Newly available point guard down to five

THE RIVALS150: Class of 2014 - Class of 2015

The process to get himself into the pool of available players moved slowly for Devonte Graham. Now released from his letter of intent to Appalachian State, the best available point guard in the country has moved quickly to nail down a final five and start setting official visits.

A native of North Carolina who is prepping at Wolfeboro (N.H.) Brewster Academy, the 6-foot-2 point guard's story is pretty well known to most who follow recruiting. After signing to play for Jason Capel at Appalachian State in the fall of 2012, Graham had a change of heart and asked for a release from his scholarship.

It took a year detour to Brewster and a coaching change at Appalachian State for Graham to get his release, but he feels like a giant weight has been lifted.

"It was the biggest relief ever," Graham told Rivals.com. "I always had thought that I wouldn't get my release but my family and coaches told me I would get released and just to be patient."

While Graham had hoped he could get his release without spending a year in prep school, it has worked out for the best. While at Brewster, Graham has taken his game to an entirely new level. He is in control of the game on both ends, can play scorer or setup man and quickly became the most highly sought-after point guard on the market. Graham will also enter the final Rivals150 for the class of 2014 as a four-star prospect when they are updated before the end of the month.

Rather than waste the time of schools looking to get involved, Graham made the decision to cut things down and is already down to Kansas, N.C. State, Providence, Virginia and Virginia Tech. All those coaches love his size, his playmaking and his versatility as a floor general.

"I think the fact that I'm a play-making point guard as most coaches call me," said Graham when asked why he has created such a feeding frenzy amongst college coaches. "I can make plays for my teammates but also myself and score when I need to. I also control the pace of the game."

Graham didn't just cut down his list, he has already set his first three official visits. He'll be in Lawrence to check in with Bill Self and the Jayhawks this weekend. Next Monday, he'll head back to his hometown of Raleigh to check in on Mark Gottfried and the Pack before heading to Charlottesville next weekend to visit with Tony Bennett and Co.

Though his first three visits are set, he doesn't yet have a timetable for deciding and Graham just wants to see where he feels most comfortable.

"I don't have a timetable," said Graham. "I just plan on taking the visits, seeing which school I feel like best fits me. From there I would make a decision that I'll be happy with."

Eric Bossi is the national basketball recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. You can click here to follow him on Twitter.

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