Syracuse, N.Y. — When he decided to transfer from Nebraska, Andrew White thought he might receive interest from a few schools. Only a few.

He heard from 55. The number left him stunned. The recruiting onslaught was overwhelming. Fifty-five schools.

Syracuse and Jim Boeheim outlasted them all.

For three months, through the long daily calls with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo and Boeheim's calls from the Olympics. Through the false Internet leads and fall semester deadlines. Syracuse was always there, White said, because they had the opportunity and the patience.

In their first extensive interviews on the national recruiting push for the coveted forward, White and his father describe what was really going on during that time, as the college basketball world tried to read his mind.

White knew that the transfer market had just about closed when he announced that he would not return to Nebraska for his senior year in late June. Plus, this was his second transfer. Would schools shy away from a player who had not found success or happiness at two previous stops?

"I didn't think I was going to have many options just because of how late it was,'' White said recently. "I thought there was a certain stigma on me coming out of Nebraska. I thought I might be seen as damaged goods.''

"I thought I'd have three or four mid-major schools and I'd just pick one and go on and be happy.''

Then the inquiries started flooding in. Phone calls. Text messages. White and his father, Andy, had to start a list to keep them all straight. And the list kept growing.

White, a 6-foot-7 forward who had averaged 16.6 points and 5.9 rebounds for Nebraska in the 2015-16 season, said the attention left him dizzy.

"By the time the recruiting process ended, there were about 55 to 60 schools that contacted me or my father,'' White said. "It was a lot to process. I was overwhelmed.''

White would spend almost almost three agonizing months trying to maintain control over his recruitment before finally picking Syracuse over other finalists Michigan State, Miami and Virginia Commonwealth.

This is how White and his father wound up in Jim Boeheim's office on a Sunday morning, the day before the start of fall semester classes, to tell the Syracuse coach that he wanted to play for the Orange.

Gbinije makes 1st contact

Andrew White visits Syracuse in July. It was his first visit after he decided to transfer from Nebraska.

White's decision to leave Nebraska had stirred up a tempest. He was the Cornhuskers' leading returning scorer. Tim Miles, the Nebraska coach, wasn't happy to lose a cornerstone piece on his roster. White took a beating from Nebraska fans on message boards and in a few newspaper columns.

White, who was back at his parents' home in Richmond, Va., cut himself off. He didn't take any phone calls for three weeks. He didn't do any interviews.

"I wanted all the drama to slow down a little bit,'' he said, "so I'd have a clear mind to make the decision.''

White's silence fooled Syracuse assistant coach Adrian Autry into thinking that perhaps White already had a destination picked out.

But even though White wasn't talking to any college coaches or reporters, he had been talking to his friends. One friend was Michael Gbinije, who like White, hailed from the Richmond area. The two had known each other growing up. Gbinije was one year older than White.

For two or three weeks, Gbinije and White talked mainly about their experiences leading up to the NBA draft. Gbinije, who had finished his career at Syracuse, would eventually be taken in the second round by the Detroit Pistons. White, who had graduated from Nebraska but had one year of eligibility remaining, had entered the draft but removed his named from consideration prior to the early entry deadline.

Autry found out that Gbinije had been talking to White. One week after the NBA draft, Gbinije called White again on behalf of Autry.

"I thought he was calling to talk about him being in the NBA or that maybe he was on his way home or something,'' White said.

On the contrary, Gbinije told White that the Syracuse coaches were very interested in recruiting him, but they needed to get going because Boeheim was getting ready to embark on his summer with the United States Olympic basketball team.

"We expedited the whole recruiting process quickly because Coach Boeheim was heading out of town for his Olympic coaching responsibilities,'' White said.

One week later, July 9, White was on the Syracuse campus for an official visit. The Syracuse visit would set the tone for the next two months.

Boeheim's patience pays off

Andrew White meets with Jim Boeheim during his visit to Syracuse in July. It was his first visit after he decided to transfer from Nebraska.

White's recruitment was now in full swing. He and his father were fielding dozens of phone calls.

"There were 30 to 40 schools calling every day,'' White said.

White had his father taking most of the initial calls. He also enlisted his dad's help to analyze each schools' situation in terms of personnel, playing style and potential for winning.

"Andrew put me on task to look around and see what schools would fit his skill-set,'' Andy White said. "We wanted to narrow it down to the schools he thought would be in the running. It was so late in the process.''

One week after his trip to Syracuse, White visited Michigan State. Spartans assistant coach Dane Fife had started the conversation, but Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo soon became the focal point.

"I was talking to Tom Izzo twice a day for almost two weeks and 20 minutes at a time,'' White said.

It was almost August. Izzo was pressing White for a decision.

"If Tom Izzo goes into a gym and he singles out 100 kids to come to Michigan State, 99 are coming that second,'' White said. "That's the power of the Michigan State brand. He was ready for a decision at that time, but I wasn't ready for a decision at that time. It was a mutual thing that we moved forward.''

On July 30, reports leaked out that Michigan State was no longer in the running for White. One day later, White went on his third campus visit. This time to the University of Miami.

Miami's coaching staff offered a sense of familiarity that appealed to White. Miami assistant coach Jamal Brunt made the first contact. Brunt had recruited White out of high school when he was an assistant at the University of Richmond. Miami head coach Jim Larranaga had also recruited White out of high school when he was still at George Mason. Miami assistant Chris Caputo had been on Larranaga's staff at George Mason. And Miami's third assistant, James Johnson, had recruited White when he was the head coach at Virginia Tech.

White continued to talk to Boeheim almost every other day.



"Every time I told him 'Coach, I've got another visit, just work with me,' he'd say 'You go have fun. We know this is the place for you. You do what you've got to do. We'll catch up with you.'

"He doesn't rush. He doesn't panic. He was very calm,'' White said. "I appreciated that because it did take me a while to gather my thoughts and figure out what I wanted to do.''

But White still didn't know what he wanted to do.

"He was looking at it so methodically,'' Andy White said. "He was analyzing every school and trying to figure out the absolute best fit.''

Miami, however, needed an answer. The school's fall semester started on Aug. 22; one week ahead of Syracuse. On Aug. 20, multiple media outlets reported that Miami was no longer part of White's recruitment.

"It was kind of the same scenario as Michigan State,'' White said. "They needed a decision and I wasn't ready. This could be a life-altering decision for me. I'm not a freshman. I'm not 18. This is the last ride for me.''

White's list of schools was now down to Syracuse and VCU, located in White's hometown of Richmond. There was speculation that a third school might be involved when a photo of White and his younger brother shooting in the University of Richmond's gym appeared on a blog page and on Twitter.

"That picture was taken three months before I even knew I was leaving Nebraska,'' White said. "That picture was from March or April. That's what I was dealing with in the middle of making a decision.''

Nebraska grad transfer Andrew White III is currently on a visit to Richmond. Spiders have emerged as a wild card. pic.twitter.com/SMgGRzOB12 — Spider Hoop Blog (@SpiderHoopBlog) July 30, 2016

While Richmond wasn't part of White's process, VCU was.

"I thought being back in my hometown might be good for me,'' he said. "I think they were invested in me. They were a real contender.''

By now, though, White had grown more and more comfortable with Syracuse.

Boeheim was calling on a regular basis from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

He was talking to Autry every day.

And he kept thinking back to his early conversations with Gbinije.

The two shared the transfer experience. White had transferred once before. A Top 50 recruit coming out of high school, he had gone to Kansas where he spent two years before transferring to Nebraska. Gbinije had started his college career at Duke before transferring to Syracuse.

"It was good to talk to someone who had been in a situation similar to mine,'' White said. "When Mike came out of Duke, there was a certain perception that some people had of him. He was able to come here and completely change his reputation and he did it with this staff.''

'What are you doing here?'

On Friday, Aug. 26, White called Autry. He was coming, but there would be no announcement. He wanted to see Boeheim in person and he didn't want to deal with a constantly ringing phone on his way up to Syracuse.

The next day, White and his father loaded up their 2015 Chrysler 200 and headed north on I-95. Andrew drove most of the way. After nine hours on the road, father and son pulled into the parking of a hotel about 15 minutes from the Syracuse campus. It was just after midnight.

Early the next morning, the Whites drove to the Carmelo K. Anthony Basketball Center. They were turning a corner in the building when they ran into SU's strength and conditioning coach Ryan Cabiles. Cabiles had met White on his recruiting visit back in early July. He had no idea that White had decided to come to Syracuse.

"What are you doing here?'' Cabiles said.

A few minutes later, the Whites walked into Boeheim's office.

"We ran back through everything we had talked about,'' White said. "He told me at the end of the day he knew I was going to end up here. He was confident in me.''

Excited to join Syracuse Basketball🍊🍊 pic.twitter.com/Idiri7bm6H — Andrew J. White III (@AndrewWhite03) August 28, 2016

There were still things that needed to be done. White had to find housing. The team had a 2 p.m. meeting so he and his father went apartment hunting before returning to the Melo Center for the team meeting.

White found an apartment, but couldn't move in for a week. He stayed in the hotel room with his father for the next week. When Andrew headed off to class, his dad went shopping for pots, pans, silverware, an ironing board and other apartment necessities.

"I found the mall,'' Andy White said with a laugh.

One month later, White has found his place amongst his new teammates. The Orange's first official practice is Friday afternoon, but the players have been conditioning with Cabiles or working out in small groups with the assistant coaches for the past month.

After one such workout, White took a seat and looked out at the Melo Center's courts.

"Syracuse was one of the first schools in it and they were one of the last,'' he said. "I appreciated that. I tested their commitment. They stuck with me. They were committed to me.

"It was just such a tough decision. I'd over-thought it and over-analyzed it. What made that decision take so long is I thought it was too good to be true. You're coming into a program like this with well-documented coaching and well-documented talent.

"You think that a guy who's had to transfer twice, you wouldn't think a place like this would be a home for a guy like me. It was really surprising.''