'22 IMG forward Noah Batchelor commits to Maryland
- Ahmed Ghafir
- Apr 18, 2022
- 2 min read
Maryland has landed the first commitment of the Kevin Willard era.
IMG Academy (FL) three-star forward Noah Batchelor has announced his commitment to Maryland over LSU, Georgia and Memphis. Batchelor also had verbal offers from Pittsburgh, Penn State, Marquette, NC State, Nebraska and Wake Forest but all that was needed was one official visit to Maryland.
Batchelor began his official visit to Maryland on Sunday, as reported last week, and gave his verbal commitment to the staff at the tail end of the visit before going public on Monday night. The Maryland native becomes the first commit in the Terps’ 2022 recruiting class after new assistant Tony Skinn teamed up with retained director of basketball operations Greg Manning Jr. to reel in Batchelor.
Batchelor became an available target during the 2021-22 season after he backed off his pledge to Memphis during the first week of February. Led by assistant Greg Manning Jr., Maryland interim head coach Danny Manning and the Terps hosted Batchelor for an unofficial visit back on February 20 but the three-star prospect knew the coaching uncertainty would put him in holding pattern. After Willard was announced as head coach, former Ohio State assistant Tony Skinn then joined the program and was able to begin building the relationship with the three-star prospect.
“The coaches are just now starting to reach out, we’re starting to make a relationship, so I’ve been talking to coach [Tony] Skinn. We’ve been talking for a few days,” Batchelor said last month. “He’s a cool dude. he’s one of the chillest coaches I’ve gotten a chance to know. He’s talked to me about basketball and where he’s been in the past. He’s originally from Maryland so that was something easy to build off.”
Batchelor fills a need as a perimeter shooter on Maryland’s roster, but more importantly, he gives the Terps a key piece for the future. Batchelor becomes the third scholarship underclassman on Maryland’s roster alongside forward Julian Reese and guard Ike Cornish and gives the roster more perimeter shooting, a welcomed addition after Maryland shot just 32.6% from three as a team last season.
Batchelor recently tabbed himself a “pure shooter” where he’d fit as a developmental wing prospect for Maryland. “I can shoot off the one dribble, two dribble pull-up. I’m a three and D type of prospect. I watch a lot of Duncan Robinson, Step Curry, and Tyler Herro. I look at how they move off the ball, come off curls and screens to get their shot off,” he told On3.
With his commitment, Maryland now has five open scholarships for the 2022-23 season.
Batchelor is rated a three-star prospect and an 88 overall by On3, sitting as the 182nd-best prospect nationally in the consensus national rankings.
