Bossi’s Best: Top recruiting finds in each region of tourney
RANKINGS: 2019 Rivals150 | 2019 Team rankings | 2019 Position rankings
The 2019 NCAA Tournament is here. Over the next few weeks we’ll see college basketball’s best do their thing on the biggest stage. In this week’s edition of Bossi’s Best, National Basketball Analyst Eric Bossi goes region-by-region to assess the best recruiting finds and reflect back on their recruitment and the players that they have become.
Everybody’s definition of best find can differ, but the basic guidelines here are that the player has to have ranked outside of the Rivals150 coming out high school and he has to have been recruited by his current coach.
MORE: Eric Bossi's 2018-19 college basketball awards | Eight tourney coaches ready to take the next step
EAST REGION
Marcus Evans - VCU
The production: 13.8 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game
Bossi’s take: Maybe Mike Rhoades should get double credit on this one. Not only did Rhoades initially recruit Evans to Rice, where he played two hugely productive seasons, he also talked him into following him to VCU when it came time to travel. Evans wasn’t exactly an unknown out of high school, and he received consideration for the Rivals150. Now, he’s an All A-10 player and the best player on a team that could win some games in the tournament.
Miye Oni - Yale
The production: 17.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game
Bossi’s take: There aren’t many more wild stories than Oni, and it would tough for many to say with a straight face they saw him developing into the NBA prospect he is. I never saw Oni play in high school and he never had a Rivals.com profile. In fact, he was originally committed to a Division III program and Yale took him without ever seeing him play in person and placed him at a prep school for a year. For those who don’t follow Ivy League hoops very closely (or at all) he could be a breakout star this week.
WEST REGION
Ja Morant - Murray State
The production: 24.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 10.0 assists per game
Bossi’s take: At this point almost everybody knows about Morant. Lightly recruited out of high school, he was found in a back gym by Murray State and the Racers sealed the deal before high-major programs could make a serious run at him. He’s likely a top three NBA Draft pick this summer, is an All-American and the most exciting player in the NCAA Tournament not named Zion Williamson. I wish I could provide some cool story of my own, but I never saw him play in high school and though he had a profile, Morant went unrated by Rivals.com.
Jarrett Culver - Texas Tech
The production: 18.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game
Bossi’s take: The first time I saw Culver play was the summer between his sophomore and junior season of high school, and I thought I had really found a sleeper who could be good for a high-major. In the spring of his junior year he generated a lot of heat in Nike’s EYBL but cooled over the summer and I chickened out on ranking him in the Rivals150 over concerns with his jump shot. Chris Beard put on the full-court press to keep Culver home in Lubbock and never, ever wavered. Now, Beard has a NBA lottery pick on his hands after two years, and I feel dumb for missing on Culver.
SOUTH REGION
Barry Brown - Kansas State
The production: 14.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game
Bossi’s take: From what I saw of Barry Brown, I really liked him and thought that he could be a decent player with time at Kansas State because I liked his scoring ability as a combo guard. He just missed the Rivals150. Consider this: The summer team that Brown played on, Each 1 Teach 1 Elite, was loaded with guys such as Ben Simmons and Antonio Blakeney, so Brown got overlooked a bit. The Wildcats always believed in him and worked to get him done early. Their work resulted in landing a guy who has become an All-Conference and Defensive Player of the Year in the Big 12.
Grant Williams - Tennessee
The production: 19.0 points, 7.6 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game
Bossi’s take: There was a lot to like about Williams' toughness, competitive fire and and overall feel for the game in high school. But, he seemed a bit small to play power forward at a high major, and coaches at at that level - outside of Rick Barnes - agreed, considering Williams selected the Volunteers over multiple Ivy League programs. Today, most of us look foolish for underrating Williams, and it’s hard to come up with a much bigger recruiting “find” than the now two-time SEC Player of the Year.
MIDWEST REGION
Luke Maye - North Carolina
The production: 14.7 points, 10.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game
Bossi’s take: Maye put up big offensive numbers in the summer, but his team didn’t win a lot and he wasn’t exactly efficient. That inefficiency and his struggle to finish over players with better size and longer arms prompted me to drop him from the Rivals150 as a senior. I remember one of Maye’s family members voicing his displeasure via email and letting me know I would look bad. The family member was right. I missed, and Roy Williams won by taking a guy that he couldn’t even guarantee a scholarship to as a freshman and then watching him develop into a really good ACC player.
Bryce Brown - Auburn
The production: 15.8 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game
Bossi’s take: Brown is a guy that Dan McDonald on our staff was pretty high on and thought would be a very good player at Auburn, because of his jump shooting. I also recall an Auburn staffer being really high on Brown as a jump-shooter and scorer after hosting him at its Elite Camp. Bruce Pearl and his staff were the only SEC coaches to really go strong with Brown, and they look pretty smart here. He’s been a stud in the SEC, where he is currently fourth all-time in made threes. He’ll like finish No. 2 overall (Chris Lofton is going to be impossible to catch) and is a big reason why Auburn is as hot as any team in the country entering the NCAA Tournament.
