Texas Basketball Recruiting: Breaking down RJ Hampton overseas decision

A top prospect for the 2019 Texas basketball recruiting class, 5-Star CG RJ Hampton, announced that he would be taking his game internationally last week.

A potential huge miss for the 2019 or 2020 Texas basketball recruiting class lately didn’t turn out to be a very realistic target after all. Five-star Little Elm, TX, shooting guard RJ Hampton was once a crucial target for the 2020 Texas basketball recruiting class before he reclassified to the 2019 cycle. Getting a shot at landing Hampton to come to the Forty Acres immediately was also a nice thought for head Texas basketball coach Shaka Smart.

However, Texas basketball didn’t make it through the final set of finalist school cuts for Hampton. As a result, one of the best final targets for Texas was lost and the 2019 signing class was pretty much in the books. The two biggest 2019 recruiting targets for Texas by the time the calendar this year turned to May were five-star Federal Way, WA, power forward Jaden McDaniels and Hampton.

Neither McDaniels nor Hampton chose Texas. And Texas didn’t make it through the final trim of cuts for the decision for either prospect. Hampton seemed to be down to the Memphis Tigers and Kansas Jayhawks when it was all said and done. McDaniels gave his pledge to the in-state power conference Washington Huskies on May 21, but he hasn’t signed his National Letter of Intent yet.

The recruiting process for McDaniels was very different than usual. Nonetheless as it pertains to the Texas basketball program, all we know is that Smart missed out on both top tier prospects. This was still a solid 2019 signing class for Texas, but Hampton and McDaniels would solidify this group at the top of the Big 12.

Here’s a look into the decision for the former Texas Longhorns basketball offeree and elite 2019 shooting guard RJ Hampton to take his game overseas next year.