On October 11, Pitt hosted Darren Buchanan, along with his mother and his cousin, on an unofficial tour of Pitt.
Buchanan, a 6-foot-7, 225-pound small forward out of Washington D.C., was in to check out the facilities, take in the Blue-Gold scrimmage, and check out the campus. Prior to the visit, Buchanan had been hearing from Pitt for months, but did not hold an offer from the program up until this recent trip.
“I remember I liked how everything was set up on the campus, how the arena was set up, and just how the coaches were to me and my family,” Buchanan told Pittsburgh Sports Now. “They told me their plan, their goals, and just how they are trying to build their program.”
Buchanan, who is ranked as a three-star prospect by 247 Sports, had a relatively quiet recruitment up until this summer. He says that now, months into his senior year, there are not really many new teams calling in, just the same group for the most part. According to Buchanan, that group consists of Pitt, George Washington, Richmond, James Madison, Stanford, and Virginia Tech.
While Pitt is still actively recruiting wings Yann Farrell and Fray Nguimbi alongside Buchanan, for some of those other schools, Buchanan is their guy. However, he is balancing the love he is receiving from each of these schools and taking his recruitment day by day.
“It is kind of like, I feel like they want me there, but they still have their plan as well,” he added. “I definitely feel the love from Coach Capel and Coach Brown, and all of the other coaches on staff, but I guess it is just a work in progress.”
Over the summer, Buchanan played on the Nike EYBL circuit for Team Durant, alongside Pitt commit Judah Mintz. With Mintz playing the one and the two for Team Durant and Buchanan rotating in at the three, the two have formed a solid relationship and have now been talking about potentially teaming up at the next level once again.
“I actually talked to him today about Pitt,” Buchanan said. “He’s been making his push for me to come up there to Pitt with him, so he has definitely been on me hard.”
As for a timeline, Buchanan says to expect a list soon and a commitment not too far after that list.
“I think I am going to try and decide [where to commit] in the next month or probably couple of weeks,” he said. “I know I am going to be cutting my list either this week, next week, or the week after that. So, everything will kind of be narrowing down pretty soon.”
Did we run out of shorts that fit him?