Burning Questions for College Basketball's 2017 April Signing Period

In addition to draft declarations, the coaching carousel and the transfer tilt-a-whirl, the college basketball offseason news cycle has officially entered the April signing period for recruits.

What's weird/unique about college basketball is that there are two separate national letter of intent signing periods each season. The one in which hundreds of high school players typically sign took place back in mid-November, but there's another one in the spring from April 12 through May 17.

There won't be nearly as many signings during this time—90 of Scout's top 100 players have already committed to a school—but the remaining dominoes left to fall seem bigger because of their scarcity. Guys like Tremont Waters or Brian Bowen would have been gleefully signed in November, but now they are relentlessly pursued as the potential last piece of a championship puzzle.

As a result, there are a lot of burning questions about and surrounding the 15 remaining uncommitted 4-star and 5-star recruits.

However, it must be noted that these players aren't necessarily going to sign in the next five weeks. Marques Bolden committed to Duke the day after last year's signing period ended, and Jarrett Allen waited another two weeks before choosing Texas.

Sooner or later, though, all of these questions will be answered.

John Calipari's Best Class Ever?

Brandon Dill/Associated Press

John Calipari knows what he wants, and he usually gets it.

Burning Question: Will this be the best recruiting class John Calipari has ever assembled? 

At this point, it's a given that John Calipari is going to sign at least three 5-star recruits. Including this year's class, he has landed at least that many studs in nine consecutive seasons. This year, he has already gone above and beyond his norm, inking five 5-star guys, a sixth top-50 player and a seventh top-100 player.

For this to become his best class ever, though, he still has some work to do.

That bar was set quite high in 2013 when Kentucky added three of the top six recruits in the country and a total of six in the top 24—all rated as 5-star guys. It was when four of those players returned for a second season that Kentucky darn near went 40-0.

But there is virtually no one returning from the 2016-17 roster. Derek Willis, Dominique Hawkins and Mychal Mulder were seniors. Malik Monk, De'Aaron Fox and Isaiah Briscoe have already declared for the draft and signed with an agent. Bam Adebayo doesn't have an agent yet, but everyone expects him to stay in the draft. And while Isaac Humphries has not officially declared for the draft, Scout's Evan Daniels tweeted a few days ago that Humphries is "seriously contemplating pursuing professional options."

If Adebayo and Humphries both leave, Wenyen Gabriel would be the only returning Wildcat with at least 100 minutes of college experience.

In other words, there's room on the roster for more guys, and Calipari is still trying to sign more future stars. Mohamed Bamba (Scout's No. 2 recruit), Kevin Knox (No. 7) and Jeremiah Tilmon (No. 18) are all targets who are considering Kentucky and vice versa.

Sign one of those three and there's a strong case to be made that it would be the most impressive recruiting haul of Calipari's career. Sign two or three of them and it's an open-and-shut case.

(Surely it's a coincidence that 30 for 30's "One and Not Done" documentary on Calipari debuts this week.)

What Will Duke Look Like?

Nick Lisi/Associated Press

Mike Krzyzewski has already signed two 5-star guys, but he needs more.

Burning Question: How many of Mike Krzyzewski's remaining targets will sign at Duke? 

Since jumping on the one-and-done bandwagon a few years ago, Duke has consistently had one of the top three recruiting classes in the country. According to Scout's rankings, the Blue Devils were No. 3 in 2013, No. 2 in 2015 and No. 1 in both 2014 and 2016, signing a minimum of three 5-star players each season.

Thus far this year, though, Mike Krzyzewski's class is "only" the fourth-best in the nation, consisting of two 5-star studs (Wendell Carter and Gary Trent) and a third player just outside the top 50 (Alex O'Connell).

That would be more than fine if there were a significant number of returning players. However, the Blue Devils have already lost most of last year's primary contributors. Amile Jefferson and Matt Jones are graduating. Luke Kennard, Jayson Tatum and Harry Giles declared for the draft and signed with an agent. And Chase Jeter is transferring.

We're still waiting to hear what Grayson Allen and Frank Jackson are going to do, but if they both leave, Marques Bolden (157 minutes played) would be Duke's most experienced player. Even if Allen and Jackson both return, there's currently no depth on this roster. Beyond a starting five of Jackson, Allen, Trent, Carter and Bolden, the bench consists of O'Connell, Antonio Vrankovic, Jack White and Javin DeLaurier.

So, it's no surprise that Krzyzewski is still trying to sign the best players this year's class has to offer. Mohamed Bamba (Scout's No. 2), Trevon Duval (No. 3) and Kevin Knox (No. 7) are the three best players left, and they all have Duke listed as one of the four or five schools they are considering. Duke is also one of four teams in the mix for 4-star PG Tremont Waters (No. 35 overall).

The big man (Bamba) would be nice, but in order to open the season as a top-five team, the Blue Devils need at least one of the three backcourt players they are pursuing. If Allen leaves for the NBA, that need increases to two perimeter players.

If those numbers don't pan out, look for this to be the year Krzyzewski dips his toe into the graduate-transfer pool.

Which Conference Comes Out on Top?

Julie Jacobson/Associated Press

The ACC is in the running for six of the remaining seven 5-star recruits.

Burning Question: Will any of the major conferences make a major splash? 

College basketball fans are always looking for some arbitrary measuring stick for comparing conferences against one another, so why not use success during the April signing period?

The seven remaining uncommitted 5-star players are considering a combined total of 27 schools in their 43 options, many of which overlap. Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA are all recruiting three of the seven. But which conferences have the highest probability of adding at least one more stud?

The Big East is already at the bottom of the 5-star barrel and figures to stay there. The conference does have several high 4-star signees, but not a single Big East school has signed a 5-star guy this season. And of the six major conferences, it is least likely to do so in the April signing period with only three remaining options—Brian Bowen is considering Creighton and DePaul; Trevon Duval is considering Seton Hall.

The SEC has already signed eight 5-star players, but it is next lowest on the totem pole for the remaining guys. Outside of Kentucky's three targets, the only SEC school still in the running for a 5-star stud is Missouri, where Cuonzo Martin and Michael Porter Jr. are chasing both Kevin Knox and Jeremiah Tilmon (more on the Tigers later).

The ACC takes the cake with 10 of the 43 options. As mentioned on the previous slide, Duke is hunting the top three remaining players. Florida State (Knox and M.J. Walker) and North Carolina (Knox and Tilmon) are both chasing two of the seven guys. Georgia Tech (Walker), North Carolina State (Bowen) and Virginia Tech (Walker) are among the options for one of them.

Don't sleep on the Pac-12 making a big move, though. Brandon McCoy has four Pac-12 schools among his seven options, and Arizona is a strong candidate for both Duval and Bowen. Factor in UCLA targeting Tilmon and Walker and the Pac-12 is hoping to parlay Oregon's 2017 Final Four appearance into a building block for the future.

Is Missouri Back?

Ted S. Warren/Associated Press

Michael Porter Jr. is going to Missouri, but who's going with him?

Burning Question: Can Cuonzo Martin and Michael Porter Jr. convince anyone else to sign at Missouri?

Speaking of major conferences, only two such programs have ranked outside KenPom.com's top 150 in each of the past three years: Washington State and Missouri. There's no end in sight for the Cougars, but the Tigers might turn things around in a hurry with one or two more acquisitions in this signing period.

It wasn't that long ago that Missouri was a high-level program, reaching the 2009 Elite Eight and earning a No. 2 seed in the 2012 NCAA tournament. New head coach Cuonzo Martin and new 5-star signee Michael Porter Jr. are hoping to return to those glory days in 2018.

To achieve that goal, Porter has been aggressively trying to convince some of the uncommitted studs to sign with Missouri.

"I just tell them, especially these dudes (at the McDonald's All-American Game), let's go do something special," Porter told Daniel Jones of the Columbia Daily Tribune. "It can be our team, and we can go in there and do something special and go to (the NBA) together whenever we decide to go after one or two years. Plus, I'm close with a lot of these dudes, so I think they might like playing with me."

At the top of Missouri's wish list is Kevin Knox, which would give the Tigers the top two small forwards in this year's class. The Tigers are also pursuing 5-star center Jeremiah Tilmon and 4-star wings Lamine Diane and Mark Smith.

All told, the Tigers are after four of the 15 remaining unsigned 4-star and 5-star guys. The only other schools on the list of consideration for more than three such players are Kansas (five), Arizona (four) and Duke (four).

It'll be seven months before we find out if the team is any good, but if nothing else, Martin and Porter have people buzzing about Mizzou for the first time in a few years.

Will Michigan State Be No. 1 in November?

Carlos Osorio/Associated Press

Could Tom Izzo have a few more 5-star signings up his sleeve?

Burning Question: Is Tom Izzo on the verge of another top-five recruiting class?

While we wait to find out whether Miles Bridges will leave for the NBA draft or return to become possibly the preseason national player of the year, Michigan State and Tom Izzo are working on a contingency plan.

The Spartans have already signed 5-star power forward Jaren Jackson and are one of two teams (the other being Arizona) listed as "high" on the interest level of 5-star small forward Brian Bowen. Michigan State is also one of seven teams in the running for 5-star center Brandon McCoy, though most of the signs point to him staying out west, possibly with Oregon.

Just for good measure, Izzo is also one of 11 head coaches that 4-star shooting guard Mark Smith is still considering.

Even if the Spartans don't sign any of those guys and they lose Bridges, they're going to be one of the favorites in the Big Ten. They still have Lourawls Nairn, Cassius Winston, Joshua Langford and Matt McQuaid in the backcourt. And in the frontcourt, they add Jackson, get back Nick Ward and Kenny Goins, and should be getting back Gavin Schilling and Ben Carter from leg injuries that cost them the entire 2016-17 season.

That's a rock-solid nine-man rotation. The one missing piece is a small forward, so they would be in incredible shape if Bridges comes back and/or they sign Bowen.

They were the No. 10 team in the consensus way-too-early top 25 with everyone assuming Bridges would leave. Filling that hole at small forward would be worth at least a few first-place votes in November.

Does Tournament Success Yield Recruiting Success?

Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

North Carolina won the 2017 NCAA tournament, but will it win the Kevin Knox lottery?

Burning Question: Which team will do the best job of turning a deep March run into strong April recruiting? 

Though playing for a 22-loss team isn't going to hurt Markelle Fultz's draft stock, guys want to spend their year(s) in college playing for a winning team. As a result, you would think that teams fresh off a deep NCAA tournament run would have some sort of recruiting advantage over the teams that either bowed out early or didn't make the dance at all, right?

Of the 27 schools being considered by a 5-star recruit, nine made the 2017 Sweet 16, four made the Elite Eight and two made the Final Four, including national champion North Carolina. But there are 10 schools on that list that didn't even make the NCAA tournament, including 20-loss programs DePaul, Missouri, Texas and UNLV.

To be fair, there's much more to consider in the recruiting process than how a team fared in one season.

At this point, most recruits are likely waiting to see how things shake out with NBA draft decisions. For instance, it might seem silly to us that Brian Bowen still has DePaul on a list of options that includes Arizona and Michigan State. However, if Allonzo Trier and Miles Bridges both opt to return for another year, the small forward's best chance to show something to the NBA scouts is probably as the star of the Blue Demons rather than as a reserve on a title contender.

Same goes for the situations at North Carolina and Oregon. Everyone wants to play for a champion, but it's more important for these guys to actually play in what they hope is their only year of college. Whether Justin Jackson, Joel Berry II, Dillon Brooks and Jordan Bell stay or go is going to play a big part in whether the remaining incoming freshmen opt for the Tar Heels or Ducks.

If all four of those guys leave, though, likely getting to start for a team that made the 2017 Final Four would be a dadgum fine selling point for Roy Williams and Dana Altman.

Which 5-Star Domino Is the Last to Fall?

Courtesy of Scout.com

Will M.J. Walker be the last 5-star guy to sign?

Burning Question: Of the seven 5-star recruits, who holds out the longest and turns into the biggest prize?

Over the past several years, guys who have waited until April to make a decision have unofficially become the most important piece in preseason projections.

In 2014, Texas was a fringe top-25 team in the way-too-early rankings. After landing Myles Turner in late April, the Longhorns opened the season at No. 10 in the AP poll and were expected to be the team that finally ended Kansas' reign atop the Big 12.

In 2015, a bunch of guys waited until the late-signing period to make a decision, but the two that most impacted preseason expectations were Jaylen Brown and Ivan Rabb committing to California. And when Jamal Murray reclassified to sign with Kentucky, it pushed the Wildcats to No. 2 in the preseason Top 25.

This past season, Josh Jackson's late decision turned Kansas into one of the preseason title favorites, while Jarrett Allen's June commitment to Texas gave us false hope that the Longhorns could be a Top 25 team.

Mohamed Bamba, Trevon Duval, Kevin Knox, Brandon McCoy, Jeremiah Tilmon, Brian Bowen and M.J. Walker are going to have a similar effect on the programs they eventually sign with, but it'll be interesting to watch the national obsession grow for whichever one holds out the longest.

As the lowest rated of the seven, Walker arguably has the most to gain from postponing his decision. Right now, Duval, Knox and Bowen are the prettiest players at the recruiting prom. But, at most, only three of the 14 schools courting those studs are going to be satisfied with the outcome. If Walker is still available when those three guys are off the market, his list of suitors is going to suddenly explode.

What's Wrong with the Mountain West Conference?

Associated Press

Remember when this was always a multibid league?

Burning Question: Will the Mountain West Conference get shut out of the top-100 recruiting market?

It wasn't that long ago that you could count on the Mountain West to land at least a couple of high-profile recruits. UNLV was usually the biggest factor, signing the No. 8 overall recruit in the 2012 (Anthony Bennett), 2014 (Rashad Vaughn) and 2015 (Stephen Zimmerman) classes. But teams like San Diego State, Boise State and Fresno State pitched in as well.

From 2012-15, the league inked at least two top-70 recruits every year, including signing six of them in 2014.

That's no longer the case.

Last season, Jalen McDaniels (No. 86) was the MWC's only top-100 commit—and he redshirted for the Aztecs. The MWC doesn't have a single player of that caliber signed for the upcoming season. Western Kentucky has two top-50 players. Both Davidson and New Mexico State signed top-100 players for the first time in at least a decade. But this entire once-prominent conference has gotten bupkis.

Factor in all the recent outgoing transfers and coaching changes and it's no surprise the MWC hasn't sent multiple teams to either of the past two NCAA tournaments.

There's still hope to save this year's recruiting class, though. Both San Diego State and UNLV are listed among the seven teams that top-10 center Brandon McCoy is considering. The Rebels are also one of the eight teams that 5-star shooting guard M.J. Walker is thinking about suiting up for in the fall. But both of those are long shots to happen.

At least Colorado State and Nevada are restocking the cupboards with former major-conference transfers.

Stats are courtesy of KenPom.com and Sports Reference. Recruiting information courtesy of Scout.com.

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