Mississippi high school recruit Makhi Myles decommits from Wichita State basketball
Makhi Myles, the lone high school signee in the upcoming Wichita State men’s basketball recruiting class, has decommitted from the Shockers and reopened his recruitment, he told The Eagle late Thursday.
The 6-foot-6 wing who was recently named Mississippi’s Mr. Basketball in Class 6A confirmed the decision a little more than two weeks after WSU fired head coach Isaac Brown, who spearheaded the recruiting effort on the three-star prospect.
Myles signed a national letter of intent to play for the Shockers this past fall, but said he was in the process of working with WSU to be released from the commitment. He did note that he would still consider WSU under new coach Paul Mills.
“Considering how fast everything was changing there, I just didn’t feel comfortable in that spot,” Myles texted The Eagle. “It doesn’t exclude them from my recruitment, but I need to open everything back up just to be safe.”
Myles averaged 22 points, 9.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 2.5 steals and 2.7 blocks this past season at Starkville (Miss.) High. He is rated as the No. 265 overall prospect in the class of 2023 by 247Sports and projected to be a burgeoning 3-and-D player at the collegiate level.
He was considered a recruiting coup at the time by Brown, who went into his home state of Mississippi and earned a commitment from one of the state’s best recruits over hometown Mississippi State, Creighton, Missouri and Ole Miss.
Myles is the latest departure following the coaching change, as WSU has lost leading scorer Jaykwon Walton to Alabama and reserve point guard Shammah Scott to Akron. Starting center Kenny Pohto and walk-on spark Melvion Flanagan remain in the NCAA transfer portal.
That leaves Mills with seven scholarships to work with for WSU’s 2023-24 roster. The current roster features four juniors in Colby Rogers, Jaron Pierre, Xavier Bell and Quincy Ballard and two sophomores in Jalen Ricks and Isaac Abidde.
WSU has reportedly reached out to several transfer targets in the portal, including Oral Roberts wing Kareem Thompson (8.5 points), Indiana guard Tamar Bates (6.1 points), Charlotte center Aly Khalifa (11.7 points) and California forward Sam Alajiki (6.1 points).
Mills has told local media he has already picked out his assistant coaches and WSU is expected to publicly announce them once they become official. Sources have told The Eagle that Mills’ staff will include former coaches, staff and players he has worked with at Baylor and Oral Roberts.
The staff following Mills from Oral Roberts includes assistant coach Kenton Paulino, director of player development Iain Laymon and strength and conditioning coach Ashtin Meerpohl. That would leave two assistant coaches, a director of operations, a video coordinator and graduate managers to name.
