Sandfort busy with visits and basketball

Pryce Sandfort loves the game of basketball.

Whether it’s playing with his Minnesota D1 team on the Adidas circuit in the spring and during the month of July or with his Waukee Northwest High School team, like he is doing this weekend in Rock Island, he can’t get enough of the game.

“There’s no such thing as too much basketball,” he said with a smile. “I love it. I love being here playing with my high school team.”

In addition to being on the court playing basketball, the 6-foot-7 prospect in the Class of 2023 is also taking part in several official and unofficial visits in recent weeks with more to come.

Sandfort, who is ranked 138th in his class by Rivals.com, recently made an unofficial visit to Nebraska, followed by an official visit to Drake.

“The Nebraska visit was incredible,” he said. “I used to go to Coach Hoiberg’s camps at Iowa State, so we laughed at some old pictures of those camps.”

Then he made the short drive to Drake’s campus for an official visit with the Bulldogs. He saw a familiar face in his former high school teammate, Tucker DeVries and his father, Darren, who, is the head coach.

“It was a great visit too,” he said. “Tucker is working me pretty hard and it was good to spend time with him and Coach DeVries.”

Speaking of familiar faces, on Tuesday, Sandfort will see quite a few familiar faces, including his older brother, Payton, when he travels to Iowa City for an unofficial visit.

Sandfort has spent plenty of time around the Hawkeyes during the season and his brother has been working him pretty hard to join him in an Iowa uniform starting next fall.

“He’s pushing me pretty hard to come to Iowa,” he said with a laugh.

Could his brother’s enjoyment of his time in Iowa City have a big influence on him?

“It absolutely influences me. He loves it at Iowa. He loves the coaches there and his teammates.”

When he arrives in Iowa City, Sandfort will see another familiar face and that’s Matt Gatens. The former Drake assistant was his lead recruiter when he was with the Bulldogs. Now he’s leading the charge for the Hawkeyes.

“I loved being recruited by him when he was there and they just handed me off to him once he got to Iowa.”

Sandfort said that Gatens calls him all the time and Fran McCaffery also checks in regularly.

In addition to the unofficial to Iowa, Sandfort said he may be in the process of lining up an official visit to Clemson next weekend, but that was still being worked on. He is also planning to make an official visit in late July and then potentially make a decision at some point after that trip.