NCAA Basketball Recruiting 2016: The Favorite to Land Top Uncommitted Players

College basketball teams are about to start practicing in preparation for the 2015-16 season. At the same time, work continues on the recruiting trail by coaches looking to grab prospects for next year.

The first signing period for recruits in the 2016 class comes up in November, and so far 12 of the 26 players rated as 5-star prospects by 247Sports have committed. Almost half of the top 50 players have yet to announce a decision or have backed off on a previous pledge, so there's plenty of unclaimed talent out there.

As we move closer to that early signing period, we're taking a look at the 20 best uncommitted players in the 2016 class and handicapping the teams that are in the best position to land them. We'll even make some predictions about where these unattached prospects will end up.

PF Edrice Adebayo

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'9", 232 lbs

Ranking: 11th

Top college choices: Auburn, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, North Carolina State

The player known on the AAU circuit and the recruiting trail as "Bam" is fresh off a visit to Auburn, per Phillip Marshall of 247Sports, during which he participated in a scrimmage with Tigers players and other recruits. He currently has 15 offers, but doesn't appear close to making a decision anytime soon.

Adebayo averaged 32.2 points and 21 rebounds per game last season for Northside High School in Pinetown, North Carolina, but he has now transferred to High Point Christian Academy. 

The battle for his services could come down to which in-state program he wants to go with. North Carolina State has a 79-to-21 advantage on North Carolina in 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictor, and if he went to NC State, he'd join 5-star guard commit Dennis Smith. 

Projected destination: North Carolina State

SF Rawle Alkins

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'5", 210 lbs

Ranking: 15th

Top college choices: Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, North Carolina State, St. John's, UNLV

The top-rated player in New York has recently narrowed his list to eight schools from the 22 who have offered him, dropping Arizona, Maryland and Texas from consideration, per Ben Roberts of NextCats. Alkins' rise to national prominence—and in turn, offers from all over the country—has also led him to leave Christ the King High School and move to Word of God Academy in Raleigh, North Carolina.

That could bode well for the ACC schools interested in him, while also making it easier for coaches to check out his prep competition since so many other notable prospects play in the state. 

Alkins would be a major win for St. John's, but it's looking more and more like he's going to end up far from home. He's set to visit Kentucky on Oct. 16 during the Wildcats' Big Blue Madness event, and that might be a perfect time to make a commitment. 

Projected destination: Kentucky

PF Jarrett Allen

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'9", 210 lbs

Ranking: 21st

Top college choices: Houston, Indiana, Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Texas

Jarrett Allen lives in Austin, Texas, not very far from the campus of the school that 100 percent of 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictors have him set to attend. At this point, though, the sixth-best power forward in the 2016 class is remaining mum on his final choice, having announced a list of eight candidates he's still considering last week. 

It's hard to imagine he'd end up anywhere other than with Texas, however, and Allen has to be considered a top priority for new coach Shaka Smart. A player of Allen's size and agility—he averaged 20.1 points and 9.7 rebounds this summer, per Alex Bozich of InsideTheHall.com—would make for a great weapon in Smart's Havoc attack.

Projected destination: Texas

C Udoka Azubuike

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'11", 265 lbs

Ranking: 28th

Top college choices: Florida, Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina State

One of the biggest unclaimed prospects (in terms of size and potential) is getting plenty of attention from schools that have had a love for big men in the past. Which one will pull him out of Jacksonville, Florida, and onto its roster likely depends on how willing it is to have backboards damaged in practice.

Udoka Azubuike has developed a reputation for destroying rims with his monstrous dunks, including during the NBPA Top 100 camp this summer in Virginia. 

The favorite appears to be Florida State, with an 81 percent chance of grabbing Azubuike, according to the 247Sports Crystal Ball predictor. He'd pair nicely with 5-star small forward commit Jonathan Isaac to form a potential superstar frontcourt in Tallahassee for 2016-17. 

Projected destination: Florida State

C Marques Bolden

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'10", 235 lbs

Ranking: 20th

Top college choices: Alabama, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky

It's not a great class for players listed as true centers, but the best of the lot is still out there for the taking and some big names are hoping to land Marques Bolden. The Texas product recently visited Duke, and might end up being the next Jahlil Okafor as well as a key piece of another monster class for the Blue Devils.

Duke just picked up its third commitment for 2016, adding 4-star forward Javin DeLaurier Sunday. The Blue Devils already have commitments from guard Frank Jackson and forward Jayson Tatum and ranks first in 247Sports' composite rankings. 

"Hypothetically, Duke could add Harry Giles, Wenyen Gabriel and Marques Bolden to Tatum, Jackson and DeLaurier," Evan Daniels of Scout.com tweeted. "That would be ridiculous."

Don't expect the other schools to give up on pursuing Bolden, though. He is set to visit Kansas during its Late Night at the Phog Midnight Madness event in October, per Gary Bedore of KUSports.com. 

Projected destination: Kansas

SF Miles Bridges

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'6", 218 lbs

Ranking: 12th

Top college choices: Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan State

Miles Bridges should be the next big name off the board for 2016, as the Huntington Prep star plans announce his commitment on Oct. 3. This will occur at Mott Community College in Flint, Michigan, per his Twitter account. 

Flint—where Bridges is originally from—has long been a recruiting hotbed for Michigan State, with the backbone of the Spartans' 2000 NCAA title team comprised of Flint natives Charlie Bell, Mateen Cleaves and Morris Peterson, who became known as The Flintstones. 

The decision to announce in Flint "erases any doubt" that Bridges plans to pledge to MSU, according to 247Sports' Jerry Meyer (via Joe Rexrode of the Detroit Free Press).

Projected destination: Michigan State

SG Bruce Brown

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'4", 201 lbs

Ranking: 39th

Top college choices: Boston College, Georgetown, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan

Bruce Brown didn't garner many headlines this summer despite being a 4-star prospect who ranks as the sixth-best shooting guard in the 2016 class. That's pretty much by design, as the Vermont Academy product "is focused more on his play than his recruitment" according to 247Sports' Jerry Meyer. That should change as he gets deeper into his senior year, especially after starting his official visits.

Brown went to Georgetown in mid-September and plans to take all of his visits, though the rest of those haven't been scheduled yet. He's not looking like someone that will sign during the November signing period, so there's a lot that can still happen.

Projected destination: Massachusetts

PF De'Ron Davis

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'9 1/2", 235 lbs

Ranking: 38th

Top college choices: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Indiana, Mississippi State, Texas

While most players heading into their senior year are looking to trim down to a short list of finalists, De'Ron Davis recently added to his. After saying previously that Arizona, Indiana and Texas were his final three, earlier this month Davis told 247Sports' Alex McCarthy he'd added Arkansas, Connecticut and Mississippi State. 

"Who can give me the tools to be successful, but also give me the tools to be successful in stuff outside of basketball?," Davis told McCarthy in explaining why he expanded his list.

Davis, from Aurora, Colorado, officially visited Indiana this weekend and is also set to go to Mississippi State and Arizona in October, per Jeff Rabjohns of Rivals.com.   

Projected destination: Indiana

PG De'Aaron Fox

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'4", 170 lbs

Ranking: 3rd

Top college choices: Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, LSU, North Carolina, North Carolina State

De'Aaron Fox is the top-rated point guard in the country, which makes it no surprise that the schools most heavily recruiting him are ones in great need of someone to run the point during the 2016-17 season. He spent this weekend at Louisville, has already gone to LSU and "will also visit Kansas, Kentucky and Arizona in coming weeks" according to Zagsblog.coms Adam Zagoria. 

Fox, from Katy, Texas, seems headed to Kentucky based on the numbers from 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictor. A whopping 94 percent of experts have him being the next point guard that John Calipari looks to turn into an NBA draft pick. 

Calipari recently made an in-home visit to Fox, and the prospect used that as an opportunity to bring disabled classmate (and lifelong Kentucky fan) Seth Barnett over to meet the Wildcats' coach. 

"It's probably the best feeling I've ever had in my life," Fox told Houston TV station KPRC (via Drew Franklin of KentuckySportsRadio.com). "I've never got to help someone out like that."

Projected destination: Kentucky

PF Wenyen Gabriel

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'9", 195 lbs

Ranking: 16th

Top college choices: Boston College, Connecticut, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Providence

Wenyen Gabriel was a relative unknown in the 2016 class until he had a breakthrough summer, and as a result, the scholarship offers started pouring in. Nine of his 23 offers have come since the beginning of May, and now the Massachusetts-based prospect is in the midst of making his official visits.

Maryland was first on the list in mid-September, followed by Kentucky this weekend. In October, he's set to go to Connecticut, Duke and Kentucky. 

Duke is the last on that list chronologically, and the Blue Devils' recent commitment from Javin DeLaurier might knock them out of the running for Gabriel since they play the same position.

Projected destination: Maryland

PF Harry Giles

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'10", 210 lbs

Ranking: 1st

Top college choices: Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Wake Forest

Harry Giles has held the top spot in the 2016 recruiting rankings for several months, and not surprisingly that prestige comes with plenty of interest in where he'll end up going to college. Your guess is as good as anyone's, though, since the most newsworthy thing to come from his camp of late was the decision to transfer to powerhouse Oak Hill Academy for his final prep season.

"At this point I just really want to lock in on school and basketball at the highest level," Giles told USA Today's Jason Jordan. 

That transfer takes him away from his home state of North Carolina, where 60 percent of his finalists reside. Visits are scheduled in October with Duke, Kansas and Kentucky, but all signs point to Giles waiting until the spring to make a final decision. 

Projected destination: Duke

PF Dewan Huell

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'10", 206 lbs

Ranking: 23rd

Top college choices: Florida, Florida State, Kansas, Louisville, LSU, Maryland, Miami (Florida), North Carolina, Notre Dame, South Carolina, South Florida

The Miami area isn't known nearly as well for producing prep basketball talent as it is with football studs, but some good players come out of South Florida each year. Dewan Huell is the best in recent memory, so it's not surprising that several in-state programs want to keep him from going far from home. 

Huell hasn't trimmed his list since making an initial cut in April, and as of now, only Florida State (on Oct. 9) has scheduled an official visit with him. More are sure to come, however.

Projected destination: Miami (Florida)

SG Josh Jackson

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'7", 185 lbs

Ranking: 2nd

Top college choices: Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Maryland, Michigan State, North Carolina, North Carolina State, UCLA

It's been more than six months since Josh Jackson announced his nine finalists, but in the meantime, the Detroit native (who plays for Prolific Prep in California) has also picked up an offer from Maryland. All 10 of those schools figure to have a good shot to get this high-flying wing for next year, though only half of them can secure an official visit with him, and thus in-home visits and other contact might have to suffice.

Jackson is coming off a slam dunk title during August's Under Armour Elite 24 event in New York, using moves that were very similar to what Arizona had the last two seasons from Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Jackson is a far more polished offensive player, however, having helped Team USA win the under-19 FIBA world championship this summer.  

Projected destination: Arizona

CG Andrew Jones

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'4", 180 lbs

Ranking: 34th

Top college choices: Arizona, Baylor, Louisville, Texas, Texas A&M

Andrew Jones spent much of August making a series of unofficial visits to schools that are among the 23 that have offered him scholarships. Then he came home to Texas to check out the Longhorns in mid-September. Now comes the waiting game for those schools. 

Arizona is the most recent school to offer the combo guard from Irving, and 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictor has the Wildcats way out in front of the field to get him. If Jones ends up in Tucson, he'll be the first player from that state to sign with Arizona since 2008.

Projected destination: Arizona

SF Mario Kegler

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'7", 225 lbs.

Ranking: 32nd

Top college choices: Arizona State, Baylor, Indiana, Maryland, Mississippi State

Since it's very rare that a top prospect ever says anything other than he "enjoyed" his visit to one school or another, most of the stories that are written about such trips need to be taken with a grain of salt. For instance, Mario Kegler spent this past weekend at Baylor and his guardian (and coach), Ohmar Carter, told SNY.tv (h/t Zagsblog.com) that Baylor is "near the top of" Kegler's list. 

The Arlington, Texas, prospect has already visited Arizona State—which he told Doug Haller of the Arizona Republic that he "thoroughly enjoyed"—and odds are that upcoming trips to his remaining top choices will also go swimmingly.

He can only sign with one, though, and it might come down to whoever provides the last bit of enjoyment before he makes a decision. 

Projected destination: Mississippi State 

PF T.J. Leaf

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'9", 215 lbs

Ranking: 17th

Top college choices: Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, Oregon, San Diego State, UCLA

T.J. Leaf originally committed to Arizona last year, but he reopened his recruitment in August not long after starring for Israel's under-19 national team in Europe. Since then the California prospect has picked up plenty of free-agent interest. He initially listed eight finalists and told Alex McCarthy of 247Sports he was looking for "a free system and somewhere I fit."

But such lists are meant to be fluid, as Louisville and Oregon reportedly lined up official visits and Ben Parker of Rivals.com tweeted Friday that Leaf is no longer considering California. And on Wednesday he revealed a final six, listed above.

Leaf is a versatile athlete who can play all over the court, and UCLA is starting to trend upward for him. The Bruins have 81 percent of the votes in 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictor, a sign that Steve Alford's free-flowing system might be the best fit for Leaf.

Projected destination: UCLA

PF Thon Maker

247Sports

Height, weight: 7'0", 205 lbs

Ranking: 8th

Top college choices: Arizona State, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Notre Dame

After spending much of the first half of 2015 contemplating a move that would already have him on a college roster, or joining one midseason, Thon Maker's last few months have been far less chaotic as the 7-footer is slowly whittling down the list of potential destinations. 

Now playing in Canada (after previous stops in Louisiana and Virginia since coming to the U.S. from Australia), Maker has met with coaches from Arizona State and Notre Dame and has 14 scholarship offers overall. Many of those were around before he made the final choice to remain in the 2016 class, so not everyone is still actively pursuing Maker.

Maker could end up being the first impact recruit for new Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley, as the Sun Devils are way ahead in the Crystal Ball Predictor.

Projected destination: Arizona State

CG Malik Monk

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'3 1/2", 187 lbs

Ranking: 5th

Top college choices: Arkansas, Florida State, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oregon

Recruiting math makes the new math they're teaching in school seem like kindergarten stuff. Take the case of Malik Monk, a 5-star guard prospect who has been one of Kentucky coach John Calipari's top targets for quite some time as he tries to steal him away from SEC foe Arkansas (where Monk is from).

Both Arkansas and Kentucky are on the list of six finalists Monk named on Sept. 1, but only four of those schools (Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Oregon) were fortunate enough to secure an official visit scheduled around the same time as he revealed that list. Oregon hosted Monk in mid-September, while the other three will have him on campus in October. 

Does that mean Florida State and North Carolina are out of the running? And if so, why have them on a list of finalists to begin with?

For what it's worth, of the 20 entries made for Monk in 247Sports' Crystal Ball predictor, all are for either Arkansas or Kentucky. So that means Monk has two likely destinations from a list of six finalists, of which he'll visit four.

Anyone else getting a headache? 

Projected destination: Arkansas

CG Kobi Simmons

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'5", 170 lbs

Ranking: 18th

Top college choices: Kentucky, Ohio State, UNLV

Since announcing a list of six finalists in July, Kobi Simmons has taken three of his five allotted official visits. One of those was to UNLV, which wasn't among that original sextet.

Then on Monday the Georgia native tweeted he was down to three choices.

247Sports' Jerry Meyer thinks the top two schools right now are Ohio State and UNLV. Considering what Thad Matta did with D'Angelo Russell last year, that might tip Simmons toward the Buckeyes.

Projected destination: Ohio State

CG Seventh Woods

247Sports

Height, weight: 6'1", 175 lbs

Ranking: 41st

Top college choices: Florida, Georgetown, North Carolina, South Carolina

The great college career of North Carolina star Marcus Paige will end this season with the senior possibly joining the Tar Heels' exclusive club of 2,000-point scorers. UNC doesn't have a successor on the current roster that would rise to Paige's level of performance, which is why Seventh Woods is a huge priority for Roy Williams' program.

"Roy Williams and company have recruited the talented guard for roughly four years," 247Sports' Ross Martin wrote. "The general thought is that it will come down to the Tar Heels and the Gamecocks for Woods. He takes an official visit to hometown South Carolina on Oct. 9."

Woods visited UNC this weekend, and he referred to his trip to Chapel Hill as "crazy" on Twitter. 

Projected destination: North Carolina

Recruiting information provided by 247Sports unless otherwise noted.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.