Chance Pride Interview (2019)
The consummate camper Chance Pride made the most of August. He saw many colleges and more importantly plenty of college coaches saw him. Most recently he checked out NAIA school Lyon College in Arkansas.
“That went well,” said Chance Pride. “They are interested in me now. We will see what happens with that. There were about 100 kids there. There was a good amount.”
Just to get a feel for how they performed a common follow-up question is, ‘How did you fit in against the other campers?’ How did Chance play?
“I felt like I was a top five player there for sure,” said Pride with pride. “There was some good competition, some good talent there, but I definitely felt like I was top five.”
This season Lyon College Head Coach Chad Tapp presents a largely Arkansas-raised contingent of players with a handful of Europeans sprinkled in. The only product of a Tennessee high school on Lyon College currently is Arlington’s Ray Price. He decided upon Lyon College back in June.
COMMITTED ????????‼️ thank you so much to everyone who helped me through my journey! On to the next chapter???????? pic.twitter.com/lMHCnRLvII
— Ray Price (@RayPrice_12) June 9, 2018
Will Lyon College try to draw in a Tennessee-based prospect or two from the 2019 class?
“They are planning on giving seven scholarships to 2019,” said Chance Pride. “The campus was very nice. So was the gym. I liked it. We will see.”
Two details college prospects generally consider are distance from home and size of school. Chance sees Lyon as small and relatively far, but neither are disqualifying factors. His dad doesn’t care if Chance goes out of state to hoop.
“For sure it is a smaller town, smaller campus, I think 800 students go there. I kind of like a smaller type campus and school. My dad went with me. He liked it as well.”
Chance has a strong support system. In fact, two of his relatives played a college sport.
“My aunt, she played basketball at EKU,” said Pride. “My dad played college baseball at University of West Florida.”
Ultimatum
Chance played both basketball and baseball most of his life. He might have been able to pursue both or either.
“I actually gave (baseball) up just last year for basketball,” said Chance Pride. “I felt like I had a future in basketball, so I just wanted to focus on one sport. I wouldn’t’ have gotten to experience summer basketball with BMaze. I feel like I would have never had an opportunity to play college basketball.”
Chance Pride elected to devote his athletic time to basketball and obviously the college recruiting indicates he made an astute choice.
“I don’t think I would have had any recruiting process if it wasn’t for playing AAU with BMaze.”
BMaze’s success and unity promoted several prospects. Chance put in his own work too by scheduling college camps and campus visits. His initiative certainly kept the ball rolling.
Asbury University, Midway College, and Kentucky Christian are serial pursuers.
“I am hearing from Asbury,” said Pride. “I think next week I am going to go up and play some pickup with them. They are just starting to play pickup with the team. They want me to come watch some of their games.”
Asbury is one of the more aggressive recruiting programs for Chance Pride.
“They really like my game, so we will see.”
Midway University also hosted Chance recently.
Adorned with trees Midway University is a small, Lexington, Kentucky school.
“Midway visit was good. Once again small campus,” said Chance Pride. “Even fewer students than Lyon, but I like it because there are only 10 students in the classes. It is a lot earlier to learn. They are an up and coming program. I think (coaches) have been there four years.”
The Midway campus is approximately 3.5 hours away from Maryville’s William Blount High where Chance attends.
One school is pushing the commitment as the others all progress naturally.
Blessed to receive my very first basketball scholarship offer from Kentucky Christian University pic.twitter.com/bpi0vITisP
— chance pride (@pride_chance) August 6, 2018
“KCU is really trying to pressuring me into going ahead and committing,” said Chance Pride Friday evening. “They are on top of my list right now because their coach really likes me. He is really trying to get me to commit.”
Colleges all progress at different speeds. Most of the time they show interest as early as they can, but then slow play most of the recruits until the need arises. For Chance it is a strong indication of need from KCU as they offered before his senior season. Most NAIA schools cast a wide net in the penultimate summer, but KCU is hoping to make Chance the big fish now.
Two other schools to keep an eye on are Bryan College and Newberry College. Bryan is a school in Tennessee. They have a keen eye for strong recruits throughout the state. Newberry College is in South Carolina.
“Newberry is a Division II school that is interested in me,” said Chance Pride. “I went to their camp a couple of weeks back. They contacted my high school coach and wanted to get some more film on me. They are thinking about attending some of my games this season. They just asked for film.
Bryan College is relatively new to the party, but they are in a good place still.
“I really want to visit Bryan College. I am trying to get a visit set up with them. They are interested in me. We will see how that goes.”
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