Kansas State beats KU, Oklahoma State for coveted basketball recruit David Castillo
Kansas State has landed its first basketball pledge for the recruiting class of 2024, and it’s fair to say the Wildcats started with a bang.
Their newest recruit should provide a strong foundation as Jerome Tang continues to search for new prospects and build toward the future.
David Castillo, a coveted 6-foot-1 and 170-pound guard from Bartlesville, Oklahoma, has announced plans to play for the Wildcats after he completes his senior year of high school. Castillo made his decision public during a ceremony at his high school on Tuesday. He chose K-State over Kansas, Oklahoma State and several other suitors.
“I really trust Coach Tang and everything that he believes in,” Castillo said. “I want to help him win a national championship. It was definitely just a gut feeling.”
This is a big addition for Tang and his coaching staff. The Wildcats have made Castillo a priority for several months, and they were able to win a recruiting battle for him against a pair of Big 12 rivals. It’s rare that K-State goes head-to-head with KU for basketball recruits. When they do, they Jayhawks have typically won. So this is a notable victory for the Wildcats.
“This has been a very long process,” Castillo said. “I took it day by day. I didn’t know I was going to be committing this early, but it’s a dream come true to know where I am going in the next couple of years. It is very amazing to me.”
Castillo said he was impressed by the way K-State won 26 games and reached the Elite Eight this past season. It was an impressive first season in Manhattan for Tang.
“He told me he wanted to go win a national championship before the season,” Castillo said. “For him to come as close as he did brought some attention to me. It was very cool to see.”
Castillo also thinks he will fit in nicely with K-State’s roster.
Assistant coach Rodney Perry was the lead recruiter on Castillo, and he sold him on his vision for using Castillo’s skills in K-State’s offense.
“Coach Tang lets his guards play,” Castillo said. “I want to go out there and compete and I want to have fun. Those are some of the main reasons why I chose Kansas State.”
Most recruiting services rate Castillo as a four-star recruit and one of the top 50 prospects in his high school class. But ESPN is incredibly high on him, as it rates him as a five-star recruit and the No. 12 high school junior in the country.
The last K-State recruit to commit to the Wildcats with a higher individual ranking was Michael Beasley when he was the No. 1 rated recruit in 2007.
Clent Stewart, a former K-State basketball player, coaches Castillo at Bartlesville High School. In some small way, that connection could have helped the Wildcats with Castillo. It won’t be hard to convince him to make the four hour drive north for games at Bramlage Coliseum.
“He tells me all the time he really doesn’t care where I go,” Castillo said of Stewart. “He is going to support me no matter what. But if I did choose Kansas State he said he was prepared to come up for every game. He is probably going to do that.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2023 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Kansas State beats KU, Oklahoma State for coveted basketball recruit David Castillo."