It's football season in Evanston, but it's never too early to start talking about basketball -- especially when the 'Cats are making moves on the recruiting front.
Yesterday, recruiting analyst Sam Kayser of League Ready reported on X that 2026 four-star center Symon Ghai will visit Northwestern this fall. Ghai stands at 7-foot-3 and is originally from South Sudan -- he played high school ball at the Academy of Central Florida.
The highly touted prospect is listed as a four-star by Rivals, but, so far, he's only picked up a three-star ranking from 247Sports. According to 247, he's the No. 34 ranked center and the No. 32 player out of Florida in his class. Rivals is much higher on Ghai, listing him as the No. 76 prospect overall and the No. 9 center in 2026.
That's an aggressive target for Northwestern head coach Chris Collins, but he had success with a four-star in last year's class when he brought in Tre Singleton. It's a new era in Evanston, one where the 'Cats seem to have a real chance with players like Ghai in the post-Buie world.
Given the discrepancy between Ghai's ranking on two of the largest industry standard recruiting websites, it seems likely that his stock is in the process of going up. This means his market, too, is likely to start heating.
So far, according to 247, he's only received offers from Bryant, Missouri State and Ole Miss. The next step for Northwestern would be to submit an offer to Ghai. The center will visit campus on October 17, before the season starts, so he will not see a game at Welsh-Ryan Arena.
From a roster construction perspective, recruiting players like Ghai makes perfect sense. This year's center group includes freshman Cade Bennerman and likely starter Arrinten Page. The latter is also still a junior, so Collins has theoretical control among the position group, but adding elite-level size is important.
Page stands at 6-foot-11, and Bennerman is 6-foot-9. Both could be incredible players, and the 'Cats would still be a little undersized in the Big Ten, a conference that requires teams to beef up in the paint.
Exiting the "Big" Matt Nicholson experience, Northwestern needs someone to be able to take over his role (being big, to over-simplify) on the defensive end. It needs players like Ghai, capable of deterring opponents from pounding the interior.
Over the past few years, Northwestern goes when its defense goes. When Nicholson was out during the most recent NCAA Tournament run, it was a noticeable absence. If the 'Cats can start recruiting giants like Ghai, it could be a major boon for the program's future.
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