As Baba Oladotun made his grand reveal at Blake High School on Wednesday night, fans 10 miles away at the Maryland men’s basketball game at Xfinity Center started chanting his name.

The five-star recruit is heading to Maryland for his college basketball career, ending a highly anticipated, rapid recruitment that was sped up a year after he made the decision to reclassify as a senior last summer. He’ll head to College Park next fall, a year early, and will make his Maryland debut when he’s just 17.

Oladotun is the No. 8 recruit in the class of 2026, according to ESPN. He’s the fourth player in his class to commit to Maryland under new head coach Buzz Williams, and Oladotun‘s addition moves the Terps’ recruiting class to No. 3, according to 247 Sports.

Oladotun also gives Maryland a local connection it is lacking on its current roster.

Why Oladotun chose Maryland

Just as his decision to leave DeMatha, a private school, to play at Blake, a public school in Montgomery County, did, Oladotun’s decision-making during the recruitment process rested on one topic: convenience. His father, Ibrahim, said the family does not believe in wasting precious time.

Oladotun’s final two choices were Georgetown and Maryland, but Georgetown, with traffic, is just enough out of the way. Plus, his family has ties to College Park, with both his sisters attending the university and his father owning multiple rental properties.

Williams was hired in April, and Oladotun said he quickly formed a bond with the new coaching staff. Oladotun’s family was included in the process, joining him at his official visit in October. Ibrahim stayed in constant contact with Williams, and a meeting on Tuesday between the two helped Oladotun make his decision.

“They just really fast-forwarded the process, really got to know me and my family intentionally,” Oladotun said. “Everything was real; everything was really intimate.”

Scouting Oladotun

Last summer, after a surprise phone call, Oladotun showed something that his trainer, Blair O’Donovan, had never seen before: nervousness.

NBA superstar Kevin Durant had just called Oladotun directly, asking him to move up a class to play on his 17-and-under AAU team, which competes in some of the top youth basketball circuits in the country. Oladotun adjusted to the higher level of play in no time and, with his addition, Team Durant finished second in Division A of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League.

Oladotun averaged 13.2 points a game.

“I sensed a little bit of hesitation and unsureness, which I had never seen before,” O’Donovan said. “He proved most certainly he can play. In fact, he brought that team to a different level they hadn’t been to in years.”

His size helps — the 6-foot-10 small forward has a 7-1 wingspan and weighs over 200 pounds, after putting on 28 pounds over the last year and a half. But that’s just one part of the puzzle.

Paul Biancardi, a recruiting director and college basketball analyst for ESPN, evaluated Oladotun as a “legitimate three-level scorer.”

“Oladotun has sound shooting mechanics with impressive range, and he is a balanced shooter both off the catch and dribble,” Biancardi wrote. “His length allows him to drive or cut and finish inside with body control, touch and plenty of dunks.”

Adam Finkelstein, the director of scouting at 247 Sports, sees Oladotun as a player with excellent footwork.

“It comes out in the mid-post area, but even more so at the end of his drives,” Finkelstein wrote. “He has an instinctive ability to navigate the lane in ways that can’t be taught, with a full repertoire of maneuvers after he picks up his dribble. He decelerates well, utilizes euros, but also knows when to elongate his strides. He’ll even mix in pro-hops, spins, fake-spins and step-throughs. He’s a solid athlete who can jump off either one foot or two, and can cover ground as more of a long-jumper, but it’s really the footwork between his last dribble and before his finish that is so elite.”

What it means for Maryland

The key test for every Maryland coach is whether they can recruit locally.

Men’s soccer, which plays in the NCAA tournament Sunday, signs local talent.

Women’s basketball does, too. It has four-star Jordyn Jackson from Washington locked in for next year.

And so has football, which has true freshman quarterback Malik Washington from Glen Burnie starting this season. Edge rusher Zion Elee, a five-star recruit from Baltimore, is committed to joining him next year.

Now Williams, who has been on the job for only six months, has a prime local player. And, as athletic director Jim Smith finds new ways to bring in name, image and likeness money, Maryland should have no problem competing for talent. Despite the proximity, Oladotun wouldn’t have committed to Maryland if it didn’t give him everything his family was looking for, his father said.

The Blake star will be the face of the team next year. Joining him will be four-star recruits Kaden House, from Arizona, and Adama Tambedou, from Connecticut. Austin Brown, a three-star recruit from Texas, has also committed.

Oladotun may be at Maryland for only a short time — he will turn 19 in December 2027, so he is eligible to be drafted after one year of college. While he is in College Park, the expectation will be that he follows in the footsteps of other local players, such as Derik Queen, who was also a five-star in-state recruit.

Queen led the Terps to the Sweet 16 in his only season with the program. He was drafted 13th overall and is with the NBA’s New Orleans Pelicans.

Next year, all eyes will be on Oladotun. And those who have been with him throughout the journey believe he’s ready to take on that pressure.

“Maturity-wise, and just resiliency, durability from the mindset and physical side, he’s just high level,” O’Donovan said. “I can’t see him being rattled by anything. I’m sure he’ll be nervous for his first college game, but once he’s on the basketball court and playing, it’s like second nature. I think the same will be at the next level beyond that.”