Recruiting Report: Ryder Kavanagh (2018)
Lake Stevens 6-foot-2 combo guard Ryder Kavanagh has two weekends left of live period events to showcase his slick guard skills to college coaches, and hopes he can turn some D3 and NAIA interest into D2 interest.
He’ll be in Anaheim and Las Vegas the next two weekends with North City 17U, and will have ample opportunity to showcase his skills in front of a litany of college coaches.
“There’s a lot of D3 schools looking at me right now, and a couple of NAIAs, like George Fox and Puget Sound, schools like that,” said Kavanagh.
“I’m hoping to get some D2 looks by the end of the summer, that’s what my main goal is.”
Though playing at the highest level of college ball is the main goal, Kavanagh says he’ll play wherever his best option is.
If that’s D3, he’ll embrace that opportunity.
“I’ll play college basketball anywhere, if I can. That’s my dream is to play college basketball,” said Kavanagh. “If D3 is where I’m going to go, then I’ll go there.”
A scoring guard, with adept ball-handling skills, Kavanagh defined his playing style in his own words to PHWA.
“I think my best strength is probably shooting and my ball-handling, and being able to create shots for myself has improved a lot lately,” said Kavanagh.
“Lately, with my high school team, I’ve been able to be the main ball-handler and being able to create shots for others, and that’s what I’ve improved on most for sure.”
As he heads into his senior season with the Vikings, Kavanagh says the goal — in addition to getting some D2 looks — is to improve on both sides of the ball.
“I want to create more plays for others and not just myself,” he said. “My junior season I shot the ball really well, but defensively I need to improve.”