MORE: Storylines to follow as the early period begins
Entering tomorrow’s start to the early signing period, nearly 80 percent of the 2018 Rivals150 has made their college choices. For at least a few more days, No. 1 R.J. Barrett is included among the group who has yet to make a decision. The Rivals.com basketball team of Eric Bossi, Corey Evans, Dan McDonald and Krysten Peek looks at the status of Barrett and the top 15 undecided prospects and makes their predictions.
Contenders: Duke, Kentucky and Oregon
The latest: Barrett has visited all of his finalists and will announce his decision at 6 p.m. ET on Friday.
The predictions: Duke (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: Clemson, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina and South Carolina
The latest: Williamson has taken his official visits and just needs to make a decision. At the moment, it’s looking like the highlight reel forward could elect to pass on the early signing period without making a decision.
The predictions: Kentucky (Bossi, Peek), Duke (Evans), Clemson (McDonald)
Contenders: Kentucky and Oregon
The latest: The skilled big man has been down to the Ducks and Wildcats for about a month now and he’s seen both officially. The Ducks seem to have taken the lead in this one.
The predictions: Oregon (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina, UCLA and Vanderbilt
The latest: The nation’s top shooting guard has taken all five official visits. Even though he’s taken his visits, it’s starting to look more and more like Langford will stick to his initial plan of signing late.
The predictions: Indiana (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: North Carolina and Vanderbilt
The latest: Shittu is scheduled to take an official visit to North Carolina this weekend. Even though completion of that visit would mean he’s visited both finalists, a decision within the early signing period looks unlikely at this time.
The predictions: Vanderbilt (Bossi, Evans, McDonald), North Carolina (Peek)
Contenders: California, Gonzaga, Louisiana-Lafayette, Nevada, Oregon, St. John’s and UCLA
The latest: Brown will wait until the spring period to make a decision. So far he’s taken official visits to UCLA and St. John’s.
The predictions: California (Bossi, McDonald), UCLA (Evans, Peek)
Contenders: Kansas, Kentucky, Marquette and Texas
The latest: Grimes is another who has completed all of his official visits. Behind the scenes, Kansas has been considered the favorite but the other finalists all have compelling cases.
The predictions: Kansas (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: California, Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland and UCLA
The latest: Exactly when Brown will make a decision is still a little up in the air but he seems to be leaning towards waiting until after the period. Maryland has been the leader for a little while now but he’s been to UCLA and Florida State while Kentucky recently jumped in and is trying to get him on campus.
The predictions: Maryland (Bossi, McDonald, Peek), Kentucky (Evans)
Contenders: Indiana, Kentucky, UCLA and Vanderbilt
The latest: It would be a surprise for Garland to not make a decision during the early signing period. He’s taken all of his visits and simply needs to pull the trigger on a choice.
The predictions: Vanderbilt (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: Florida, Florida State, SMU, Tennessee, UCLA and others.
The latest: Simons was initially committed to Louisville but the fallout from Rick Pitino’s firing amidst the federal investigation into college corruption has caused him to look elsewhere. He’ll be taking his time with a decision and his recruitment is wide open.
The predictions: Florida State (Bossi), UCLA (Evans), Florida (McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland, NC State and Texas
The latest: A decision should be coming from the five-star wing any day now. Texas is hoping to hang onto a guy that they were a favorite for during the summer. However, distance from home is said to be a major consideration for the Virginia native.
The predictions: Kentucky (Bossi, McDonald), Maryland (Evans), Texas (Peek)
Contenders: TBD
The latest: Williams was pled not guilty in October to sexual battery and false imprisonment charges. Until his legal process plays out there won’t be any movement on his recruitment.
The predictions: N/A
Contenders: Seton Hall, Villanova and others.
The latest: The five-star point guard committed to Arizona in August before opening things up in October due to the federal investigation into corruption in college basketball. Quinerly, whose family has hired an attorney, could be facing NCAA eligibility issues as he alleged to have taken payments. If he’s in the clear, look for his recruitment to expand.
The predictions: Villanova (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
Contenders: Baylor, North Carolina, NC State, South Carolina, Texas A&M
The latest: Originally committed to Auburn, Montgomery is another who saw his recruitment negatively impacted by the federal corruption investigation. Since opening things up earlier this fall, Montgomery’s recruitment has been pretty quiet. Given his size and skill level, that should change. For the time being, any prediction on his recruitment falls into the wild guess category.
The predictions: North Carolina (Bossi, Evans, McDonald), Florida State (Peek)
Contenders: Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Oregon, Villanova and more.
The latest: A dangerous perimeter scorer with size, Herro backed off his longtime commitment to home state Wisconsin last month. He’s scheduled to visit Kentucky this weekend the Cats are emerging as a favorite.
The predictions: Kentucky (Bossi, Evans, McDonald, Peek)
