany — and reached out to him while he was on his official visit.
With a talented roster returning for WSU that has expectations of defending its American Athletic Conference championship, Abidde will have to impress right away to earn playing time. Abidde, who has been listed at a wiry 200 pounds, will also need to make up for lost time in WSU’s strength and conditioning program as he makes the transition from high school to preparing to play defense and rebound at a high level in the American.
He will have two veterans to learn from this season in Joe Pleasant and Morris Udeze, both of whom are entering their fourth seasons in college. WSU also has Jackson competing with Pleasant for power forward minutes, while Matt McFarlane and Kenny Pohto are also battling for minutes behind Udeze, an established starter.
But with Abidde’s athleticism and versatility in a 6-9 frame, there’s little doubt he has the potential to someday help the Shockers — whether that’s right away or down the road.
“I’m really athletic and I think I can shoot the ball pretty well,” Abidde said. “I think I can defend the three through the five. I think whatever you need me to do three through five, I can do it.”
This story was originally published August 18, 2021 at 4:26 PM.
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