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Starting Five: Bol Bol makes his return

Five-star junior Bol Bol made his California debut over the weekend after a move across the country, UCLA hosted a big crowd, a five-star junior had a ridiculous night and much more in this week's edition of the Starting Five

FIVE-STAR BOL BOL MAKES RETURN

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In November, five-star junior forward Bol Bol moved from Roeland Park (Kan.) Bishop Miege to California. After enrolling at Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei to begin the second semester, the 7-foot-1 big man made his return to the floor over the weekend.

In his first game in a Mater Dei uniform, Bol went for 21 points, 10 rebounds and three blocks and now has Southern California buzzing over his ability to change the game in the lane and at the rim.

Already holding offers from Kansas, Creighton and St. John's, Bol was watched by Arizona in his opener and has now added an offer from the Wildcats.

Bol said UCLA and USC have both indicated that they will be out to see him soon. He was recently on campus in Westwood and said that he plans to check out Arizona after the season ends.

FIVE-STAR MOORE GOES OFF

There might not have been anybody in the country who had a better Friday night than 2018's No. 11 ranked player, Khavon Moore. The 6-foot-8 small forward from Georgia went off for 53 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists with an assistant coach from Ohio State on hand. The performance included six made three-pointers in the third quarter alone.

One of the country's most frequent unofficial visitors in the junior class, Moore was most recently at Florida on Jan. 7. Prior to that he had seen Auburn, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Oklahoma and Providence. After the season ends, Moore plans to visit N.C. State and Maryland. Each of the programs that he has visited or plans to visit has offered a scholarship.

Yet to offer but showing recent interest are Arizona, Texas, UCLA and USC. Look for Moore to cut down his list to a top 10 after April's live evaluation period.

UCLA HOSTS BIG GROUP OF VISITORS FOR ARIZONA GAME

Jaylen Hands
Jaylen Hands (Courtesy of Adidas)

UCLA didn't get the result they were looking for as they dropped their second Pac-12 contest of the season to Arizona on Saturday. However, they played in front of a packed Pauley Pavilion that included several high-level prospects.

On hand and committed to the Bruins was five-star McDonald's All-American senior Jaylen Hands. He was joined by fellow commits Cody Riley and LiAngelo Ball from the class of 2017 and class of 2019 five-star point guard LaMelo Ball.

Also in the building was 2018's No. 1 player, Marvin Bagley III, who has the Bruins in his top six along with Arizona, Arizona State, Duke, Kentucky and Oregon. Bagley was joined on the visit by his brother Marcus Bagley, a potential standout from the class of 2020.

Other visitors included five-star sophomore shooting guard Cassius Stanley, four-star junior point guard Tre Jones, four-star junior forward Taeshon Cherry, four-star junior shooting guard Bryce Hamilton and three-star junior forward Warren Washington.

OTURU A SIGN OF THINGS TO COME AT MINNESOTA?

If things go the way Richard Pitino hopes they will at Minnesota, they will eventually land higher-ranked players than junior Daniel Oturu. However, after rumblings over the last few years that Pitino couldn't land local talent -- outside of star freshman Amir Coffey -- the early pickup of the four-star power forward, who is the second-highest ranked player to pick the Gophers under Pitino, is a good sign.

Not only is Pitino winning an early local battle on the recruiting trail, he and the Gophers are winning ballgames. Pitino was squarely on the hot seat headed into this season, but with the Gophers now 15-5 and in contention for an NCAA berth, his job appears to be safe.

The hope is now that the Gophers can continue their local hot streak and make inroads with the next batch of homegrown stars. Class of 2019 five-star Matthew Hurt (whose brother, Michael Hurt, is a freshman on the team) and ballyhooed 2020 combo guard Jalen Suggs were both on campus over the weekend, so that's a good start.

CAN NORTHWESTERN MAKE THE TOURNAMENT?

After winning at Ohio State on Sunday -- something they had not done since 1977 -- Northwestern is now 16-4 on the season and 5-2 in the Big Ten. Could the Wildcats be on the verge of making their first-ever NCAA Tournament?

The way things are looking, the answer is yes. Maybe even more important is that thanks to smart recruiting, identifying talent that fits their system and a team whose top six scorers should all be back next season, Chris Collins and his staff have set up Northwestern to remain successful beyond this season.

Their second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder, Victor Law, was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, and he's lived up to his billing. However, what Collins and his staff have done with their junior core of Bryant McIntosh, Scottie Lindsey and Gavin Skelly along with sophomore Derek Pardon has been a huge key to their success. Each of those guys was a player who landed just outside of the final Rivals150 of their respective classes, and they all looked like guys who could be solid players in Evanston. That they have each been fully developed into dependable contributors is a credit to Collins and his staff.

In addition to those five, freshman Isiah Brown has been impressive. Also, it's important to consider that the Wildcats are missing two other former four-star recruits -- freshman Rapolas Ivanauskas and sophomore Aaron Falzon -- who are redshirting as they recover from injuries.

The Wildcats' lone commitment from the class of 2017, versatile guard Anthony Gaines, looks to be another who is in the mold of those that are currently thriving. He sits just outside the rankings but is a system fit, is known as a hard worker and has the tools to develop into a very solid piece.

Bottom line, things are looking as good as they ever have at Northwestern.

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