In a major move, after recently re-opening his college recruitment, Notre Dame Prep's strong and athletic 6-foot-4, 195-pound athletic senior guard Anthony Batson has now given a verbal commitment and signed with Stanford University. Batson previously gave a commitment to Rice University, but decided to re-open his college recruitment after former Head Coach Scott Pera was released from his duties after the college season. Batson instead went looking for another college program for himself this spring, and now has landed at Stanford University, where he will now begin his college career.
Highly successful Head Coach Kyle Smith and his staff recently took over the Stanford basketball program, after an excellent run at Washington State. While many Division-I college programs currently recruit the NCAA Transfer Portal for players, Stanford University is a unique situation as a result of the academic prowess essential for the recruitment of prospects to their program. As a result, Batson was a nice fit for Stanford, after he was released from his commitment to Rice University. After re-opening his college recruitment, Batson eventually chose Stanford over offers from Arizona State, Colorado State, Nevada and Rice, where he was previously committed.
Batson is one of the top overall prospects in Arizona's strong 2024 Class, and is one prospect that consistently soared to new heights throughout his high school career. Since his freshman season, where he helped lead his program to a nice state playoff run, Batson was highly regarded by our staff. He put together (4) excellent high school seasons for himself. As a junior, Batson averaged 18.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.9 steals per/game. As a senior, Batson made Notre Dame Prep one of the state's elite programs - leading Notre Dame Prep to an impressive 25-5 overall record this past season. Batson led Notre Dame Prep all season - posting 22.1 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists per/game. Batson's best performance on the season came in a big early season match-up with Desert Mountain High School in the Hoop Hall West event, when Batson exploded for 39 points and 15 rebounds in a 83-81 overtime loss. Batson and Notre Dame Prep would fall just short of reaching their goal for the season, but Batson and his teammates took Notre Dame Prep basketball to completely another level this high school season.
Batson is not a high scoring prospect, but rather he scored big when he needed to, and did everything else for his team as well. He put pressure on opposing defenses with his super athleticism and ability to make plays all season.
Batson was very strong in his performance last spring and summer (2023) on the Under Armour circuit, as he led his Arizona Select club program to a strong showing in several events. As a result, Batson became a hot target among Division-I college programs, and received some big offers for himself, including a big offer from Stanford University, where he now has landed in fine fashion.
Congratulations to Batson and his family on this amazing accomplishment from our staff here at Arizona Preps, and also congrats to the AZ Select club program on another big signing for their organization.
Arizona Hoop Review Scouting Report: Batson is a strong and explosively athletic guard prospect with a nice overall skillset that allows him to score the basketball off the dribble, where he is an excellent finisher at the rim. He has a live body and is active on both ends of the floor. He is a solid three-point shooter, but has a very good mid-range game, which is very attractive, as he uses his strong physical frame to make plays over bigger defenders off the dribble and in the lane. He is a strong defender with quick hands and feet and plays passing lanes. He is also a good rebounder from the guard position. This young man is a nice sleeper prospect already in the class. A Dwayne Wade-type. I have always loved Batson's potential for the future, as a slasher and defender at the collegiate level.
