Bossi's Best: Predictions for the top remaining 2018 prospects
There are only 10 undecided prospects left on the board from the 2018 Rivals150. In this week's edition of Bossi's Best, National Basketball Analyst Eric Bossi breaks them down and offers up his best prediction as things currently stand.
CLASS OF '18 RANKINGS: Rivals150 | Team | Power forwards | Centers |
Point guards | Shooting guards | Small forwards
Contenders: Indiana, Kansas and Vanderbilt.
Buzz: The highest-ranked player on the board, Langford has kept things pretty quiet while finishing out a historic high school career in Indiana. He has visited all three programs officially. The pressure to stay home is growing, but will it have an impact?
Prediction: Vanderbilt for now
Contenders: Formerly committed to Auburn, Montgomery has a list of Clemson, Duke, Georgetown, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, UCLA, USC, Vanderbilt and Wake Forest.
Buzz: Montgomery was at North Carolina on Monday night and will spend his Valentine's Day at Duke. Later this month he'll see Kentucky. All those visits are unofficial. The others getting some buzz include Vandy and Georgetown, and it won't be a surprise if Montgomery takes some time.
Prediction: Duke.
Contenders: Brown has stuck to a final seven of California, Gonzaga, Louisiana Lafayette, Nevada, Oregon, St. John's and UCLA.
Buzz: Brown took an official visit to the "home" school Cal last weekend and the Bears desperately need him. He's also been to UCLA and St. John's officially. Brown's recruitment has been pretty much leak-free and he just recently returned from an injury that set him back a few weeks.
Prediction: My pick all along has been Cal and I'm going to stick with it but it's no slam dunk, with UCLA and St. John's very much in the mix.
Contenders: Arizona State, Florida, Florida State, Minnesota, NC State, SMU, South Carolina and the NBA.
Buzz: Formerly committed to Louisville, Simons is eligible for the NBA Draft, and has been scouted by most of the Association at this point. He's been on official visits to Tennessee and NC State.
Prediction: My expectation is that Simons will test the NBA Draft waters before picking a school.
Contenders: Illinois, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, SMU, South Carolina, Texas and others.
Buzz: Like Simons, Ramey was once committed to Louisville, but opened things up when Rick Pitino was let go. Ramey has taken official visits to Oklahoma State and Texas, while Illinois is among those who have recently gotten more active. For the most part, though, Ramey still appears to be pretty open.
Prediction: Oklahoma State, but Ramey's recruitment is far from over.
Contenders: Alabama, Mercer, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas Tech.
Buzz: Moore had initially planned to announce his college choice in late January. However, he postponed the announcement and things have been pretty much quiet ever since.
Prediction: I'll go Oklahoma for now, but Moore's recruitment may be the hardest to read of any remaining Rivals150 prospect.
Contenders: Baylor, Colorado State, Iowa State, Memphis, Tennessee and others.
Buzz: A high-scoring point guard who plays with tremendous heart, Harris still has a pair of official visits in his back pocket after seeing CSU, ISU and Memphis. Tennessee picked up some buzz during January, but lately Scott Drew and Baylor have been making a strong push.
Prediction: A visit hasn't been set just yet, but I'm starting to like Baylor's chances here. There are lots of minutes for a point guard.
Contenders: Arizona, California, Cincinnati, Connecticut, Illinois, Mississippi State, UNLV and Xavier, among others.
Buzz: One of the hotter names in the country, Jones has really taken off as a senior, thanks to rapidly improving ball handling and jump shooting. Illinois has been really active and his latest offer came after Sean Miller of Arizona watched him. Oregon is expected in this week and could become a contender with an offer. He's yet to set or take any official visits and will schedule them at the conclusion of his senior season.
Prediction: He's a tough call until he sets visits, but I'll go Illinois for now because they were the first major to jump onboard this winter.
Contenders: DePaul and Washington.
Buzz: The seven-footer has been down to the Blue Demons and Huskies for a bit now. He's still a long-term play as a prospect and hasn't had an overly productive senior season.
Prediction: Washington.
Contenders: Arizona, Georgetown, UNLV and others.
Buzz: The most recent offers for the high-scoring combo guard have come from Georgetown and Arizona. That offer from Sean Miller has generated a lot of buzz, and the Wildcats look to be making their move.
Prediction: Arizona.
