Indiana is one of 12 finalists for 2026 5-star guard Tay Kinney.<\/p>\n
He\u2019ll also consider Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Oregon, Purdue, Tennessee, Texas, and Xavier.<\/p>\n
Kinney is the No .13 overall player in the class and the No. 3 point guard according to the average of the national outlets.<\/p>\n
While a list cut to 12 isn\u2019t very notable, there are notable aspects to Kinney\u2019s recruitment as it relates to Indiana.<\/p>\n
First, he made a cut to 15 during the winter and Indiana wasn\u2019t included.\u00a0 So the new staff has IU back in the picture after they had been eliminated.<\/p>\n
Indiana assistant coach Rod Clark, who Darian DeVries was able to hire away from Tennessee, is a major reason why the Hoosiers are back in the mix.<\/p>\n
\u201cCoach Rod, who came from Tennessee, he was recruiting me at Tennessee, and that\u2019s my guy,\u201d Kinney told TDH at the Adidas 3SSB stop in Rock Hill, S.C. \u201cI want to give them a chance too and see what it\u2019s like there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Second, Kinney has an official visit set to Indiana for Aug. 29-31.\u00a0 So IU is likely in a smaller group of real contenders.<\/p>\n
Four schools on his list \u2014 Xavier, Tennessee, Miami and Auburn \u2014 have not hosted him yet for an official visit and do not have one scheduled.\u00a0 So they would seem to be the four schools of the 12 with biggest uphill battles.<\/p>\n
Hailing from Kentucky, the home state schools \u2014 Kentucky and Louisville \u2014 will be difficult to beat.<\/p>\n
Kinney says he plans to make his college decision before his final high school season begins at Overtime Elite, so sometime this fall after he completes his visits.<\/p>\n
What are the factors that will instruct his decision?<\/p>\n
\u201cA great relationship with the coaching staff and a school that I can fit in,\u201d Kinney said.\u00a0 \u201cJust a team that fits my style of play. I\u2019m going to have the ball in my hands and a great opportunity to get to the league.\u201d<\/p>\n
A sidenote:\u00a0 Kinney has an NIL deal with Adidas.\u00a0 He attends an Adidas school now and played on the Adidas circuit.\u00a0 TDH asked him two weeks ago whether Adidas would play a role in his college decision, and he said his deal with them was just through high school.\u00a0 But as we\u2019ve seen with other recent Adidas high school athletes including Mikel Brown who went to Louisville and Darryn Peterson who went to Kansas \u2014 both Adidas schools \u2014 that shoe brand could end up playing a role in his decision.<\/p>\n