College Basketball Recruiting: Biggest Winners, Losers from Early Signing Period

As college basketball teams are just getting started on playing this season, work off the court continues to get next year's roster bolstered with future talent. But not everyone had as good a week in the recruiting department as others.

The early signing period for college hoops began November 12 and ended Wednesday, with dozens of the nation's top players in the Class of 2015 either signing with schools or announcing their commitments for next season. These decisions made for much movement on 247Sports' composite recruiting rankings, with schools moving up and down after each high school senior made his choice.

Who won and who lost? We take a look at the teams that had the best and worst early signing periods, detailing what went well (or didn't).

Winner: Kentucky

The rich get richer, as Kentucky rocketed up to second in the class rankings after landing commitments from not one but two 5-star prospects last week.

Within minutes of each other, both Skal Labissiere and Isaiah Briscoe announced on television on November 13 their intention to be part of the Kentucky NBA pipeline in 2014-15. Labissiere, a 6'10" center from Haiti (by way of Memphis), is considered the seventh-best recruit in the country. The 6'3" Briscoe is ranked No. 9 overall and first among point guards.

Labissiere may not end up with Big Blue Nation, however, as CBS Sports' Gary Parrish has reported that the NCAA plans to closely investigate Labissiere's recruitment. And there has already been talk that he may choose to play overseas next year, rather than attend college.

Loser: Memphis

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Memphis has a solid pair of forwards coming its way in 2015 in brothers Dedric and K.J. Lawson (both of whom had committed to the Tigers prior to the signing period). But Memphis missed out on the big fish, so to speak, as local prospect Skal Labissiere opted to pledge his college future to the coach who ran the Memphis program before Josh Pastner: Kentucky's John Calipari.

Labissiere's announcement came November 13, the day after Memphis lost an exhibition game to Division II school Christian Brothers. Needless to say, it wasn't a good 24 hours for Pastner and the Tigers. That disappointment continued into the regular season when they lost by 15 to Wichita State on Monday.

Winner: Arizona

Arizona didn't pick up any commitments in the past few weeks, but it didn't have to. The Wildcats had already secured the No. 1 recruiting class, to this point, and all four future prospects signed their national letters of intent on November 12.

Coach Sean Miller is bringing in a variety of players for next season, signing a point guard (Justin Simon), a shooting guard (Allonzo Trier), a small forward (Ray Smith) and a center (Chance Comanche). Each of them ranks among the top 53 players in the 2015 class.

And Arizona didn't just stop there. On Wednesday, it landed an early commitment from one of the best players in 2016: 5-star power forward T.J. Leaf.

Loser: St. John's

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College basketball in the tri-state area features more than a dozen notable schools, but few are more high-profile than St. John's. And coach Steve Lavin tries to tap into that notoriety by heavily recruiting the top players in the region in the hopes of getting them to stay close to home (and providing them with the opportunity to play a bunch of games at Madison Square Garden).

That pitch apparently wasn't enough to sway Isaiah Briscoe, the top-rated player in New Jersey and the No. 2 player in the Northeast. The Red Storm were among his final three, along with Connecticut and Kentucky (the school he signed with).

So far, St. John's only has one player lined up for 2015: 3-star point guard Samir Doughty.

Winner: Texas A&M

When it comes to recruiting, Texas A&M fans are usually getting excited about what the school is doing on the football front (as the Aggies have established themselves as one of the top destinations in the country for prospects). Dominating Texas recruiting has also been a big deal—and something the school has succeeded at in football.

That's now happening in basketball, too, as coach Billy Kennedy signed a four-person class last week that ranks No. 3 overall. And all four players come from the Lone Star State and are considered among the 10 best in Texas.

Highlighting that group are 6'9", 240-pound center Elijah Thomas and a pair of high school teammates, center Tyler Davis and power forward D.J. Hogg.

Loser: Connecticut

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Being the defending national champion has its perks, but it doesn't guarantee recruiting success. Coach Kevin Ollie has learned that the hard way in the past week, as two of his biggest targets decided to go elsewhere.

On November 12, the Huskies failed to be the choice of both 5-star point guard Isaiah Briscoe and 4-star small forward Derrick Jones. They chose Kentucky and UNLV, respectively.

It wasn't as if UConn struck out completely, however. It did get signed letters from point guard Jalen Adams and power forward Steve Enoch (both 4-star prospects). That alone has the Huskies ranked 21st in class strength.

Winner: Marquette

With the early signing period in the books, the top of the team recruiting rankings is mostly littered with the usual suspects (with a few exceptions).

Marquette would normally have been considered one of those perennial strong-recruiting schools when Buzz Williams was running things, but when he chose to leave for Virginia Tech in the offseason, it was likely to impact the Warriors' future recruiting efforts.

However, new coach Steve Wojciechowski has jumped right in and landed future prospects like anything other than the first-time head coach that he is. Marquette's class currently ranks sixth, mostly because it was able to snare 5-star big man Henry Ellenson.

Ellenson, from Wisconsin, chose the Warriors over Michigan State and Kentucky.

Loser: North Carolina

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Just before the early signing period began, we highlighted some of the players that North Carolina was hoping to pick up for 2015 in an attempt to put together a recruiting class that complimented the third-ranked group the Tar Heels brought in for this season.

Instead, the Heels left the signing period with a 2015 class that currently sits 87th in 247Sports' composite rankings. The only commitment came from Luke Maye, a 3-star power forward who picked the Tar Heels over the likes of Charlotte, Clemson and Gonzaga.

UNC lost out on Skal Labissiere and P.J. Dozier, both of whom listed the school among their finalists (but ultimately chose other schools). However, the Heels are still in the thick of the race for 5-star small forward Brandon Ingram, who, according to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog.com, plans to make his choice soon after visiting UNC, Duke and North Carolina State.

Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.