Why recruiting attention is 'blessing and a curse' for Bartlesville basketball star Castillo

If you’re David Castillo, it’s exciting to be young, talented and wanted.

Several regional and national college basketball powers have been trying to convince the Bartlesville High junior that they would be the best fit for his considerable hardcourt skills.

For the past few weeks, head coaches, assistants and recruiters have descended on Bartlesville to visit with Castillo — a 6-foot-2 point guard — and to observe him in workouts/practice.

“It’s a blessing and a curse,” Castillo said about the prodigious interest and the eventual reality that “you can only choose one. Me and my family are taking it day-by-day and when it comes, it comes.”

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In Castillo, the colleges see a five-star playmaker with high credentials (ESPN has ranked him the top point high school point in the class of 2024 nationally) and international competition experience (the USA Basketball U16 national team in 2021, and the USA Basketball U17 national team in 2022).

Castillo also accepted a coveted invitation last summer to the Formula Zero basketball training, put on by NBA superstar Damian Lillard and highly respected player development coach Phil Beckner, held in Portland, Ore.

During his first two seasons at Bartlesville High, Castillo has averaged approximately 25 points per game and led the team in assists and steals.

The college scholarship offers started to come in toward the end of his freshman school year.

Starting Sept. 9, the contact/evaluation period began, allowing schools to begin hands-on recruiting, so to speak. The 45-day stretch will wrap up in November.

Castillo — who said he wants to carve out a successful pro career — said among his considerations for a college fit will be “if a school has a great opportunity for me to play basketball and make an immediate impact. … I’d like to have the ball in my hands ,,, and have great players around me.”

Castillo hasn’t set a timetable to make a choice.

“I really want to take it day by day,” he continued. “The recruiting process has been really hard for me because where are so many schools.”

Some of the schools that have paid their dime to journey to Bartlesville and personally engage with Castillo include defending national champion Kansas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, Arkansas and Florida.

Castillo’s biggest surprise in the first couple of week’s of the contact period was the personal visit of University of Kansas head coach Bill Self.

“He just came off a national championship season and they have a huge target on their back,” Castillo said.

One of the rules governing the recruiters’ visits is they’re not supposed to interfere with his school class time. They can meet with him prior to his first class, during the basketball hour and after school.

Castillo attempts to keep a normalcy otherwise about his classes and school work.

“I’m just trying to be a kid with all this serious stuff,” he said.

While Castillo hasn’t set deadline when he’ll make a choice — he’s still only at the start of his junior year — he said the final decision will be his.

He also considers his family a valuable resource in offering opinions about his college opportunities.

“Me and my father have often talked about it,” Castillo said. “I’ll have the final say when I’m ready to commit to a college. … It’s my decision and he doesn’t want me to have any regrets.”

Meanwhile, Castillo is focused on the upcoming Bruin basketball season, which will begin either in late November or early December.

During the past two seasons, the Bruins have won 18 games, pulled a off a couple of stunning upsets, and endured some very close losses.

The team bid good-bye to two starters and a primary post presence off the bench off last year’s team.

Among the returnees is last year’s second-leading scorer, Aadhi Ayyappan, on course to be a third-year starter.

“Obviously, we want to go to state this year,” said Castillo. “We have a lot of guys coming back. … They have put in the work over the summer. Everybody has been locked in and super-engaged all through the summer. The coaches have been doing a great job of helping guys. The guys have been improving a lot. Everybody has put in a lot of work.”

Castillo added the Bruins expect to do something noteworthy next winter.