The Top 10 Storylines Ahead of College Basketball's Early Signing Period
Imagine for a second what it must be like to be 16 or 17 years old and have Rivals, 247Sports.com, ESPN and Scout following your every move. These young men—boys, really—are prodigies, physically gifted athletes, and coaches from on high are trying to get a piece of the action.
It's early signing time and some have committed, but others are wavering, choosing to keep their cards close to the chest. Some are considering package deals, while others are content to take their talents to an already established team.
Coaches rack up frequent flier miles by the thousands in an effort to squeeze 30 games (more if they're lucky) out of these young talents. That's what charges this time of year with a static electricity looking to pop on contact.
Read on to see some of the storylines ahead of college basketball's early signing period.
Can the Presence of No. 1 Ben Simmons Help LSU Land Another Top Recruit?
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Louisiana State head coach Johnny Jones can boast that he signed the No. 1 recruit on the 247Sports.com Rankings: Ben Simmons.
Simmons is an incredibly versatile power forward with all the tools to dominate on the next level. His abilities made him the biggest 5-star recruit.
As Randy Rosetta of The Times-Picayune wrote, "In short order, Simmons showed he is a great rebounder, can push the ball up the floor like a point guard, is almost un-guardable no matter where he sets up on the floor and knows how to finish—whether it's with a driving slam-dunk, a pull-up jumper or a swooping athletic layup."
Simmons may prove valuable in another way: drawing others to LSU. As it stands, three other 247Sports recruits are considering LSU thanks, in part, to Simmons.
Antonio Blakeney, Brandon Sampson and Melvin Frazier are all potential Tigers. Simmons has been doing his work to get them to think about suiting up in purple and gold.
"I like LSU a lot because of the time they invested in me," Blakeney said in The Times-Picayune. "Their coaches were at almost every game and that shows me that I'm a priority to them. Coach JJ (Johnny Jones) lets guys play their games. He's not going to try to change your game, and I like that."
We've seen it in the pros with players working together to get to one team. It appears Simmons is trying to do the same for LSU. And he's not alone.
What Landing Henry Ellenson Means for First-Year Head Coach Steve Wojciechowski
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Some may remember Steve Wojciechowski (The only name more annoying to type is Mike Krzyzewski. Maybe we can start calling this guy Coach W or Coach Dub.) from his days running the floor at Duke. Many more will remember him as Coach K's wingman since 1999.
It appears he's learned a thing or two about recruiting from his longtime mentor. Wojciechowski landed Henry Ellenson, the 10th-ranked player on 247Sports.com. Ellenson is a 6'10" power forward and became the highest-ranked player to commit to Marquette since Doc Rivers in 1980. That predates The Empire Strikes Back.
On top of Ellenson, Wojciechowski also has three other 4-star recruits committed for 2015: Nick Noskowiak, Haanif Cheatham and Matt Heldt. It's an amazing feat that Wojciechowski pulled off this kind of a recruiting coup before coaching his first game.
Should he take his lumps in his first year, knowing that he's got such great talent coming down the pipe will make him feel better and could possibly make Marquette a midwestern destination not unlike Michigan, Michigan State and Ohio State.
Where Will Jaylen Brown End Up?
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Here's a list of schools that offered Jaylen Brown a ticket to campus: Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Michigan, North Carolina and North Carolina State. Coast to coast, that is one gnarly looking list.
That's what being No. 2 on the 247Sports.com Rankings will do. And with No. 1 Ben Simmons already committed to LSU, that makes Brown the hottest commodity student-athlete in the country.
He has a scheduled visit to Georgia coming up this month. Brown, an Alpharetta, Georgia native, would be just 65 miles from Athens. Since his mother has done some of the talking for him, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Michael Carvell of her son's prescribed visits, maybe keeping her son close to home as an added incentive.
Mechalle Brown, Jaylen's mother, said in The AJC:
"We’re still kind of looking at everything. I don’t want to say anything to make one school think this, or another one think something else. They are all good schools. It’s going to come down to where he feels he can excel in both athletics and academics. At this point. I can’t name any specific highlights because everything we’ve seen has been a highlight.
"
Being close to home has its perks. Family can watch him play and the comforts of home are not too far way in a pinch.
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Who Will Win the Battle for Seven-Footer Stephen Zimmerman?
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One school on the list of eight that Stephen Zimmerman has on his radar hopes what happens with him in Las Vegas, stays in Las Vegas.
Zimmerman, No. 15 on 247Sports.com, hails from Las Vegas' Bishop Gorman High School. One of the schools on the big board is, of course, UNLV. Still, at this juncture, no one is quite sure where Zimmerman will go.
According to 247Sports.com, He's had official visits with Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA and Arizona (with Indiana, Louisville, North Carolina and UNLV still to go).
"Hopefully after the officials, I'll be able to get more serious about what colleges and stuff, and maybe be able to trim my list more," Zimmerman said on CBS Sports.com. "That's the thing about having the officials planned so close together. I won't go on one and then automatically think it's the best thing ever."
That's incredibly level-headed, and he's clearly getting good counsel. That can only spell good things for whichever school lands him.
He hasn't set a time line for his decision—and with so many courting him, he has the upper hand. He can wait it out. He did tell CentralKentuckyNews.com in early September, "Just when I feel comfortable. I could commit tomorrow if it felt right. Just when it feels right, I’ll commit."
Until then, they wait.
Has Sean Miller Become the Best Recruiter in America?
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Everyone with a pulse and—if we were to find a medium and conduct a seance—even those without a pulse would recognize that Kentucky's John Calipari is the 5-star standard as a recruiter of basketball flesh. If you're a 5-star player, you don't have a choice but to see Calipari. The call is coming...from inside the house!
But there's another man with slicked-back black hair 2,000 miles away snatching up recruits—and his name is Sean Miller. In five years with Arizona, he's behind only Calipari in courting the nation's best basketball players. In five years, he's reeled 10 5-star players into his boat. Calipari is the big-game hunter with 16 over that same time span.
There was a time when the question surrounding Miller was: Can he recruit out west? He's an East Coast guy who played at Pitt, was an assistant coach at Pitt and NC State and then became the head coach at Xavier.
Anthony Gimino of Fox Sports wrote, "The proof: Miller earlier this month received a commitment from Las Vegas wing Ray Smith, the 10th 5-star recruit to commit to/sign with Arizona in the past five classes."
So too is Alonzo Trier.
So long as Calipari remains in the game, he has the edge. But you can't ignore Miller. He's in an area of the country that doesn't have quite the amount of ravenous, big-name schools. Miller can and will cherry-pick the best of the West—and when Miller wins a national championship, he just might get more East Coast talent as well.
Will Diamond Stone and Malik Newman Pair Up?
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Package deals. Basketball breeds them and it looks like Diamond Stone and Malik Newman—two 5-star recruits, Nos. 5 and 3 on 247Sports.com—could go hand-in-hand. Then again, maybe not.
Tyus Jones and Jahlil Okafor made one happy pappy in Coach K by putting a Blue Devils-blue bow on their package deal. Now Stone and Newman could be another.
A couple things to consider:
1. The pair would have to fit into the coach's philosophy. In this case, one is a guard and the other is a center.
2. Coaches have the power in college sports, not the players. Coaches have egos—and a precedent of "package deals" on this level may give the players the impression that they actually have a say in these matters.
Ultimately, it comes down to which program is the best fit for the individual. That's the power the players have. If the same school fits both players, then it's win-win.
Ricky O'Donnell of SB Nation wrote, "Their skill sets would seem to be a perfect match. Newman is a score-first guard with tremendous range and a relentless ability to attack the rim. Stone is arguably the top center prospect in the class as a 6'10["], 250-pound low post threat with a soft touch."
As it stands right now, neither player has a matching school on his list. Newman has nine schools, while Stone has just four.
If they don't attend the same school, the theme underpinning this little wrinkle would be fascinating to examine. The power shifts—or perceived power shifts—to these athletic workers is something worth following (and if Stone and Newton provide the conduit, all the better).
What to Make of a Recently Decommitted Antonio Blakeney?
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Psych.
Antonio Blakeney left Louisville in a pile of Papa John's pizza boxes. Say what?
"I made a quick and emotional decision based on some of the wrong reasons," Blakeney said in an story by ESPN.com's Reggie Rankin. "I really loved my visit and everything about Louisville and I am still strongly considering them."
Rick Pitino may not feel like "strongly considering" him anymore. You don't just bait and switch these guys. They have the power. Maybe Blakeney's heart was sold on Louisville, but his feet were not. Turns out there was a conflict on matters of the sole: Adidas v. Nike.
Still, Blakeney has a unique set of abilities—and that's his ace in the hole. The country is his farmer's market and he gets his choice of artisan, grass-fed universities to choose from.
"Where does Blakeney go from here?" wrote CBS Sports' Jeff Borzello. "Prior to committing to Louisville, it seemed like LSU and Kentucky were in there the strongest. It wouldn't be a shock to see Blakeney to take a look at those two schools again."
And who could be on that list of potentials?
Can John Calipari Work More Magic?
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Yeah, this guy. All 5-star fruits hang low for Coach Cal. Wouldn't he like to take Blakeney out from the shadow of Churchill Downs and nestle him tightly in Lexington?
As if trying to win a title isn't enough, Calipari has to tune his radar to all the basketball constellations with five stars and swoop in.
So far, Coach Cal has just one—uno—player committing from the top 60 on 247Sports.com. That player is 4-star wunderkind Charles Matthews (who signed in February. No sense in being fashionably late to this party.). Beyond that, Calipari has seen five of the 19 5-star guys commit to Arizona, Michigan State, Duke, LSU and Marquette.
There are still 14 5-star varietals remaining. How many will he swoon? Maybe Caleb Swanigan? Maybe Jaylen Brown? Maybe Malik Newman and the aforementioned Blakeney?
Here's his big sell: I take boys, make them men, then send them to the NB freakin' A. You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours.
Calipari hasn't made a splash yet (and there aren't any tea leaves to read yet). This is the silence before a Category Calipari hurricane comes through and sweeps up players by the roster-full.
Who's the Front-Runner for Ivan Rabb?
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Ivan Rabb, No. 6 on 247Sports.com, stands at 6'10", but he's a wafer-thin 210 pounds. That hasn't stopped several schools—especially the wizardly talents of Arizona's Sean Miller—from trying to acquire this guy, according to 247Sports.com.
Rabb hails out of Oakland, a geothermal hotbed Miller has mined for energy. Players like Nick Johnson, Josiah Turner, Brandon Ashley and Aaron Gordon all came from the same area.
It could all depend on another skyscraper coming to Arizona. There have been flirtations with 7-footer Stephen Zimmerman. Perhaps a twin-tower approach could work wonders in the desert. The two shared the floor during AAU.
Rabb said of Zimmerman to CBS Sports' Jeff Borzello (h/t SB Nation's Kevin Zimmerman):
"It makes the game a lot easier. It takes the attention off me. And plus, I'm not the biggest guy, so I don't have to guard the center. I can guard out on the wings, I can guard the power forward. It makes my job a lot easier. And he's also a pretty good shooter, so he stretches the floor when I'm trying to post up.
"
Two big men on the floor may look good on paper. The game has quickened with more dynamic guards and forwards, but it appears Rabb could be a great centerpiece and sole focal point.
Rabb has made official visits to two of the five schools on his list, according to 247Sports.com. Three are on the West Coast, while Kansas and Kentucky are the farthest east. With only two official visits to date, it could be a spring decision for Rabb. Then again, don't discount Miller in Tucson.
Which Blue-Blood Program Will Land Brandon Ingram?
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Brandon Ingram, No. 18 on 247Sports.com, has eyes on Tobacco Road. More accurately, Tobacco Road has eyes on him (then 247Sports.com lists there are UCLA and Kansas, which have to be there mainly as a negotiating bluff to his home-state courters).
Duke, UNC and NC State must stand above the fray for this Kinston, North Carolina, native. Mark Gottfried, the head coach of the Wolfpack, was one of the early adopters of Ingram. About that, Ingram's father Donald told Joe Giglio of The News and Observer, "They’ve been persistent and straight-forward with us. We love that.”
Sounds like a nice safety school. Still, Gottfried went so far as to iron out how Ingram will fit into his system. That kind of commitment and foresight can work wonders and make the decision that much easier. So much is nebulous, but if a coach already has a plan for your skills? That's encouraging to know where you stand.
Giglio writes, "That approach has been emboldened by the Wolfpack’s success with T.J. Warren, another in-state product who Gottfried helped develop into the ACC Player of the Year and a lottery pick in the NBA draft."
The North Carolina schools have to be the front-runners, but don't discount Bill Self or Steve Alford. Ingram can just sit back and play ball and let these coaches come to him.
Recruit rankings and information courtesy of ESPN unless otherwise noted.
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