Five-star Bowen planning to trim list
LA PORTE, IND. -- The No. 22 ranked player in the class of 2017, five-star small forward Brian "Tugs" Bowen cut his list of schools to 12 in August. His next cut should be coming soon.
A native of Saginaw, Mich. who attends La Porte (Ind.) La Lumiere, Bowen is currently down to Arizona, Creighton, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State,N.C. State, Oregon, Texas, UCLA and UNLV. He also took a recent unofficial visit to Notre Dame and said that the Irish are trying to work their way back in.
Whether the Irish make it back in or not, Bowen should be cutting his list in half in the very near future.
"In the next week or so I'm going to cut it to six," said Bowen. "It all depends on what my family thinks and who I think is going to have the biggest impact on my game and helping me get to my next level, my next goal. It's a lot to think about."
Behind the scenes, both of his home state schools Michigan (John Beilein and an assistant) and Michigan State (three assistants) have been getting lots of run and they were well represented at La Lumiere last week. Others believed to be in good shape are Arizona (Sean Miller and an assistant watched), Texas, Creighton and UCLA but Bowen declined to say if there was any school that was guaranteed to make the cut.
"I can't say that right now," said Bowen. "It's up in the air right now. There's a lot of people that have a great pitch and a lot of them are the same. It's just all going to be in my mind who I truly, truly, truly want to put on the list."
Now in his second season at La Lumiere, Bowen says that the decision to leave his hometown for high school has paid off.
"Last year as far as basketball I had a big role but this year it is even bigger," said Bowen. "I have to be more of a leader. On and off the court I have to be a leader of everything. It's my last year and I want to make it my best year. I'm enjoying it. I love the school.
"I feel like I've gotten stronger. My ball handling has improved a lot and I've tightened up everything."
Bowen said that when it comes time to make a decision he'll seek the consult of trusted coaches and friends, but most important will be the input of his parents saying that they are an equal triangle when it comes to making his choice.
Given that he hasn't set any official visits and has to get through this list cut, many have assumed that the choice won't come until the spring. Bowen says that's yet to be determined.
"I'm not really, sure. It all depends. I'll set my visits and whenever I feel good about a school, you know 100 percent about a school, is when I'm going to make my decision. I haven't gotten into any specifics about when I want to make my decision.
"My main thing right now is cutting my list to six and then I'll just go from there."