City of Basketball Love

Will Slover (@WillSlover31)
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After a high school journey that has seen him land at three different high schools and a recruiting process that involved 16 offers and dozens of other schools showing interest, Imhotep Charter’s David Beatty has chosen to continue his basketball career at the University of South Carolina.

After recent visits to Maryland, Georgetown, Indiana and South Carolina, along with considering La Salle and UConn, the 6-3 combo guard elected to take his talents to the Southeastern Conference.

Beatty, who is ranked as a four-star recruit by ESPN and 247Sports, spent time at local powerhouse Archbishop Carroll and national top dog St. Benedict’s Prep before landing at Imhotep this past offseason, joining fellow Division I commits Koby Thomas (Robert Morris) and Daron Russell (Rhode Island).

What set South Carolina apart from the rest, according to Beatty, is Gamecocks’ coach Frank Martin.

“Frank Martin is a great guy. He just matched me,” Beatty said at a ceremony at Imhotep on Monday night. “He’s just a real person and he cares about your well being. As a basketball player, of course he cares about that part but he just tough and you have to be real disciplined and I just need that discipline and coming in right away I should be competing for starting minutes.”

Although committing and signing his National Letter of Intent is a great weight off of his shoulders, Beatty has been motivated by other things throughout this process.

“Seeing my mom being on her own, seeing my aunt and grandma and everyone who supported me. It was just hard seeing that so it was just motivation like waking up 5 AM, I’m going to do this for my mom,” said Beatty. “I’m tired of seeing my mom struggle, I’m tired of seeing my mom’s back hurt. I’m just like I have to do this for my mom. I work hard every day and I keep the mindset that I just have to get my family out.”

As for when his decision was made, Beatty didn’t need much time after his visit to USC to decide that it was the right place for him.

““When I got back on the plane home, I was just thinking like ‘Man, I’ve never felt anything like that before.’ I felt really comfortable, like I had been there before and like I had just belonged there so I just knew that was the spot,” said Beatty. “I got down there that day and the next day I felt like I knew the players already. I was sharing things that I wouldn’t share with other people and we just became brothers in like two days, it’s crazy. It’s like I want to play with these people and I know that we can do big things together and hopefully compete for an NCAA title.”

Beatty, who is the highest-ranked player in South Carolina’s 2017 recruiting class, also has intent of contributing as soon as he steps on campus.

“He said I can play both (on and off the ball). He played three and two guards at the same time so he said I can play both and he’s going to be switching it up as the game goes and the way the game is run so I’m going to be playing both,” said Beatty. “He doesn’t want guys who are going to be robots and just stand there, he wants guy who are going to create and make plays and that’s my game. I’m a playmaker.”

Joining Beatty in his recruiting class are three-star recruits Felipe Hease, Jason Cudd, and Ibrahim Doumbia, who are all big men, which is what made South Carolina’s recruitment of Beatty so special to him.

“South Carolina, they don’t recruit a lot of guards so if they want you, that’s who they want and they’re going to go after you," he said. "I felt that they made me a priority and the coach was on me and on me and he reached out to my mom and he was great with her so that just kind of showed me."

After a wild recruiting ride that saw him go from historical powerhouses, to recent highly-ranking schools, it was the underdog South Carolina that really made its mark on the rising senior.

“I saw Maryland and that was spectacular, I saw Georgetown and that was amazing and I saw South Carolina and that just kind of made me make my decision,” Beatty said. “I saw all different types of campuses and I just picked South Carolina because I knew it would be the best fit.”