BRADENTON, Fla. -- Charles Bediako’s final five is unchanged. Ask the four-star center about them and he’ll tell you all five are the hunt. He’ll also let you know that he speaks with all of them on a near-daily basis. If Bediako has already decided on a school, he does a solid job of playing it off.
“I still have my top five (Alabama, Duke, Texas, Ohio State and Michigan) that are up there and I’m talking to all of them a lot,” he said. “I actually just talked to Ohio State like two hours ago. They were just checking in and making sure everything was good and wishing me good luck on my game.”
Still, Alabama is widely thought to hold an advantage here. Tide assistant Bryan Hodgson has a history of landing and developing talented Canadians, and Bediako could well be the next in line. That said, nothing is set in stone. Bediako seems interested in every school on his list, particularly Texas and Ohio State, both of which could give Bama a serious scare.
First, however, the Rivals150 star must settle on a timetable for an announcement, and it seems like he may be close to doing so.
“I don’t know for sure yet. but I’m aiming to announce sometime in January,” he said following a recent game.
Below, Bediako touches on each of his finalists and where things stand as he approaches the end of his recruitment.
ON ALABAMA
“What Coach [Nate] Oats did at Buffalo was incredible. He did a really good job. The thing with Alabama is that I love the pace they play with. They play fast like I play fast. Also, I feel like they can develop me. They do a great job down there.”
ON DUKE
“Obviously, they have great coaches. Everyone knows that. I like that they say the guy I’m most similar to is Mavin Bagley. They say we do some of the same things. That’s a mold I think I could fit into. I love the way they play.”
ON TEXAS
“Coach [Shaka] Smart, the system he runs is good for me. He’s really done a good job with bigs that are similar to me with the way they play. He’s done a good job getting those versatile guys like me into the NBA. That’s good. Also, the coaching staff is full of great people. They have a great style and play above the rim. Also, they have a great strength and conditioning program with Coach [Andrea] Hudy.”
ON OHIO STATE
“They play systematically with their bigs and I like the way they do it. They let the bigs shoot 3s and all that. I mean, that’s not everything to me because I feel like I can do a little bit of everything but I like that they give their bigs freedom. They have a great coaching staff full of great people, too.”
ON MICHIGAN
“I like Michigan. I see Jett [Howard] around campus and we talk but he’s not like recruiting me. He’s a chill guy. I do talk to Jett’s brother, Jace, though. He tried to recruit me. We talk some. He’s cool. I actually talked to [Michigan commit] Caleb [Houstan] one time about it. Right after he committed, we talked and he was trying to get me to commit but that’s about it. Coach Howard is a cool dude and we have a great relationship.”
