PREP Athletics Basketball Podcast

The 2026 Prep School Basketball State of the Union

• Cory Heitz • Season 1 • Episode 131

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This episode is Cory Heitz’s 2025 Prep School Basketball State of the Union, recorded after a December New England trip packed with campus visits, coach meetings, and real conversations about what’s changing right now in prep school basketball. Cory also opens with a heartfelt tribute to Whit Lesure, a true prep school legend whose impact on Bridgton Academy and college placement can’t be overstated. From there, Cory gets practical. Why college placement is taking longer, what the transfer portal changed, and why families need to stop expecting old timelines. He talks NIL resources some prep programs are offering, the real truth about playing time, and how to communicate when things aren’t clear. He also shares key updates on girls prep opportunities, visa pressure for international families, rolling admissions advantages, and why NEPSAC rules feel outdated in today’s prep basketball landscape. If you’re a parent trying to choose the right prep fit, a player navigating exposure and development, or a coach advising a family, this is a straight, useful listen.

💡Key Topics:
 📌 Prep school basketball state of the union 2025 and what changed since last year
 📌 College basketball recruiting timeline shifts, transfer portal impact, patience in placement
 📌 NIL at the prep school level: financial advisors, lawyers, and what families should know
 📌 Playing time expectations, communication with coaches, and realistic development pathways
 📌 Prep school fit vs location, girls prep opportunities, and student visa constraints
 📌 Rolling admissions, March decision timelines, and NEPSAC rule limitations

🏀 About Cory Heitz:
 Cory Heitz is the founder of PREP Athletics and has helped basketball families worldwide find the right prep school fit for both development and college placement. He brings a coach’s perspective, a placement-first mindset, and a no-hype approach to navigating the prep-to-college basketball pipeline.

🔗 Connect with Cory:

Website | https://www.prepathletics.com
Twitter | https://twitter.com/PREP_Athletics
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/prep.athletics/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/PrepAthletics
Email | coryheitz@gmail.com
Phone | 859-317-1166

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Cory Heitz (00:00)
Welcome to this week's episode of the prep athletics podcast. We are going to have, ⁓ after the intro, the state of the union, ⁓ of how our trip to New England went, ⁓ last December and some updates in the prep school world. and got news from Marybeth Lesure that, ⁓ coach Whit was your at Bridgeton Academy passed away and, ⁓

We was one of my best friends in the basketball world and just a mentor in life. And he, ⁓ as a song a few weeks ago and he was working out, he was a very fit man in the sixties. This is a big shock to both the family, the school, all his friends and former players as of right now, it's just now getting released to the public. So when this comes out, ⁓ on the podcast, I think everyone will know, but, ⁓ I just wanted to say that, ⁓ you know, one of,

He's one of my good friends and you know, I've I've sent more of my kids to Bridgton Academy than any other prep school out there. And it's because of Whit Lesure. I mean, we always talk about the coach being the most important piece and he's a legend. mean, Bobby Knight sent his son to play there and he was such a big part of the basketball community. Not to play at Bridgton, sorry. Bobby Knight sent his son to play for Whit at New Hampton back in the day, but Whit was Bridgton Academy.

You know, we talked on the phone, connected the first time many years ago. And then the first time we saw each other in person was at a national prep school event in Rhode Island. And we hit it off. know, one of my teammates sent from, from, know, Kentucky sent his kid to play for Whit and it, uh, it changed his life and for the young man's and, know, so many kids over the years from the U S and overseas have gone to Bridgestone and Whit has just done wonders for them as a leader, as a coach and all these kids at the end of the day.

got placed in college, you know, every year since Bridgton is an all boys, all post grad, you have to fill that school every year and then place all those kids in college every year. A lot of prep school coaches out there with the way the placement environment is now are really stressed about it. Very cautious who they take on. Whit was obviously cautious who he took on his team, but he never sweated getting his kids placed because he knew he'd do it. And he said, that's my job. Right. So, ⁓ you know, Whit ⁓

He was going to come with us to the final four this year with Big Mike and I. He's going to be showing my appreciation for all he's done for us. I wanted him to go with us so I could sit and just chat with the guy because I loved it. you know, we had some.

We were having problems getting pregnant with our second child and with someone I confided in and he's the only one in the basketball world I talked to about it because it was Whit, right?

So he got me this sweatshirt before I left for ⁓ Christmas this year and I've worn all Christmas break ⁓ in Nebraska. Probably should have brought a couple more sweatshirts, it's just, ⁓ it's what you do for your friends. So it's with a heavy heart ⁓ that we start our podcast this way, but.

He was a he's a preschool legend, right? And he's affected a lot of lives out there and ⁓ he's gonna be missed and I just feel for his wife Mary Beth and his son Jack and all the players in the community that he's around. this is we're gonna dedicate this podcast to Whit and whatever else we can. yeah, if you guys stories to share, please let us know but here's to you Whit rest in peace brother.

Cory Heitz (04:02)
Welcome to this week's episode of the Prep Athletics Podcast. I'm happy to be doing the 2025 Prep School State of the Union podcast we've been doing the past two years. And I usually do these after I visit New England. And we did just visit New England the first week of December, my father, Big Mike and I, and visited quite a few schools up there. ⁓

Met a lot of good coaches, old friends, new friends, new programs. Got to meet a lot of players. We're to go through that trip and then some of my notes and observations from what I've just been seeing through the past year and what I've learned on this trip. But we started out flying in the Banger, Maine into a blizzard, into about zero degree temperature to see coach Dan Haynes up at Lee Academy. Two of my players up there, Gio and Simon, and they were thriving, doing well up there.

Dan's doing a great job up there and it looks like we'll be seeing him at the final four this year for an event we'll be talking about in the near future. From there the next morning, we once again drove through snowy cold conditions to go to Bridgestone Academy to see friend of the program, Whit Lesure and got to see two of my 6'8 guys from Europe there, Toby and Max and they were doing good. They were lifting. Also got to meet their head of admissions, Jason as well. And from there went down to Exeter, got to meet Harry, Harry Rafferty, the new coach there for a brief minute.

He was on a trip with a visit with a recruit and got to meet the girls coach. I've talked to Jay Tilton. ⁓ and we just talked about NIL, the state of the prep school game. And we were all pretty optimistic on that, but it's always good to talk to these coaches and figure out like what's going on behind the scenes at their school specifically, which makes us do our job better and help, you know, put kids in the right places. ⁓ from there we went down to Winchendon school, got to meet Ella, ⁓ Berkeley, Lucas, a of our guys down there. See coach Popp.

He's doing a great job there starting off the season John Taffy head of admissions got to talk to them and then Mike and I stayed over at the Colonial Inn Which is the closest nice hotel to Winchendon and then the next morning we woke up early another Frigid cold morning and popped up to Northfield Mount Hermon to see coach Mike Shelton Mike and I have talked a lot over the years and it was my first time meeting him in person which is good because you know, he you know played it can the Kentucky College at Bellarmine and we shared a lot of comments on NEPSaC and

Thoughts going on the future of prep school basketball. And from there went over to Wilson Northampton. I got to see Ben Farmer. We had lunch with him. I got to catch up with Ben before going over to MacDuffie. Got to meet Kurt and Jared and a lot of their players. I've been to MacDuffie before but never met those guys. It was a pleasure to meet them in person. Thanks for the swag Kurt, appreciate it. And from there drove down to St. Thomas more and got to catch the end of their practice and got to meet John, one of our players.

there and got to hang out with Jerry Quinn in his office for a while. And Kevin Kehoe had dinner with him and his wife, ⁓ a long time friends and you know, shot what, what the, shot the crap and, ⁓ just tried to figure out what's going on in this new world and how we can adapt to it. And the next morning went to Avan Old Farms and met up with Matt Mihalich and his team for a early morning breakfast. ⁓ got to see their weight room, their campus, and Matt and I coached against each other a long time ago back in the WCAC in Washington.

He was at O'Connell and I was at Gonzaga. was really good to catch up with him again and learn more about him. Visited Ethel Walker for the first time. ⁓ Ethel Walker is an all-girls school not far away from Avon and a beautiful campus, beautiful horse facility there. And got to meet John Monaghan, the girls coach and their head of admissions as well. And then drove over to Storm King, got to meet the Luongo brothers before they headed off to Frederick Gunn. Got a beautiful tour of the school on the Hudson River.

Had no idea New York Military Academy was so close and West Point is only 10 minutes away. So now I know a little bit more about my Hudson Valley geography from that. And then drove up to Millbrook and got to see them play Brunswick and got to meet a first year coach, Garvin McAllister, and see what was going on there. It was snowing. So I chose not to go visit the zoo again at Millbrook, but we did go over to South Kent, at least I did after dinner.

And I got to see ⁓ one of my clients, Neil play against a redemption Christian. Got to catch up with Jason, their head of admissions and see coach Craig Carter there and some other familiar faces. So always good to stop in there. And the next morning was a blitz. ⁓ Got up and went to Frederick Gunn. I got to see Zeb and Tommy, two of my kids there. Zeb got his tooth knocked out the night before against Storm King. So he had a nice temporary brace on and was listening and just.

You know, I've lost my teeth, front teeth in college playing basketball. ⁓ thanks to Josh Ellis, my teammates, diving on a Florida in practice. He landed on me and these, these chompers up front are new, ⁓ because of that. I got to see those guys. Got to go to Hotchkiss school and meet up with Joe Busaka, go over to Salisbury school and meet, Bryce Daly for the first time in person. And then I finished up with Berkshire school where we met Wilbur Allen once again, first time in person. So we, love taking these trips because I learned more in these trips. I get to meet guys in person, which I think is so.

important and I got to visit a few new prep schools I'd never seen before. So when I talk to families, I can kind of give them a firsthand view on what the, the feels like, what the facilities are like, et cetera. ⁓ for those of you watching the video right now, I am wearing a air force letter jacket that was given to me as a birthday gift, ⁓ from ironically my prep school roommate, Lawrence Yazzie. So Lawrence has been on the podcast first Navajo to play D1 at air force with me, ⁓ his younger brother, Lamoni.

came in and played with him as well. So, know, tight with that family is one of my best friends and he's the only friend I got a gift from outside my family and it was my prep school roommate. So we do talk about basketball, academics, placements. But whenever I talk to families, I say, you have a chance or your son or you, whoever we're talking to has a chance to meet potential best friends that you'll have the rest of your life. And Yaz is one of my best friends and remembered my birthday and you know, it's just a...

I'm just grateful for that. So yes, we're talking basketball always love it, but prep school is about much more than that. during Thanksgiving went down to Florida to visit DME Academy and met a Matt Panagio down there. Didn't meet Kai. He wasn't around, but also met Dan Panagio and Kenyon Murray. ⁓ the Murray brother twins, a father, and he's going be on the podcast here soon. he's doing great things down there and also stopped into Montverde Academy.

I've been there before in the past, but now, know, the old coach of mine from Gonzaga, Steve Turner's there. I got to catch up with Steve, see his new office and set up. And one of my former big men at Gonzaga, Bradley Jacks, left the D1 assistant ranks to be an assistant down there at Mount Verde. So I know he's already kicking butt down there. And it was good to see him again after all these years. And since the season started, you know, I've seen games at Air Force, Denver, and then in Nebraska over the holidays, got to go see Creighton and Blake Harper. Now Blake Harper.

I coached with his dad at Gonzaga, Bryce Harper or Snoop Harper, Byron Snoop Harper. And it was good seeing him. And Blake, he ⁓ was at Gonzaga, didn't play much his senior year and I was going to help them get into a prep school spot. But the last minute he got a spot and offered a Howard, right? Which is just up the street from Gonzaga. He goes to Howard and his first game out, ⁓ he scored 30 points at Kansas.

He grew a few inches ⁓ and then put his name in the portal and ended up at Creighton. So got a chance with my nephew to go see them play and thanks to Coach Kellogg for the tickets there. ⁓ And then we came back. But so here's a couple of notes of what we learned on the trip. lot of people are curious to see how MAI is going to do up there. Now, MAI is being put together by the Masters Group. John Carroll is advising on it. And it's going to be, how does the IMG of the North?

where you're gonna have a lot more training, et cetera. And very curious to see how that goes up there.

Cory Heitz (12:01)
The second thing we saw up there was a lot of patient, there are parents and players are pretty impatient right now with the placement process. Right? So me, coaches, college coaches are telling kids like this is now taking later than it used to. Yes. Offers are still giving, still being given out in the fall, but ⁓ less, less so. Right? So you got to be patient, wait for the transfer portal, settle down. And then a lot of action happens there. And some families are hiring consultants like Steve Schaefer has been on the podcast.

Dan McHale or others, George White, to help supplement what the college coach is doing. You want to do that, let us know. We can put you in touch with those folks. ⁓ but it's a patience thing now. And I know being a post-grad, it's really stressful waiting that long to get placed. It's the nature of the game, right? So can fight it or you can adjust, but just know these prep school coaches have your best interest in hand. They will place you. Okay. next up, ⁓ some prep school programs are helping their players with the NIL situation.

They're providing lawyers, financial advisors. They're not taking any fees from this. Maybe they'll get a donation in the future if the kid does well, but that's a nice resource. Now they're not helping you with agents. One prep school coach says you don't even need an agent, right? Cause they're just going to take a cut. Families can have these conversations or lawyers can have them as well if you trust them. So that was interesting to learn. Playing time, interesting note on playing time. I'm getting both ends of the spectrum on this one. Now, a lot of the families I'm talking to, and this is ever since the very beginning.

want to know if they're going to get playing time at the prep school they're going to. So Corey put us in touch with the school where we know our son or daughter is going to play. And I always have to remind them that I do not have a crystal ball, right? I don't know what the playing time is going to be because we don't know and a coach doesn't always know who's going to be the full team until August, right? When everyone shows up in the gym. Some teams we know the AAA teams and some other independents are always going to have a lot of talent. So that might not be your best bet unless you want to look at a second team option, but

My number is 60 % of kids that show up on campus are about what the prep school coach thought. 20 % are a little bit worse. 20 % are a little bit better, right? So until you show up on campus, it's hard to know, but I've got kids that are complaining about not playing enough. I've got some kids that have played some games and not others, and they don't see the consistency there. And then I've got a couple of kids that are playing too much because they don't have enough players due to kids leaving or injuries. So you've got the whole spectrum.

Right. So what is my advice on this? When you talk to the prep school coach, absolutely bring this up. They're probably going to be non-committal on this because they just don't know how the roster is going to look. And they just don't know how you're going to perform in their system. So it's, it's part of taking that chance, right? If you don't want to this chance on prep school, take the offers you got even then. Right. College coaches are telling you things you don't know what playing time is going to be there per se, unless you're an all American or like their top recruits or the only player at that position, but still.

They could add a transfer last minute and that goes out the window and with the transfer portal happening at the college level, you know, every year the situation changed. So prep school is prepping you for that. Right? So what do you do? One, you communicate with the coach, right? Do that as best you can. If that doesn't work after a few conversations and you don't know why you're not getting on the court or you don't have a path on how to get on the court, then potentially bring your mom or dad in. Normally as a former high school coach, I did not want to talk to the players about playing time.

Right. But prep school is a little bit different. Some parents are paying a lot of money. And part of that, right. Is it gives them the chance to talk to the coach and figure out, how can little Johnny get more time on the court? What's going on here? What's your reasoning? Okay. Communication is key. Sometimes communication breakdowns happen and they can't be repaired. That's too bad. But you've got to start with the player talking to the coach, then the parents, and then go from there. Right. If you're part of the prep athletics family, always call me. I'm here to help you. And maybe sometimes they help.

with communication and translation that might not be happening. Um, but that's been a big complaint. Then you got the kids that are playing too much and they're gassed, um, and they're wearing out the end of the games too. So you see it all, um, it's tricky. So each situation is different, but talk to the coach, see what they say and make sure you've got communication as best you can. Um, you know, throughout the season, second or another point is prep schools are still looking for girls. So if you're a female player or you're a parent or a coach,

and you've got someone that might be interested in prep school, let me know. There's a lot more aid available, a lot more roster spots and a chance to play. Yeah. Keep me posted because there's still a big demand for girls. ⁓ We've had a couple of families reach out in our conversations and say they want to be close to this aunt or this location or that location. And I say this to them, I'll say it to you just so you know, the fit is more important than the location. I had a kid choose a prep school because it two hours from his aunt.

when there was a better fitting school that was farther away from his aunt or anyone he knew. He chose to go there and he did fine, right? I don't know how many times he saw his aunt, but you want to go to the best fit, right? You have a fall break, a winter break and a spring break. You can go see Aunt Sally. All right. But if you want the best fit, that's going to help you get better. I would highly suggest recommend it. I highly recommend looking at that because you're going to prep school to play basketball, not to go eat Aunt Sally's apple pies. All right. You'll have plenty of time for that the rest of your life. I know you want a support system.

Um, but the fit in my opinion is more important than location. All right. There are some rural schools out there in the middle of nowhere. I know it can be tough. If you're a post grad, it's a nine month business trip. It'll be over before you know it. But to me, the fit's way more important than location. Um, student visas, right? So the administration has been, um, denying visas for more countries. Now I think we're up to 39. Um, there's many reasons for that. We had a Kif and my ran reach out and wanted to basketball at prep school. And I just said, sorry, we're not, we're not given.

visas to your country. I wish we could, but we're just not right now. So there are other countries, I don't know how the student visa is going to work or how that's going to pan out, but prep schools are being a little bit more cautious now on some of these countries to make sure that they can help a kid, right? They don't want to get a kid here and then the visa gets pulled because it's one of these 39 countries. And then, you know, it's a whole mess after that, right? Johnny Ding, you know, he's a kid we've had been working with for five years now.

He went to a few prep schools and then we got him into a D2 school in the South. He's South Sudanese and he's here on a student visa. And we're always curious if, you know, we're going to be in trouble with that. Like we were in March. Hopefully not, but we never know what this administration's a student visas. We got to watch that. ⁓ We got to watch the updates on that rolling admissions, right? Some prep schools, if you apply in September, you'll get accepted in September, right? For the following year.

A lot of prep schools that are more traditional, you have to have your applications in either in January or early February. And then they let you know on March 10th, whether you've gotten in or not and what your financial obligation is. Right. I've long been a critic of this saying, Hey, it's post COVID. ⁓ let's be more flexible. Let's be with the times. If in September, you're one of these schools that normally waits till March 10th. If you want a kid and they want to come there and the financial aid either is not needed or you want to give it to them. Offer them, give them a letter.

I know there's an old boys network and a way of doing things, but we're moving now fast with AI and the rest of the world, just moving at light speed. ⁓ and I don't see the problem with having rolling admissions school wide or just prep school wide, right? The old school places want to stay with that. No problem. I get it. ⁓ but the schools that are doing rolling admissions are getting more students in the fall and locking them up before next year and students happy because they can now play the season.

Um, knowing that they got a place locked up versus wait until March 10th when they don't know if they're going to get in or not. And if the aid works or not. So the push rolling admissions, um, is huge and I like that and love it. And then also Nepsec, right? Nepsec, uh, they've got some rules. That's a new England prep school athletic conference. Um, a lot of teams are leaving it or a lot of teams are ignoring the rules. Some teams are getting busted for rules. It's just, it seems antiquated to me. I don't know how it benefits the players. It sets a lot of restrictions up.

I know some prep schools need to be in it because all their sports need to be in it, but some schools are breaking away in the basketball front. ⁓ but these Nepstag rules have got to be updated. It's just, it's antiquated. don't want to go into all of them, but it has to do with time in the gym with players. And when you can start practicing, some players have been ratted on by others, ⁓ which is unfortunate as well, but there's rules and you got to follow them or, or, you know, and I don't like the rules right now. And finally, a shout out to a prep athletics family member, Mateo Esmeralda.

So Mateo's from Connecticut. He's a black belt in martial arts. His dad runs a dojo and he played for my college coaches, AU team DTX. So when they brought him to me, I got the highest regards and he ended up choosing Bridgestone Academy where he played for Whitlajure. ⁓ he made all, think honorable mention or third team, a Nepsec AAA, and then went to play at Longwood in Virginia. Got a D1 spot out of it. Was there a couple of years, you know, obviously didn't like that he wasn't playing as much. So he transferred to Treveca Nazarene.

D2 school. I think if I'm correct, he led the nation and assist there this year, bumped up to Lipscomb university with former air force assistant coach Kevin Carroll. And I watched him play against Duke. had 14 points against Duke. ⁓ at some point she was the best player in the court. And he's just a little guard from Connecticut, but tough as nails, high IQ. ⁓ I think if you get a black belt in a martial arts, you're not going to be stressed. There's tough times coming in the game.

So I think that's a good factor as well. But it's so good to see him playing Cameron. were up by one point at one point in the second half and then just couldn't hold on with all the talent. But so good to see our players out there and we watch ESPN plus about every night we tune in to watch our guys and their teams. We get kids all over right now and just once you're part of the family, you're always part of the family. that's kind of the latest. I know it's a lot. We give you updates on schools, give you my thoughts on what we see in the prep school world. We got a.

Big things coming in 2026. got an event, the Final Four, which we're to talk about. We're going have an unsigned senior event. Stay tuned for that. We got a lot of prep school coaches committed to bringing themselves and or their players down there. We might be doing some more expansion and meeting with new people in new countries. And we got some exciting stuff coming this year to include some pretty good podcasts that are already scheduled out. So thank you so much for listening and...

Like I say always, you know, go to the website, subscribe to the newsletter, subscribe on YouTube, share this with a friend. That would really help us out. And, ⁓ we, thanks so much for you watching. Thanks so much. And until next time, thanks for tuning into the prep athletics podcast. Have a great new year.