As college basketball looms on the horizon, players are naming their college of choice as part of the Class of 2023, including Jamie Kaiser Jr. Kaiser committed to Maryland Aug. 7 after narrowing his choices down to Maryland, Indiana and Virginia.
The decision from the consensus four-star wing was met with a flurry of excitement from fans. Kaiser has always had a soft spot for Maryland basketball.
“I had gone to games since I was a kid,” Kaiser said on Glenn Clark Radio Aug. 15. “When they were in the ACC it was jumping. I watched Dez Wells, Terrell Stoglin. I was just a big fan of Maryland basketball. It was only 40 minutes from my house.”
The Burke, Va., native is ranked as the No. 96 player in the nation by the 247Sports composite ratings. Standing 6-foot-6 with dynamic shooting ability, Kaiser will be a welcome addition for the Terps’ coaching staff ahead of the 2023-24 season. Kevin Willard was hired as the program’s new head coach in March, and he brought in Grant Billmeier, David Cox and Tony Skinn as his assistant coaches. Kaiser watched a practice during an official visit.
“The energy was just different,” Kaiser said. “Coach Willard has a certain excitement for the game that a lot of coaches don’t have. He’s hands-on with the players. He’s big on player development and just building confidence in guys, and I feel like if you want guys to produce you need them to have confidence.”
Willard brings plenty of experience as a coach from his days at Seton Hall, where he led the program to four straight NCAA Tournament appearances from 2015-2019. The Pirates also won the Big East tournament in 2016 and the Big East regular-season title in 2020. In 2018, Willard coached Seton Hall to its first NCAA Tournament win since 2004.
This type of experience will prove to be an asset to Kaiser, who has the potential to be an important piece in getting Maryland back to the NCAA Tournament. Cox has a longstanding relationship with Kaiser because he had been recruiting Kaiser since his time as the head coach at Rhode Island.
Kaiser was originally recruited by Maryland as a football prospect but eventually found that basketball was his true calling. Willard even gave him the green light to play both sports if that is what he wished to do, but Kaiser has fully dedicated himself to basketball.
Kaiser spent his first three years of high school at Bishop Ireton in Alexandria, Va., before transferring to IMG Academy, where he’ll play as a senior. IMG is a powerhouse program that should help Kaiser prepare for college ball.
“The competition in practice was the big one that sold me,” Kaiser said of his decision to transfer to IMG. “… I feel like IMG, just as far as their preparation, is the most similar thing you can get to college at any high school program.”
During the process of figuring out where he would play, a familiar person contacted him. Fellow Class of 2023 Maryland commit Jahnathan Lamothe (St. Frances) made a point to contact Kaiser about his recruitment. Kaiser talked about the close friendship between the two as they embark on this new journey.
“I’ve played with Jahn eighth, ninth, tenth grade. I know Jahn. He’s a great teammate. He’s one of the best teammates that I’ve actually ever played with,” Kaiser said. “… He works hard like I work hard so we complement each other real well.”
There is still plenty of time left to recruit for the Class of 2023, and Kaiser is looking to try his hand in bringing more talent to Maryland. When asked who he was looking to bring in to join him and Lamothe, he named Deshawn Harris-Smith (Paul VI), who announced his commitment to Maryland Aug. 24. Kaiser called the trio a “three-headed snake in the backcourt.”
Kaiser believes a national championship is in his future, and his style of play is part of the reason for that.
“I play really hard — crash offensive rebounds, dive on the floor, take a charge,” Kaiser said. “I just play really tough. I feel like that translated from football. But offensively, I can shoot it really well mid-range, take advantage of mismatches.”
For more from Kaiser, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Maryland Athletics