Bobby Hurley Gearing Up For The Big 12 With An Impressive 2024 Recruiting Class
It’s no secret that the last few seasons of Arizona State basketball have been disappointing, to say the least. The main takeaway being it just doesn’t seem that the Sun Devils have the true will to push towards a major run in the NCAA Tournament. Although, on paper, there are a couple teams that had the potential to do so, none of them really worked out.
Looking at ASU recruiting the last few years, the Sun Devils brought in one of the top recruiting classes in the country in 2020 when ASU landed a pair of four-star recruits in Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley. However, injuries and internal struggles would haunt the Sun Devils that year, and the lingering issues between Hurley and Bagley would continue to be a burden for the team as the years passed.
Even though it seems like it’s a phrase that’s repeated year after year, it finally seems as though there is a true glimmer of hope for ASU basketball, as the incoming recruiting class for the Sun Devils might be the best one yet for Bobby Hurley in his 10 years with the team. A recruiting class that includes the best player to ever commit to Arizona State and some of the best players in the state of Arizona this year.
Early Monday morning, the Sun Devils landed the 8th best recruit in the class of 2024, according to 247 Sports, in the five-star, 6-9 230-pound center in Jayden Quaintance. Quaintance, who was a 2024 McDonald’s All-American and reclassified from the 2025 to 2024 class, has been all over the place in the basketball world and is only 16 years old. Most importantly, for Bobby Hurley, that means Quaintance will have to spend at least 2 years in college before declaring for the NBA Draft due to the league’s “one-and-done” rule, meaning that a player must be at least 19 years of age and have elapsed one year since the player graduated high school.
Quaintance was a walking bucket in high school, but the high school world wouldn’t be the only place Quaintance would shine. The 16-year-old also spent time on the Overtime Elite circuit playing for the Holy Rams during the 2022–23 season, where he averaged 17.3 points and 11.4 rebounds, playing around 34.1 minutes per game.
On the national level, Quaintance also played for the FIBA U16 USA National Team, winning gold in the 2023 tournament. That might sound familiar to people in the state of Arizona because Quaintance played alongside Perry High School’s Koa Peat, who is currently the number one player in Arizona for the class of 2025. This will be an important note to watch as the 2025 athlete is still uncommitted but has Arizona State in his Top 10 list of potential schools.
Quaintance is the highest-rated recruit to commit to ASU since Josh Christopher did in 2020, and while he’s a big part of ASU’s 2024 recruiting class, he’s not the only piece. According to 247 Sports, the Sun Devils also landed two more of the top 15 players in their recruiting history in the class, both of whom are from the state of Arizona.
Amier Ali, a 6-8, 175-pound power forward out of Canyon International Academy in Glendale, will become the 9th highest-rated recruit in ASU basketball history. The second will become the 13th best player the Sun Devils have landed in their history in Sammie Yeanay. A 6-8, 230-pound small forward out of AZ Compass Prep in Chandler.
Amier Ali’s brother, Yusuf Ali, is currently an assistant on Bobby Hurley’s staff and played a key role in Amier’s recruitment. Amier has had a long but successful basketball journey. The 6-8 forward has been a part of several different programs, including Nike EYBL and IMG Academy. After playing at IMG Academy, Amier finished his high school career at Canyon International Academy. Ali has a unique ability to create space on the open floor and finish nicely at the rim, but he also has a nice jumper.
Sammie Yeanay shined this past summer at the Section 7 tournament at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. Yeanay has a great ability to stretch the floor and provide the type of forward play that Sun Devil fans probably would have liked to have seen more of out of Kamari Lands this past season. The four-star prospect averaged 8.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.2 assists last season in 13 games played with AZ Compass Prep.
Ali and Yeanay also join Bo Aldrige, who is a shooting guard out of PHHoenix Prep in Phoenix, in the list of 2024 commits joining Arizona State. Aldrige will add to ASU’s need for quick and versatile guard play. The Sun Devils also had another commit in 6-11, 205-pound center Jaden Smith on the roster, but he announced his decommitment from ASU just hours after Jayden Quaintance announced his commitment.
What’s truly mind-blowing is the 2024 class not only consists of the best recruit in ASU’s history, but also contains Hurley’s best effort to recruit the state of Arizona in his career. Arizona State will be gearing up for their first year in the Big 12 next season, which has called for Coach Hurley to add more size and athleticism to his roster. The Sun Devils are looking to set the tone with it’s returning players, the group of transfer portal players joining the team, and an impressive 2024 recruiting class.
