Not to be lost in the coaching prowess of Stanford men’s basketball head coach Kyle Smith is the work he and his staff are doing on the recruiting trail. In the incoming freshman class, they have added a talented 3-star point guard in Ebuka Okorie, a possible unicorn in Latvian power forward Kristers Skrinda, and a big man with a lot of upside in Belgian power forward Oskar Giltay. As for 2026, Smith and his staff have landed a nice backcourt pair in 3-star combo guard Myles Jones and 4-star point guard Isaiah “Slim” Rogers.
Not to be lost in the coaching prowess of Stanford men’s basketball head coach Kyle Smith is the work he and his staff are doing on the recruiting trail. In the incoming freshman class, they have added a talented 3-star point guard in Ebuka Okorie, a possible unicorn in Latvian power forward Kristers Skrinda, and a big man with a lot of upside in Belgian power forward Oskar Giltay. As for 2026, Smith and his staff have landed a nice backcourt pair in 3-star combo guard Myles Jones and 4-star point guard Isaiah “Slim” Rogers.
While Rogers is a solid 4-star, Okorie isn’t far behind, as he’s gotten some 4-star love as well from On3 prior to the On3 | Rivals merger. So that’s two point guards that are 4-star level. And then due to being international guys, Skrinda and Giltay have flown under the radar with respect to the American scouting services, but by all accounts, they have a lot of upside.
On3 actually rated Skrinda a 4-star before the On3| Rivals merger and I believe Rivals did as well though his profile doesn’t reflect that. So, he got a bit of love there. But in general, both guys have not gotten the rankings/attention they would have gotten had they played in the United States, making Stanford’s recruiting under Smith not look as good as it actually is.
On top of landing guys who appear to be better than the scouting services might indicate, Smith and co. have done a good job of addressing needs. With Jaylen Blakes and Maxime Raynaud both graduating, Stanford needed to get some influx of talent at point guard and in the front court. Skrinda and Giltay both check off the front court box while Okorie, Rogers, and Jones check off the point guard box. And that doesn’t even factor in the addition of graduate transfer Jeremy Dent-Smith, who’ll add even more depth at point guard.
Looking back on his first recruiting class, Smith did a great job of finding grad transfer Jaylen Blakes from Duke, since departed swingman Oziyah Sellers (St. John’s), and junior transfer (now senior) forward Chisom Okpara while adding some quality players for the future in guard Anthony Batson Jr., forward Evan Stinson, forward Donavin Young, and center Tallis Toure. First recruiting classes are always tough for head coaches, but Smith came in right away and added players that were able to help both in the now and in the future.
One interesting thing about Smith is where he’s getting his recruits. He’s really finding guys everywhere: International, nationwide, and in-state. Both Rogers and Jones in the 2026 class are California guys while Skrinda and Giltay are from Europe. And then Okorie is from Brewster Academy in New Hampshire. Smith has a good feel for where to find talent and seems to have no limits in terms of where he’ll look to find players. He clearly is dialed in and connected.
While he is known as more of a player development type of coach, Kyle Smith doesn’t suffer from the problem of not being able to bring in talent. There are some coaches who can handle the player development side but are unable to bring in the talent needed to win. Smith can both bring in the talent and develop it. That’s a combination that isn’t as easy to find in a coach as one might think. I look forward to seeing who else Smith brings in as he continues to shape this Stanford roster into what he wants.
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Category: General Sports
