Indiana basketball continues strong pursuit of 5-star Nate Ament with visits approaching

Indiana basketball has been involved with 5-star forward Nate Ament for over a year and throughout that time, Ament has continued to rise in the rankings and is a highly-sought out target for numerous blue blood and high-major programs.

Ament — who is ranked No. 13 overall in the 247Sports Composite Rankings — is coming off of a terrific week during the first June live evaluation period. It’s been an extremely busy month and summer for Ament who won a Gold Medal for Team USA in the 2024 FIBA U18 AmeriCup and helped lead Team Loaded (Va.) to a semifinals appearance in last week’s Adidas 3SSB Championship.

Ament averaged 13.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 3.0 blocks and 1.4 steals per game in bracket play. He shot 41.9 percent from the floor and 37.5 percent from three.

His versatility was on full display with four double-doubles and a near triple-double. The Indiana basketball staff went four-deep for him numerous times on Friday and sent at least two staff members to all of his games during the live period.

At 6-foot-9, Ament has the ability to play on the perimeter, find his shot in the mid-range and even post up. His development as a true scorer instead of just a shooter has been on full display over the last year.

“I feel like last year as a player, I was a catch and shoot guy. I could put it on the deck sometimes but my mid range game wasn’t developed. My post up game wasn’t developed. And I wasn’t really a good defender,” Ament told 247Sports Scouting Director Adam Finkelstein last week. “So this past season I’ve really worked on my post ups, getting into my mid range game and being more physical — not letting people bump me off my line. So, improving my catch and shoot and outside game, dribbling and shooting. Just improving on my game from last year and getting stronger and tougher to finish over people.”

While his shooting and scoring is what is always on display, it’s been his passing that’s taken another step up and part of his game that makes him extremely difficult to defend. Throughout the season, he’s never been one to force shots — sometimes deferring to his teammates. It’s not a lack of aggressiveness, just more of an understanding of where and how he can impact the game.

“I think my passing is a bit underrated,” Ament continued. “I can get to a shot whenever I want to but sometimes it’s not the best shot. I share the floor with four other great players, so me being able to find them in their spots and get them in a catch and shoot or cuts and backdoors to finish.”

With the summer winding down in terms of major recruiting events and tournaments, it’s time to start taking the next step in his recruitment. Programs such as Indiana, Virginia, Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Louisville, Arkansas and UConn are involved.

While Ament has been taking it slow with his recruitment up to this point, he’s eyeing visits beginning in August. That includes to most of the aforementioned schools after him.

And, that includes Indiana basketball.

“With Indiana, their head coach used to be a big-time big coach in the NBA and coached big-time NBA guys,” Ament told Rivals’ Rob Cassidy earlier this summer. “They want to keep developing me as a versatile player. They would help improve my game.”

With everything open at the moment and a strong core of programs involved with Ament, it’s the exact spot that he wanted to be in.

“I asked for all of this,” Ament said. “This is what I wanted.”

SEE ALSO: Braylon Mullins — key Indiana basketball target in 2025 — now on to next phase in recruitment

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