RECRUITING

Omaha Biliew, an Iowa basketball mega-prospect, is transferring to prep school, will not return to Waukee

Matthew Bain
Des Moines Register

Iowa's highest-rated basketball talent since Ames' Harrison Barnes is leaving Iowa. A potential transfer has long been rumored, even dating back to last year.

But now it's becoming reality.

Omaha Biliew, a five-star sophomore and top-10 prospect in the national 2023 class, is transferring from Waukee to play his final two high school seasons at a national powerhouse prep school. His personal coach, Tyler Sass, officially confirmed the long-suspected move to the Register on Wednesday, which was Biliew's last day as a student enrolled at Waukee.

Omaha Biliew is transferring to a prep school and won't return to Waukee next year.

Biliew plans to announce which prep school he'll attend next week. Sass said Sunrise Christian, Montverde Academy, Prolific Prep and Brewester Academy are among the schools that have been in contact with him since Biliew made it known in recruiting circles he wasn't returning to Waukee, which happened a couple months ago.

The five-star talent will remain in Des Moines in June while he works out and takes his June unofficial visits, Sass said. Biliew will then head to Kansas City for practice with his AAU team, MOKAN Elite, in the first week of July before heading to the Nike Peach Jam events the middle two weeks of July. He'll start at his new school in August.

Biliew helped the Warriors claim their first boys' basketball state title this winter alongside four-star Drake signee Tucker DeVries, three-star Iowa signee Payton Sandfort and fellow highly regarded sophomore Pryce Sandfort. Biliew averaged 10.9 points, 7.8 rebounds and three blocks per game while shooting 64.3% overall and 38.1% from long range.

PREVIOUSLY:'I feel like myself': Why 5-star phenom Omaha Biliew transferred to Waukee

A 6-foot-8 wing who can guard most positions, Biliew holds offers from Kansas, Iowa, Arkansas, Georgia, Nebraska, Michigan, Illinois and Western Kentucky. Programs such as Kentucky, Ohio State, Gonzaga, Iowa State, Miami and Baylor are also interested.

As the Register previously reported, Biliew has unofficial visits lined up to Nebraska on June 6 and Iowa State on June 16. Sass also told the Register Biliew will unofficially visit Kansas on June 12 and confirmed that Biliew will unofficially visit Iowa on June 7. He also said unofficial visits to Kentucky, Kansas and Gonzaga are in the works.

Biliew isn't the first high-profile Iowan to leave Iowa for high school basketball. Current UCLA point guard Tyger Campbell is a Cedar Rapids native who grew up playing AAU with the Iowa Barnstormers. But he spent all four high school years at La Lumiere.

Prep schools tried to pluck Oskaloosa 7-footer Xavier Foster from Iowa between his junior and senior seasons, but Foster opted to stay in his home state.

Biliew began his high school career at Dowling Catholic. The Maroons program rarely brings freshmen or sophomores up to varsity, so Biliew struggled to carve out a role and averaged 6.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game while coming off the bench for half the season. His on-the-court fit at Waukee was better, and he was playing his best basketball of the year during the Warriors' state title run.

Matthew Bain covers recruiting, Drake basketball and pretty much anything else under the sports sun for the Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Network.  Contact him at mbain@dmreg.com and follow him on Twitter @MatthewBain_.