The Casey Alexander recruiting era has begun. Former Belmont recruit, Devin Hutcherson, a 6’4”, 180-pound, 3* wing out of Atlanta, Georgia, and Holy Innocents Episcopal School, decided to follow Coach Alexander to Manhattan. In 10 years, when we look back at Kansas State’s decade of college basketball domination, Devin Hutcherson will be the answer to a trivia question.
Highlights
*Hutcherson is #3 in white. He finished this game with 30 points, 13 rebounds,
and hit the game-winner. He is playing against 4*, top-50 guard Jarvis Hayes Jr. (who is also still unsigned; doubt K-State is a player, but you never know). It’s hard to see the difference between the 3* Hutcherson and 4* Hayes outside of Hutcherson being listed at 6’4” and Hayes being listed at 6’5”.
Thoughts
First and foremost, this dude is an athlete. Check out his highlights. He’s listed at 6’4” by the recruiting sites. That generally indicates that he’s no taller than 6’4”, but could be 6’2”, depending on who was doing the measuring. Those dunks are nasty, and I see no reason why they won’t translate to the next level.
In addition to his nasty, and seemingly effortless, rack attacks, Hutcherson, like most Alexander players, is a knockdown shooter, granted, on limited volume. His shooting steadily improved over his high school career. He hit 10/27 (37%) attempts from behind the arc as a sophomore and 25/61 (41%) from deep as a senior.
Again, not the highest volume, but I appreciate that. His team needs him to attack the basket, so he attacks the basket instead of firing away from 3 and potentially improving his recruiting profile. From my perspective, the only factor keeping him from the 4* tier of prospects is his lack of volume from the outside.
Coach Alexander likes to spread the floor with shooters in his 5-out system, which should give Hutcherson ample space and opportunities to attack defenders off the dribble. I think he’s going to be more of a finisher than a shooter in the system, but his ability to shoot should keep defenses honest. He’s not going to hunt 3’s, but he’s not going to shy away from pulling the trigger if a defender goes under a screen or if he’s left alone in a corner.
While his ability to attack the basket is impressive, he also has defensive stopper upside. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution named him the 2025 Georgia 3-A Defensive Player of the Year, in addition to being named to the Georgia All-State team.
He’s also a winner, anchoring a team that played in back-to-back state championship games, averaging 24 points and 9 rebounds in the state tournament as a Senior.
Most of his offers are from mid-majors like Belmont, Charlotte, Kennesaw State, and Middle Tennessee St., but Auburn, Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, and Washington poked around at different points in his recruiting. Washington tried to pry him away from Belmont and Coach Alexander with a late offer, but he stuck with the Bruins until Coach Alexander departed for the Little Apple.
Overall
Hutcherson is the sort of high upside talent that Coach Alexander has staked his success on during his time at Belmont. Expect the new regime to recruit guys that fit their system first and foremost, with little regard for the recruiting sites.
They like who they like, and don’t care what anyone else in the business thinks. He’ll have more resources to expand the number of recruits he has access to at Kansas State, but I wouldn’t expect him to sign highly rated classes, at least initially.
I do expect him to sign highly productive players with a specific role in mind. I’ve watched Matt Painter and Purdue work that system of recruiting and development to great effect. I think Coach Alexander brings a similar recruiting and development system with him to Manhattan.
The era of having to learn an entirely new roster every season is thankfully over.
