Pitt Basketball Offers Fast-Rising 2023 SF Kaden Cooper

PITTSBURGH -- By earning commitments from the Diaz-Graham twins and a trio of transfers, Jeff Capel has begun to build some positive momentum for a Pittsburgh Panthers men's basketball program that desperately needed it.

Now, Capel is trying to keep that momentum alive by getting in on the rapidly accelerating recruitment of Kaden Cooper, a three-star small forward in the class of 2023 from Ada, Oklahoma. According to Cooper's Twitter, Capel and the Panthers extended an offer late on Friday night.

Cooper's hometown is in Oklahoma, but he plays his high school ball with a team from The Skill Factory, a basketball development organization based in Woodstock, Georgia -- about a 45-minute trip north of Atlanta.

The 6-foot-5 Cooper is an explosive athlete that thrives on attacking the rim. That athleticism also materializes on the defensive end, where he routinely turns steals and blocks into fastbreak opportunities.

Early last month, Cooper was relatively unknown. He held offers from Depaul, Elon, Jacksonville State, Mississippi State, Oklahoma State, SMU and Georgia State. But coaches began to take notice after he averaged 13.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game on the AAU circuit with Team Trae Young in April. Now Texas, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Oklahoma, LSU, TCU, Mississippi State, Creighton and others are recruiting him as well.

Cooper is currently ranked by 247Sports as the No. 11 player in Georgia and the No. 196 player in the country, although he is expected to move up those rankings as his recruitment heats up.

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