How finalists respond to Moses Brown's commitment

The ongoing and rather perplexing recruitment of five-star center Moses Brown came to a close on Monday as the five-star picked UCLA. The Bruins receive a mighty high upside interior prospect while his other finalists, Florida State, Maryland and Kentucky, take the runner-up trophy. How do these three finalists respond?

Upon the FBI investigation in September, Maryland made a giant leap into the pole position for the services of Moses Brown, leapfrogging the long-perceived favorite, the Louisville Cardinals. Brown took a September official visit to College Park and all of the cards were in order for the New York native to pledge to the Big 10 program. Give credit to where it is due as the Terps remained heavily in the mix for Brown over the past four months but since he decided to take his recruitment into the winter, their chances began to dwindle.

Would Brown have given head coach Mark Turgeon a better chance to make the leap next season within the Big 10 and compete for a league title? Yes, but he was also proactive in his approach with replenishing its frontcourt where, on Sunday, he celebrated the transfer commitment of former Mississippi State center Schnider Herard. Likely returning Justin Jackson to the fold and another year of Bruno Fernando in College Park would be just what the doctor asked for at Maryland, where the miss on Brown may anger the Terps’ with their time invested but its frontline remains on solid footing.

The Seminoles may have been the closest to securing the commitment of Brown until Monday came and UCLA swooped in and grabbed his pledge. Where does Florida State go next? While Brown would have been a tremendous piece along Leonard Hamilton’s frontline, the type of big man that has come to flourish within recent years in Tallahassee as FSU depends on its bigs to switch any sort of ball screen, his services were not a necessity.

Florida State will not lose anyone from its frontcourt next year and with another offseason of work with Christ Koumadje and Ike Obiagu, the Seminoles should be more than okay in protecting their basket and in cleaning up both sides of the glass. FSU could always make a push for EJ Montgomery, a native of Florida and five-star power forward prospect, this winter, but the Seminoles remain upbeat for what should be a veteran-laden and deep squad next season.

Very rarely does Kentucky have the kind of week that it just endured, which is missing on two of its five-star targets to fellow blue bloods. While the miss on Zion Williamson stung a bit more, not grabbing Moses Brown isn’t something to worry much about. UK remained in the hunt for Brown all fall and winter long but for the Wildcats to present themselves as a likely suitor, they would have had to offer the New Yorker, which they didn’t.

Currently boasting a roster that lacks for a ton of sure-fire one-and-done talents, UK should welcome back the majority of its deep frontcourt next year including PJ Washington, Wenyen Gabriel, Sacha Killeya-Jones and Nick Richards. Kevin Knox is likely gone and if Richards does decide to make the surprise jump to the NBA, filling the center position could leave John Calipari and his staff scrambling but rest assured, Brown's decision doesn’t hurt much in Lexington.