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Starting Five: Decision date looms for four-star Kimani Lawrence and more

At least one top 50 player in the senior class will come off the board this weekend as small forward Kimani Lawrence is set to make his decision on Saturday. A pair of guards from the South are set to sign on the same day, five-star big man Brandon McCoy is setting visits and more.

1. FOUR-STAR LAWRENCE DECIDES SATURDAY

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Kimani Lawrence
Kimani Lawrence

Another top 50 prospect from the class of 2017 will come off the board Saturday when small forward Kimani Lawrence announces his commitment.

The smooth and athletic 6-foot-6 wing will announce his decision at 1 p.m. ET from the Davy Lopes Recreation Center in his hometown of Providence, R.I.

Down to Arizona State, Florida and USC, Lawrence has visited all three of his finalists. Earlier in the recruitment, it looked like the Sun Devils may be edging ahead of the pack but with his announcement looming, Lawrence has done a good job of disguising any lean to one program or another.

2. SEXTON AND PETTY TO DECIDE ON SAME DAY

A pair of big-time talents from the South will make their college decisions on the same day as five-star combo guard Collin Sexton and four-star shooting guard John Petty are both set to announce on Nov. 10.

Ranked No. 7 overall, Sexton is a high flying and explosive scorer who has taken official visits to Alabama, Kansas, N.C. State and Oklahoma State while also hitting the campuses of Georgia and Georgia Tech. He was at Alabama for an additional visit last weekend and the Tide have been rumored to be coming on quite strong as Sexton's recruitment heads down the home stretch.

So far, Petty has only seen Alabama officially and he's another for whom the Tide have been picking up a lot of behind the scenes steam for. Kentucky appears to be the only other viable candidate, but they'll likely need to get the 6-foot-5 scorer on campus between now and decision day to seal the deal with him.

With four-star power forward Alex Reese and four-star small forward Herb Jones already in the fold, Alabama would have a class that easily ranks among the nation's top 10 that could push for top five if they are able to close on Sexton and Petty.

3. FIVE-STAR MCCOY SETS THREE MORE VISITS

Brandon McCoy
Brandon McCoy (Nike/Jon Lopez @NikeEYB)

For an elite prospect, the recruitment of five-star center Brandon McCoy has been pretty quiet. That will be changing soon enough.

Having already visited Arizona officially, the No. 11 player in the class of 2017 is expected to take visits during three of the next four weekends.

He will start off this weekend with a trip to UNLV. McCoy will then take a week off from visits before hitting Oregon on the weekend of Nov. 11 and Michigan State on Nov. 18. As of now, the plan is for him to commit sometime after the early signing period ends.

4. GOOD SCORE FOR PITT IN CARR

Now fully recovered from injuries that hampered him for much of the last year, 2017 combo guard Marcus Carr is set to show what he can do.

Earlier this week, the product of Canada who plays his high school ball in Florida committed to Pittsburgh. If he can return to form, Carr could prove to be a key recruiting win for new head coach Kevin Stallings.

When fully healthy, Carr is a sharp-shooting and high-scoring guard who can play off the ball as a primary scorer or spend time running the point. With a pass-first guy like Aaron Thompson already secured in the 2017 class, Carr's ability to soften and stretch defenses with his outside shooting and ability to score in bunches is a nice compliment.

At a minimum, he's going to be a guy that will be watched very closely this winter as a candidate for the final 2017 Rivals150.

5. KEY WEEKEND VISITORS

Mohamed Bamba
Mohamed Bamba (Nike/Jon Lopez @NikeEYB)

Many eyes will be taking a close look at what goes on in Austin, Texas, this weekend where Shaka Smart and the Longhorns will host 2017's No. 4 player Mohamed Bamba and No. 32 Matt Coleman for official visits. The 6-foot-11 Bamba has seen Michigan, Kentucky and Harvard so far this Fall and just as his trip to Michigan was somewhat of a surprise, the same can be said of his trip to Texas. Coleman will be wrapping up the official process and this will be the final chance for Smart and his assistants to pitch the guy they see as their point guard of the future. Once considered the heavy favorites for Coleman, the Horns are now in a fierce battle with Duke while Stanford is hanging in as a dark-horse candidate.

The Villanova Wildcats should have a huge weekend with their Hoops Mania kickoff event. Five-star shooting guard Lonnie Walker and five-star point guard Quade Green will take their officials, but the highly regarded seniors are just the tip of the iceberg. Other five-stars expected are 2018 small forward Cameron Reddish, 2018 point guard Immanuel Quickley and 2019 teammates Scottie Lewis and Brian Antoine. Others expected in town include four-star 2017 commitments Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree and Jermaine Samuels. Class of 2018 four-stars expected include Eric Ayala, Jahvon Quinerly, Prentiss Hubb and Brandon Slater while 2019 four-star Bryce Wills is another name to watch.

Five-star point guard Trae Young will finish up the official visit process by seeing Oklahoma State this weekend. He was at Kansas last weekend after seeing Kentucky, Texas Tech and Oklahoma earlier this fall. Though he'll be done with his visits, the plan for Young is still to wait until December or January before making his decision.

Another five-star expected to be on the move is swingman Brian Bowen. The 6-foot-7 wing will see both Arizona and UCLA over the next few days.

South Carolina is expected to host Rivals150 guard David Beatty and while the USC Trojans host their top priority in five-star forward Billy Preston and four-star forward Lance Thomas.

Duke should host top 10 senior forward Kevin Knox this weekend while another five-star, shooting guard Gary Trent, is expected at Michigan State after seeing Duke last week.

Ohio State will host four-star utility guard Nojel Eastern for an official visit.

Finally, 2018 three-star combo guard Jordan Lathon will take unofficial visits to both Missouri and Butler this weekend.

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