Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Kareem Richardson lands his first three commits at UMKC

Kareem Richardson

Kareem Richardson has had a good week for his first recruiting class as the University of Missouri-Kansas City head coach, and it’s only Tuesday evening.

Olathe South Senior High (Kan.) shooting guard Noah Knight became Richardson’s first commit. The 6-foot-2 shooting guard landed a scholarship offer from UMKC on July 15, and picked the Kangaroos on Monday night, according to his AAU team MoKan Elite.

Less than 24 hours later, Cahokia High School (Ill.) small forward joined Knight in Richardson’s inaugural recruiting class. The 6-foot-6 small forward Darius Austin was also considering DePaul, Drake, Indiana State and Murray State. Austin will be a versatile player for Richardson, serving as a point forward.

“I built a relationship with Coach Richardson when he was at Xavier,” Austin told Nate Latsch of STLToday.com. “He was recruiting me when he was at Xavier, and it was a special relationship. He stayed consistent. He never backed off. He stayed on me. When he was at Louisville, he recruited me there. Then he recruited me hard at UMKC and stayed on me. I felt like that was the right place for me.”

Hours later, Seward County Community College (Kan.) 6-foot-8 forward Thaddeus Smith became No. 3 for Richardson in the two-day span, according to Rivals National Basketball Recruiting Analyst Eric Bossi.

Richardson was hired on Mar. 19 after serving as an assistant coach on Louisville’s national championship team this past season. He takes over for Matt Brown, who was fired after an 8-24 (5-11 Summit) record in 2012-2013. The Kangaroos are moving from the Summit League to the Western Athletic Conference this season.

Follow @terrence_payne