Starting Five: Elite 2020 guards set Memphis visit

RANKINGS: 2018 Rivals150 | 2019 Rivals150 | 2020 Rivals150 | 2018 Team | 2018 Position

The class of 2020's No. 1 ranked player Jalen Green and a highly ranked friend are taking advantage of the NCAA's new rules regarding official visits to take a visit together in September. Who should be recruiting Terrence Shannon Jr. now that he's de-committed from DePaul? High scoring Quincy Guerrier now has two visits set and much more in this week's edition of Eric Bossi's Starting Five.

One positive change in the NCAA's new recruiting rules is that prospects can take official visits earlier in the process. Class of 2020's top ranked player Jalen Green is going to use that to his advantage.

Over the weekend, the 6-foot-5 shooting guard from Fresno announced via a video on his Twitter account that he would take an official visit to Memphis beginning Sept. 13. Green was joined in the video by 2020's No. 4 player R.J. Hampton, who then announced via his own Twitter account that he would also take an official visit.

This isn't just a couple of guys playing games folks. I reached out to Hampton's father Rod Sr. who confirmed the visits and told me that Memphis is doing a great job of recruiting his son. As for Green, I wrote during the summer that thanks in large part to a relationship with assistant Sam Mitchell -- and the appeal of Penny Hardaway -- that the Tigers could be considered the team to beat for the scoring machine. That he's visiting already doesn't hurt that thought.

Now, I don't expect either of these guys to be making an early commitment. But, if you are Hardaway and Memphis you can't be anything but pleased with how this is playing out and it's smart of them to get guys like Green and Hampton on campus as early as possible if they can.

This time last week it looked like DePaul had pulled off a major steal by landing explosive wing Terrence Shannon Jr.. Unfortunately for them, he had a change of heart on Sunday and is back on the market.

The Chicago native is a relative newcomer to the world of high level ball and with his 6-foot-7 size and elite athleticism he has significant upside due to limited exposure to full-time basketball. In other words, Shannon is already good, but he's a guy that I and the rest of the Rivals.com crew thinks is going to take off during a year at IMG Prep.

He's likely more of a top 50 (at least) prospect than his current ranking of No. 72 nationally and he'll move there in our next rankings update.

So, DePaul will undoubtedly continue to recruit him. His other finalists were Illinois, Florida State and Maryland and I'm sure that the Illini will take another look and so will the Terps and Seminoles. You have to figure that Florida State (where Shannon visited officially in June) is in pretty good shape here with his move to Florida and how close he came to picking them the first time around. However, if he's really opening things up, he's a kid that basically any high major program in need of a wing should be taking a look at.

Sure, his jumper needs some work and he's got to become a better ball handler. But, Shannon was young for the class of 2018 (before choosing to take a prep year) and with how quickly he's improved since April while focusing on hoops, I'm quite bullish on him as a prospect.

Technically, explosive scoring wing Quincy Guerrier of Canada is down to a final 10 that includes Auburn, Creighton, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Oregon, South Carolina, Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech.

However, all summer long the names of two schools seemed to come up most often in speculation about who might lead for his services. Those schools were Oregon and Syracuse.

Now, the 6-foot-7 Guerrier has set official visits for both the Ducks (Sept. 7) and the Orange (Sept. 21).

Keep in mind, Guerrier has said that he intends to enroll at semester and then decide whether to play the second half of this season or take a redshirt. Trying to join and play at semester is something that I'm normally not in favor of, but Guerrier is a different case. He's mature enough physically and has the size, athleticism and game to step in and make a difference despite missing out on an offseason of development in a program.

Is he a lock for either Oregon or Syracuse? I can't say that. But I definitely like where those two programs stand at this point.

Four-star stretch four man Ismael Massoud has told Rivals.com that he is down to a final five of Auburn, Georgia Tech, Harvard, Rutgers and Wake Forest.

A thin forward who can soften up defenses as a high post passer or with his jump shooting, Massoud has also set up five straight weekends of visits. He'll begin on Sept. 9 at Harvard and follow that up with trips to Auburn (9/15), Wake (9/21), Georgia Tech (9/28) and Rutgers (10/06).

Headed into the visits, I like Auburn and Rutgers as the two that I would be paying closest attention to.

Generally, when a top 20 prospect sets a final list, you are going to see it littered with traditional bluebloods. But as I wrote last week, ultra athletic point guard Jalen Lecque has been one of the tougher prospects to get a read on. Now he's got a final seven that I find quite interesting as his group includes Louisville, N.C. State, Oregon, TCU, Tennessee, Texas Tech and UCLA.

Now that Lecque has a final list I'm not sure that I have any better feel for where he may be leaning. NC State and Tennessee have done a great job with him going back to last year and Texas Tech could be a sleeper here. But, outside of that, I don't have a great feel for where he could be leaning and I don't think many do. Keep in mind that Lecque graduated high school as a member of the class of 2018 and is doing a true prep year this season. That means should he choose to test the NBA Draft waters next spring, he will be eligible. It all adds up for one of the more fascinating recruitments in 2019.

Finally, Baylor may have landed the extra backcourt help that they need for the 2018-19 season in Jared Butler. A four-star point guard from the class of 2018 who signed with Alabama, Butler has moved on to Waco and is the kind of crafty and skilled scorer who could make a real difference. Whether or not he'll be ruled eligible to play this season is up to the NCAA, but if Scott Drew and the Bears can find a way to get him eligible to play (rather than sitting out as a transfer) then his addition could be a huge boost to their offense this season.