Signing Day preview: Predicting destinations of more top prospects
RANKINGS: 2017 Rivals150 | 2017 Team
College basketball’s early signing period begins Wednesday and runs until Nov. 16. While many prospects may choose to wait, we wanted to take a look at where each of the top 24 remaining prospects stand in their recruitment, make a prediction on their final landing spot and indicate our confidence in the pick on a scale of one (a DeAndre Jordan free throw) to five (a LeBron James slam dunk).
We round out our predictions for the top uncommitted prospects with a look at Nos. 11 - 24.
Status: Washington just completed an official visit to UNLV and is down the Rebels, Kentucky and North Carolina. He saw Kentucky both officially and unofficially during the fall and they’ve been considered the team to beat for some time. He will announce on Thursday.
Prediction: Kentucky
Confidence level: 4.5
Status: Wilkes will announce his decision Sunday, Nov. 13, and is down to Illinois, Indiana and UCLA. He has seen all three programs officially and for the last few weeks the feeling has been that the Bruins will be tough to beat.
Prediction: UCLA
Confidence level: 4.2
Status: A very good defensive player, Richards has the tools to be a solid scoring option in college. He is down to Arizona, Kentucky and Syracuse and will announce his decision at his high school Thursday. He’s another who appears to be leaning John Calipari’s way.
Prediction: Kentucky
Confidence level: 4.5
Status: Walker has completed official visits to Arizona, Kentucky, Miami and Villanova and he’s also seen Syracuse. Considered a Villanova lean early on, the high powered scorer has more recently been said to be looking to leave his home state of Pennsylvania. Arizona and Kentucky seem to have the best chance hear and for now we give Sean Miller’s Wildcats a slight edge.
Prediction: Arizona
Confidence level: 2.7
Status: The five-star combo forward from Houston has taken official visits to North Carolina and Kentucky. Additionally, he has seen Houston and TCU while also mentioning that Arizona, Oregon and Kansas are somewhat in the mix. Our guess is that he waits and can still be swayed.
Prediction: TCU
Confidence level: 2.8
Status: Bowen is another that we don’t think will sign early, and he’s got one of the most interesting recruitments. The five-star wing is a native of Saginaw and for that reason Michigan State has always figured prominently. Bowen has been to East Lansing several times for unofficial visits and been on official visits to Arizona and N.C. State, with plans to see Texas and Creighton. As it stands, we see this one as a virtual coin flip between Michigan State and Arizona.
Prediction: Michigan State
Confidence level: 2.5
Status: The five-star floor general is down to Duke, Kentucky, Syracuse, Temple and Villanova. However, most would be floored if he announces for anybody other than Syracuse or Kentucky when he reveals his decision on Nov. 19. The Orange have been the hot pick for Green for the last month or so, but Kentucky is making an aggressive move.
Prediction: Kentucky
Confidence level: 2.5
Status: Outside of maybe Trevon Duval, Walker’s recruitment has been the quietest and toughest to get a read on. He’s been to Florida State unofficially and others like Auburn, Maryland and Ohio State, among others, have been mentioned from time to time. For the moment, he looks to be pretty wide open.
Prediction: Florida State
Confidence level: 1.0
Status: Petty canceled a planned visit to Kentucky and has only seen Alabama officially. He’s scheduled to announce Thursday night and this one appears to be favoring the Crimson Tide.
Prediction: Alabama
Confidence level: 4.7
Status: For the longest time, the four-star point guard looked like he was pretty much a lock to Texas. Now he’s seen the Longhorns, Duke and Stanford officially. Duke has been the popular pick of late even though he’s not set a decision time. Shaka Smart was in to see Coleman over the weekend. Was Smart’s last visit enough to save things with Coleman?
Prediction: Duke
Confidence level: 2.8
Status: In the late summer, the 6-foot-6 scorer narrowed things to a list of Connecticut, Duke, Maryland, Syracuse, Indiana, Villanova, USC, and Louisville. Since then he’s been radio silent and which of those teams are still prioritizing him is up for debate. We wouldn’t be surprised if he wiped the slate clean and opened things up during the winter.
Prediction: Syracuse
Confidence level: 1.2
Status: Most likely, the gifted scorer is going to end up deciding between N.C. State and USC, although he has also visited UCLA. O’Bannon isn’t expected to make his choice until sometime this winter.
Prediction: USC
Confidence level: 2.6
Status: Since his decommitment from Florida about a month ago, the tall point guard has seen his recruitment heat up in a hurry. He visited UNLV officially and saw Kentucky over the weekend. Either Syracuse or Texas looks to be next in line for a visit this weekend as Alexander tries to decide in the early period.
Prediction: Kentucky
Confidence level: 3.3
Status: Last weekend, Hammonds took his final official visit to Georgia after previously visiting Miami and Memphis. A high flyer with big upside, Hammonds will announce Thursday and looks like a good bet to stay in his home state.
Prediction: Georgia
Confidence level: 4.7
