Top in-state basketball target sets commitment date, announcement plans

Jordan Butler is ready to make his college choice and has a date and time in which he will be doing it.

The Christ Church center will announce his college choice at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday in his school’s gymnasium, his father, John Butler, told The State.

Jordan Butler is down to three schools — Auburn, Missouri and South Carolina. He has taken official visits to all three schools.

Butler has had the attention of new USC coach Lamont Paris since he took over in April. Paris and the Gamecocks’ staff were at several of Butler’s AAU games over the summer and when he played during the S.C. High School League Showcase. He did not have much contact with the previous USC staff.

The senior took an unofficial visit to South Carolina in June and then an official visit in August.

“I really like coach Paris, the whole staff. It was a real good experience and got to meet everybody,” Butler told The State after his unofficial visit. “They have been texting me almost every day. They tell me I’m No. 1 on their list and things like that. It is a good thing to hear.”

John Butler Sr. came away with a good feeling after meeting with the USC coaching staff this summer.

“It was good to actually sit down and listen to his vision, which was an important step for us and for them. He can explain, ‘This is my staff, this is my plan, here is what we are and this is what we are trying to do,’ ” said Butler Sr., who is also Christ Church’s head coach. “His vision was, he likes bigs, running things through the bigs. We watched some stuff and he showed Jordan how he could use him based on stuff he was doing at Wisconsin, Chattanooga and were able to see it.”

Butler has family ties to USC with his mother, Casie, playing for the Gamecocks women’s basketball program.

247Sports Composite and On3 rank the 6-foot-11 Butler as a four-star prospect. He averaged 14.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 3.8 blocks last season.

In 2020, he helped the Cavaliers to a state championship alongside older brother John Butler Jr., who signed with Florida State and is now with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.

If USC can land Butler, it will continue the momentum with in-state products. The Gamecocks already have two 2023 commitments from Columbia native Collin Murray-Boyles and Westwood’s Arden Conyers.

USC made a big splash over the summer by landing Ridge View’s GG Jackson, who was the No. 1 prospect in 2023 before reclassifying and enrolling this year for the Gamecocks.