The Highest 2015 Recruiting Priority for 10 Top Teams in College Basketball

We’re about a quarter of the way through the college basketball season. While fans are locked in the moment, coaches and their staffs already have eyes set on 2015.

They must. If they don’t, Kentucky’s John Calipari may sweep up every available top recruit.

Say you’re Duke. You’re loving Jahlil Okafor, but you’re only loving him for this season.

“We won't have him long," Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said on ESPN.com. "We'll have him this year and then he'll be one of the top [NBA] picks.”

So that means Duke will more than likely be in search of a big man.

Ten of the top 20 247Sports recruits have yet to declare. They appear to be the spackle to patch up the drywall of these top-10 teams.

Read on to see who may be a good fit for these elite programs.

Wisconsin

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Wisconsin, the No. 2 team in the country, has never landed a true blue-chip player. That could change in 2015.

The Badgers are in the running for Diamond Stone, the 6’10”, 246-pound center and Wisconsin native.

UConn is in the running, but with the loss of Wisconsin’s Frank Kaminsky at the end of this season, who better than Stone to begin filling that void?

Brian Flinn of The Sporting News wrote:

"

With Frank Kaminsky graduating after this season, there will be plenty of minutes up for grabs alongside Nigel Hayes. Stone would also be in a lineup with a group that can really space the floor and give him more room to operate in the post.

With the way that Ryan has helped Kaminsky develop, his work with Stone could help the young big man have a good shot of being “one-and-done.”

"

Kaminsky has been one of the great mismatch problems for defenses this year, and Stone will pose his own set of issues for opposing teams under Ryan’s guidance.

Virginia

John Minchillo/Associated Press

Virginia signed power forward Jarred Reuter out of Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire. Size: check.

Now it looks to add some backcourt presence in Terrence Phillips. It could be a long shot to land the 5’11” guard from Mouth of Wilson (yes that’s the name of the town), Virginia.

It’s a lukewarm prospect for Virginia, with other schools like Loyola Marymount, Missouri, Georgia State, Auburn and Georgia muddying the waters.

UCLA

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Jaylen Brown, the No. 2 recruit according to 247Sports, is the priority for the UCLA Bruins.

Brown hails from Marietta, Georgia, and is a dynamic guard/forward. Brown exited his visit with UCLA optimistic that he’d be prominently featured in the Bruin scheme.

Brown told Adam Zagora on Zagsblog.com:

"

They said I’m the No. 1 priority and I would be like the man. They don’t have a guy like me. They would play me at multiple positions, the 1, 2 and 3 and make it hard for the other team to guard me. They’re not looking to recruit a lot. They want two bigs for sure and they want me. If they don’t get me, they said they want a replacement, so that’s what they’re looking for.

"

Brown is a 6’7” small forward who could shift around the floor. Steve Alford, UCLA’s head coach, could get awfully creative with Brown complimenting Aaron Holiday and Prince Ali.

Arizona

Rick Scuteri/Associated Press

Arizona, just like Kansas, looks to add some size to the middle. It already has a 7-footer in junior Kaleb Tarczewski. Why not add Stephen Zimmerman to that frontcourt?

Depending on where you look, Zimmerman is either seven feet or 6’11” tall. It appears this Las Vegas native plans on staying on the west coast (with UNLV and Arizona being front-runners).

Arizona could be sitting on the pole position, since Sean Miller (Arizona’s head coach) worked with Zimmerman on the U18 USA team.

Lori Stevens, Zimmerman’s mother, told Tuscon.com, “That really showed him a lot. Sean worked with him, and the way they got along, the way he handled him, was impressive. I know Stephen liked that."

Zimmerman is ranked No. 15 on the 247Sports list and promises to add a huge inside presence to the fringe Wildcat speed.

Kansas

Reinhold Matay/Associated Press

Kansas coach Bill Self knows one thing: He wants the Jayhawks to get bigger.

That size could come with the 6’9”, 218-pound power forward Cheick Diallo.

“We know we got to get bigger,” Self told The Kansas City Star. “So if I were going to say if there’s a need, the need would be size. But we don’t have a senior, and we don’t know how many (players) we’re going to lose.”

Such is the problem of big-game hunting in the Top 25. Diallo would add a big body—not center-big, but big nonetheless—for Kansas.

Joining Diallo are names like Stephen Zimmerman and Carlton Bragg.

North Carolina

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Guess what? There’s another team looking at Jaylen Brown. Add North Carolina to the list.

In the event that Roy Williams can’t put Brown in a powder blue tank, there’s the Kinston, North Carolina native Brandon Ingram who could fit in just fine in Williams’ scheme.

B/R’s own Scott Polacek wrote:

"

Ingram is a versatile forward who can play both inside and outside. His smooth shooting stroke allows him to connect from behind the three-point line, but he is more than capable of attacking the basket off the dribble as well. 

His length and athleticism also help on the defensive side because he is quick enough to stay in front of guards but long enough to bother the shots of bigger forwards.

"

Williams is also eyeing many 4- and 5-star recruits who are big and quick—players who get up and down the floor faster than they can say, “Down with Duke.”

Syracuse

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Could college basketball be trending toward big lineups? Kansas and Arizona are looking big, and you can add Syracuse to that list too.

The Orange have two players at 6’10” in freshman Chris McCullough and sophomore Chinonso Obokoh. Now add Thomas Bryant to that witch’s brew.

Bryant is 6’9.5” tall and weighs 217 pounds. He’s a 4-star recruit, according to 247Sports, and he’s leaning toward Syracuse.

Linda Bryant, Thomas’ mother, told Syracuse.com's Chris Carlson, “Really it's down to two. Syracuse and Indiana. And it might be down to one soon. Thomas has always told me that Syracuse was the leader."

According to Chris Carlson of Syracuse.com, Syracuse doesn’t have a scholarship yet, but the possible departure of McCullough to the NBA could free up a slot for Bryant to slip in seamlessly.

Kentucky

James Crisp/Associated Press

Kentucky and 5-star recruits under John Calipari are a ubiquitous coupling these days.

It should be no surprise then that Kentucky is hot on the Jaylen Brown’s tail. Oddly enough, Brown cares little for who Calipari brings in as a compliment. Specifically, Brown cares how the 0-star players are treated.

Brown told The Courier-Journal, “Relationships sometimes depreciate between the coach and the star player and the coach and the player [who] doesn't play as much; like the walk-on. I really want to know how the coach treats that guy. That will say a lot about the real character of the coach.”

Say what?

Who has that kind of poise and maturity to care about that fringe guy who plays in the final minutes against UT-Arlington?

The addition of Brown—and his apparent selflessness—ensures that Kentucky will have the best athletes on the floor.

Louisville

Garry Jones/Associated Press

Louisville, like many teams on this list, looks to add size to its roster.

Rick Pitino has locked up Louisville native Raymond Spalding (6’9”) and has 6’11” center Yankuba Sima in his crosshairs. Add to that Aric Holman, who stands at 6’9”, and the Cardinals are clearly padding their frontcourt.

Could it be that Pitino will have too many big men?

Jon Hancock of KentuckySports.com wrote, “It is surprising the Pitino would look for another big man with the several that he will have coming back. It would be interesting to see what he would do with that many 7-footers.”

As for Holman, he told The Courier-Journal, "I like the way [the Cardinals] get after it, they hustle and they don't play at a slow pace."

Pitino has a plan—and that clearly involves bigger bodies.

Duke

Seth Wenig/Associated Press

As stated in the introduction, Duke plans on losing Okafor to the NBA draft. According to Krzyzewski, Okafor has a set of NBA talents that won’t be wasted in the ACC and beyond come 2015.

Krzyzewski said on ESPN.com:

"

He's 6-10, about 265. He has huge hands. So the ball is small in his hands. Part of that hurts him some because he's accustomed to rebounding with one hand, and rebounding is better with two hands. But scoring-wise he's able to do it. He's got incredible touch and really good feet

"

With that 6’10” void, maybe Chase Jeter will take his place. Should Duke lose its young guard in Tyus Jones, perhaps a small forward like Ingram could be a good fit next season, not unlike a Shane Battier or Kyle Singler.