Ireland Read: Narrows List to 3 Who Made the Cut, Who was left Off

VBAdrenaline has learned Ireland Real the #1 rated PPV athlete in the Class of 2027 since October of 2024, has cut her final list of schools down to three.  She has also eliminated one major school that was long thought to be the leader for the Cali OH.

As of Friday we believe that the nation's top prospect is down to the following college's for her visits:

Texas

Stanford

Kansas

That also means that the Real has eliminated Wisconsin, before a visit.  They were long thought to be the leader especially following camp season last year.  So it is noticeable that Real moved on without a visit (more thoughts on this at a different time).

Now let's take a look at the Finalist's and Fit/Probability of landing Real (only our educated guess)

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Kansas

 A new name to the "public conversation", but maybe shouldn't be.  Her mother played for the Jayhawks plus  Coach Ulmer and staff had very strong ties with West Coast recruits from their time at Oregon.  

All that said Kansas had not been brought up in previous conversations, Real had not camped their, Ulmer hasn't been able to get his staff deeply engrained in the NTDP system yet like the schools he's fighting against so they are at that disadvantage also they haven't been able to spend countless extra hours with her during the Summer and year-round training sessions.  This would be a program changing commit and bring a new level of buzz to KU, plus combining her with their incoming talent at pin would be a hell of a nucleus for Jayhawk fans to support, but I think it's a steep mountain still to climb.

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Stanford 

Stanford has recruited Real like they recruit everyone, silently. Some thought they were the NO BRAINER early.  Then they dropped to option 3 when Wisconsin and Texas became serious.  

Now down to three the Cardinal obviously have been in the mix all along and Real would fit the role of a Cardinal prospect ideally and would honestly be a jolt for the class.  Of course we wouldn't officially know this until May, due to academic guidelines at the prestigious institution.  

Yes this makes sense and yes she is a great fit, but I don't know why I have always had the feeling that Real wants to play in a "bigger program" meaning one that is on more national televised matches in primetime and the rest of the country can see.  Stanford is very content sitting in their corner of the country and doing what they do.  Completely MY opinion, but I've always felt Real wanted something else in a college (Again that is VBAdrenaline talking NOT Ireland Real).  But, Stanford doesn't lose many recruits so we will see.

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Texas has quietly hung around in the recruiting battle for Real, more of a "yeah-right" initially, but I think everyone now sees just how serious they have always been on their commitment to Real as their Top Priority in 2027.  I've said this many, many times over the past 18 months since truly getting to know their staff "CULTURE MATTERS" and when I met and interviewed Ireland at Nationals two Summers ago I just felt the culture fit.  People laugh at me when I say that, but it truly does mean something there when determining between certain players and I think it means something with Real from the few times I've talked with her and her parents.  Now people against this will be quick to say "well she won't see the court until her Jr. season" and trust me this has been explained in the recruiting process and Texas has not shied away from the fact they have a lot of talent on their team.  Real also wants to come in and compete, train and get better and earn playing time so it's been talked about.

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For someone who simply loves to follow recruiting this has been entertaining for sure.  I'm sure Ireland is ready to have it over with, but I commend her and her family for simply taking their time and thinking things through.  They have done a lot of research and they haven't kept schools because of logos, rather because of how they can help and develop her.  It would have been very easy for her to commit in a day or two and been done.