Friday’s arrival means another Rivals.com hoops roundtable with analysts Rob Cassidy and Jason Jordan. This week, the duo weighs in on commitment fits, players that played their ways onto the national radar and college rosters that have them a bit concerned.
PANGOS COVERAGE: Cassidy Awards | Cassidy's Takeaways, day one | Cassidy's Takeaways, day two | Kon Knueppel talks
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2023 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position
2024 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team
2025 Rankings: Top 80
Transfer Portal: Latest news | Portal player ranking/transfer tracker (hoops) | Portal player ranking/transfer tracker (football)
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1. WHICH COMMITTED PLAYER IN 2024 DO YOU SEE AS THE BEST FIT WITH THE SCHOOL HE CHOSE?
CASSIDY: There’s a healthy list of options from which to choose here, but I’ll rock with point guard Tahaad Pettiford, an Auburn commit. Pettiford is the kind of high-energy, face-guarding pest that Bruce Pearl loves to watch pressure ball-handlers into mistakes. Few guards in the country are as comfortable playing with the pace of the future Tiger, who moves with breakneck speed without seeming out of control. Pettiford shined alongside fellow high-profile guard Elliot Cadeau, who is off to North Carolina, on the grassroots circuit, so it’s not as though he’ll have issues pairing with fellow highly-ranked recruit Aden Holloway at Auburn.
Everything seems to line up between the Tigers and the Hudson (NJ) Catholic High School star, giving Pettiford, who could be a bit limited by his size in some other systems, an extremely low bust factor at the college level.
JORDAN: Robert Wright III. Love the possibilities in Scott Drew’s guard-driven offense at Baylor. Wright is so crafty and quick; based on what I’ve seen this spring he’s one of the toughest guards for defenders to keep in front of them. His IQ is his greatest asset, making great reads off of high screens, in transition and in the halfcourt set. Some knock his size (6-foot), but smaller guards have thrived in Waco. Wright has all of the tools to be a household name in March in the near future.
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2. WHICH PLAYER THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW MUCH ABOUT PRIOR TO THE GRASSROOTS SEASON HAS TURNED YOUR HEAD THE MOST?
CASSIDY: I was first intrigued by Nate Guerengomba when I watched him during EYBL Session II in Phoenix. He was set to creep into the rankings based on that weekend alone, but what he did at the Pangos All-American Camp this week turned what would have been a modest Rivals150 debut into an aggressive entrance.
The 6-foot-4 shooting guard is an intriguing prospect on his worst days and a certified problem on his best ones. A three-level scorer with good length and a solid handle, Guerengomba lit up the scoreboard at Pangos, knocking down nine 3-pointers in one contest on his way to a 20 PPG average. He’ll see his name in the next iteration of the Rivals150, where the top 100 is not out of reach.
JORDAN: I wouldn’t say that I was in the dark on Curtis Givens III, I just wasn’t aware of the wide range of his skill set until this spring. Givens runs the show for the top hoops team in the country most years, Montverde Academy, and as such the Eagles keep the stable stocked with five-star talent. Givens fills a roll during the high school season, but this spring he’s showcasing his abilities as a three-level scorer, a playmaker and an on-ball defender. Givens has been one of the most impressive guards in the Nike EYBL, no easy feat by any stretch.
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3. WHICH SCHOOL NOT NAMED KENTUCKY ARE YOU MOST CONCERNED ABOUT HEADING INTO NEXT SEASON?
CASSIDY: I’ll stay in the Bluegrass State here. I understand the Louisville roster has been remade, and I certainly don’t think there will be another 4-28 calamity, but I’m worried that even solid improvement isn’t going to be enough to satisfy anyone. Is this an NCAA Tournament roster? I guess we’ll see, but I’m certainly not ready to bet on it.
Trentyn Flowers Is a fantastic long-term prospect that will have serious success at the college level, but I don’t see him as a game-changer as a freshman. Fellow class-of-2023 recruit Denis Evans is ready to make an impact as a rim-protector, but he’s not the kind of prospect one turns to for immediate offensive production as a freshman.
Sophomore Skyy Clark is also a bit of a wildcard as a lead guard. USC transfer Tre White is going to be asked to do some impossibly heavy lifting for a team under enormous pressure to take a massive leap forward. I’m hoping for the best for Kenny Payne in year two, but I’m not sure he has the roster to quell the fan base’s loud groans as things stand.
JORDAN: North Carolina. Hubert Davis is coming off of a season where he didn’t make the NCAA Tournament and he followed that up with a mass exodus in the locker room. Six players left for what they deemed to be greener pastures and now they’ve lost a high-profile transfer in Simeon Wilcher. I’m concerned about the locker room chemistry.
Caleb Love took a brunt of the criticism on all fronts, but now he’s gone. A rebuild of this magnitude would’ve been difficult with even the most compatible of teammates, but coming off a year like 2022-23 in a place like Chapel Hill lends itself to an astronomical degree of pressure. Now, be clear, I believe in Davis and his ability to motivate his troops. That said, they’ll need to win early to keep the skeptics and the mental hurdles that derail locker rooms at bay.
