Miles Bridges Decision: Ranking the Best Fits for 5-Star Small Forward

Few players made bigger waves at last weekend's Nike Peach Jam than Miles Bridges, and the 2016 recruit made a few more on Monday morning when he tweeted out his five finalists: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State and North Carolina.

That list of suitors alone should tell you just how talented of a player he is, but he put on quite the show in South Carolina.

Bleacher Report's C.J. Moore was at the Peach Jam this past weekend. His impression of Bridges: "He's the type of player who has small forward skills but would do himself a favor if he was willing to play a small-ball 4 in college. Think Justise Winslow (at Duke) or Draymond Green with the Golden State Warriors."

Being compared to the starting power forward for the reigning national champion at both the collegiate and professional level is pretty high praise, but he's earned it.

Bridges, however, sees himself as more of a 2.5 than a 3.5. He told ESPN Insider Jeff Goodman earlier this week that "they talked to me about playing the 3 and some schools said I could even end up being a 2 if I continue to develop my ball-handling."

Rated No. 18 in the class of 2016 by 247Sports and listed at No. 7 overall by ESPN, Bridges averaged 22.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per game. According to Evan Daniels of Scout.com, it was enough for North Carolina head coach Roy Williams to offer him a scholarship on the spot.

He's not ready to commit to anyone just yet, though. Bridges has already said he will take official visits to Kentucky and Michigan State in the fall, per Ben Roberts of UK recruiting's blog. Considering players are allowed five official visits, it's a safe bet he'll also visit the other three schools on his list of finalists before putting pen to paper.

Bridges listed his five finalists in no order, but where's the fun in that? We're picking up the slack by taking a look at the projected 2016-17 rosters of his five finalists and ranking those candidates in ascending order of where he would be most likely become the shining star of a national champion.

Note: There are obviously a ton of unknowns. Bridges is one of 18 5-star players from next year's class who haven't yet chosen a school. Add in the plethora of "will he stay another year, or will he go pro?" questions and the ever-present potential for transfers, and trying to project lineups for next season is about as scientific as a game of Plinko.

However, those are just some of the mental gymnastics that every 17-year-old kid goes through in trying to figure out which school gives him the best chance to fulfill his dreams, so it's a fitting part of our process as well.

5. Michigan State Spartans

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Players Graduating: Denzel Valentine, Bryn Forbes, Matt Costello

Potentially Declaring for Draft: None

Projected Lineup: Tum Tum Nairn, Eron Harris, Joshua Langford, Devonta Davis, Gavin Schilling

The Spartans are the hometown favorite and arguably the strongest candidate to land Miles Bridges, but as far as roster fit is concerned, I'm not seeing it.

Only 14 of the top 50 players in next year's class have chosen a school, but Michigan State already has two of them in combo guard Joshua Langford (No. 15) and power forward Nick Ward (No. 47).

Moreover, the Spartans don't have a single player who profiles as a strong candidate to declare for the draft. And if you think Deyonta Davis might bolt after one year, here's a reminder that Zach Randolph was the only Tom Izzo player to ever declare after one season. That was 14 years ago.

Adding the 2016 freshmen already signed to the long list of players who will still have eligibility for the 2016-17 season results in an equation where Bridges probably doesn't have a starting job.

He might even have trouble becoming the sixth man. In addition to the five starters listed above, Izzo will also have to feed the mouths of Ward, Marvin Clark, Javon Bess, Matthew McQuaid, Kyle Ahrens and Alvin Ellis—if Ellis can avoid getting kicked off the roster before then, that is.

If all Bridges cares about is winning a college championship, Michigan State would be a darn good choice. But because this figures to be a pretty loaded roster as it is, he would be better off elsewhere if he wants to actually play more than 15 minutes per game in his first (and perhaps only) season.

4. North Carolina Tar Heels

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Players Graduating: Marcus Paige, Brice Johnson, Joel James

Potentially Declaring for Draft: Kennedy Meeks, Justin Jackson, Theo Pinson, Isaiah Hicks

Projected Lineup: Joel Berry, Kenny Williams, Nate Britt, Miles Bridges, Luke Maye

Where Michigan State doesn't have enough room at the inn, North Carolina might not have enough talent in the pool.

As noted last week in our ranking of non-freshmen most likely to declare for the 2016 draft, there could be quite the exodus from Chapel Hill depending on when we learn the full ramifications of the Wainstein Report and how brutal they are.

Even if the Tar Heels don't face any sort of postseason ban or scholarship reduction as fallout, don't count on seeing Kennedy Meeks, Justin Jackson or Theo Pinson in baby blue again after this season. Particularly if North Carolina makes a deep run this season, all three of those guys will very likely be first-round picks next June.

Isaiah Hicks is the only one who might be on the fence. If he comes back and Roy Williams can lure in a top-notch freshman center, there would be a pretty strong case for Bridges to sign with the Tar Heels. As things currently stand, though, and with the assumption that Hicks does leave, Bridges would need to be Michael Jordan 2.0 to have much hope of leading this team to a title.

At least he could count on a ton of playing time, though, and that's a pretty nice perk.

If I were a potential one-and-done player searching for the best path to the pros, I'd much rather average 17 per game for a 17-win team than scrap for playing time on a title contender. There's a reason UNLV's Rashad Vaughn was taken 17th overall last month while Grayson Allen returned for another season at Duke.

3. Indiana Hoosiers

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Players Graduating: Yogi Ferrell, Nick Zeisloft, Max Bielfeldt

Potentially Declaring for Draft: Troy Williams, James Blackmon Jr.

Projected Lineup: Robert Johnson, Collin Hartman, Miles Bridges, Juwan Morgan, Thomas Bryant

Somewhere along the way, the Hoosiers will need to add a true point guard. (They have been targeting Payton Pritchard, whom 247Sports currently ranks as the eighth-best point guard in next year's class, for more than a year.)

But assuming head coach Tom Crean can sign a ball-handler who allows Robert Johnson to stick to shooting guard, Miles Bridges could be the piece that keeps Indiana among the nation's elite programs.

If we've guessed right on who will and who will not declare for the draft, Bridges could fit like a glove into a 3.5, splitting time with both Juwan Morgan as the power forward and with Collin Hartman as the small forward.

As far as C.J. Moore's comparison to Justise Winslow is concerned, that matches pretty perfectly with the role he filled with Amile Jefferson and Matt Jones before really starting to shine and ultimately relegating Jefferson to a benchwarmer.

There's no doubt Bridges would get more than enough playing time with Indiana, but is the rest of the roster strong enough to become a title contender?

Depending on the point guard situation, it could be.

Johnson is a lethal three-point shooter who will be forced to live in the shadow of Yogi Ferrell, James Blackmon Jr. and Nick Zeisloft once again this season but who could be a 15 points-per-game type of guy in 2016-17. And Thomas Bryant is an outstanding talent in the post who might be just far enough below the draft radar to play multiple seasons in Bloomington.

Forgive the pun, but Bridges nicely bridges the gap between those two studs as a guy with both range and the ability to battle in the paint.

Get a pass-heavy point guard who can set all three of them up, and Indiana is a strong candidate to open 2016-17 as one of the top 10 teams in the country.

2. Kentucky Wildcats

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Players Graduating: Alex Poythress

Potentially Declaring for Draft: Skal Labissiere, Marcus Lee, Jamal Murray

Projected Lineup: Tyler Ulis, Isaiah Briscoe, Charles Matthews, Miles Bridges, Tai Wynyard

As far as currently projected rosters are concerned, Kentucky's situation isn't all that different from North Carolina's—three solid backcourt options with Miles Bridges starting at the 4 alongside a 4-star power forward.

However, given head coach John Calipari's recruiting history and the uncertainty surrounding North Carolina, there's a far greater chance of the Wildcats adding a couple of 5-star big men and making a strong run at the national championship, potentially with Bridges in the starting lineup.

There's also an exponentially better chance for Bridges to take the one-and-done (pardon me: succeed and proceed) route at Kentucky, as North Carolina incredibly hasn't sent a freshman to the NBA since Brandan Wright in 2007.

Face it, though, no one needs to be sold on the merits of going to Kentucky.

Want to play in the college spotlight? Great! Come to Lexington, where virtually every game is nationally televised and the Wildcats have averaged 4.3 NCAA tournament games per season under Calipari.

Want to play in the NBA? Fantastic! Come to Lexington, home of an average of 2.2 lottery picks and 4.2 overall draft picks per year over the past six years.

No matter how much you want to hate on Calipari, you can't deny the man has built a pretty incredible superhighway to the pros. We don't know which pieces Kentucky will or won't have in 2016-17, but one way or another those pieces will very likely come together to form a cohesive unit that wins a ton of games before making a ton of money.

And yet, I couldn't blame Bridges if he chose to spurn Kentucky this far in advance after seeing what happened to Kyle Wiltjer, Dakari Johnson and Marcus Lee in recent years. We have every reason to believe Calipari is capable of building a championship roster, but there's also legitimate cause for concern that he might construct a roster so great that "lower tier" 5-star guys fail to get the playing time they deserve.

Bridges would be a guaranteed starter as of now, but will that still be the case 16 months from now?

1. Michigan Wolverines

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Players Graduating: Caris LeVert, Spike Albrecht

Potentially Declaring for Draft: Zak Irvin

Projected Lineup: Derrick Walton Jr., Aubrey Dawkins, Miles Bridges, Kameron Chatman, Ricky Doyle

This is easily my favorite projected lineup.

Is it too early to start betting on 2017 national championship odds?

Kameron Chatman is the biggest unknown in the roster after a drastically worse than expected freshman year. If he doesn't pan out, though, head coach John Beilein has power forward Moritz Wagner coming in this season and has already signed a pair of 2016 centers in Jon Teske and Austin Davis.

After a couple of seasons spent trying to figure out who is good enough to play in this frontcourt, suddenly the Wolverines are going to have more bodies than they know what to do with.

This bodes extremely well for Miles Bridges' aspirations of being more of a wing than an interior player because the Wolverines will have plenty of guys willing and able to do the grunt work in the paint.

And for a wing who wants to improve or showcase his three-point range, there's no place like Ann Arbor. The Wolverines have averaged at least 19.7 three-point attempts per game each season since Beilein took over eight years ago. With Caris Levert and Spike Albrecht graduating and Zak Irvin possibly leaving for the draft before his senior season, it could be an all-you-can-eat buffet of three-point attempts for Bridges.

Though it's not the pro factory that Kentucky is, Michigan has done a pretty fine job of sending guys to the NBA as of late. There wasn't a single Wolverine eligible for this year's draft, but they had six draft picks over the previous four years—all early entries (five sophomores and one junior).

Great fit, good championship odds, nationally televised games and strong NBA potential while staying within two hours of one's hometown are about all anyone can ask for from one collegiate season, and Michigan would be able to deliver for Bridges on all of those fronts.

Recruiting information courtesy of 247Sports unless otherwise noted.

Kerry Miller covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @kerrancejames.