Starting Five: Five-star Josh Christopher, Gonzaga, Jalen Terry and more
What’s the latest on five-star Josh Christopher? Can Gonzaga break the curse of No. 1 and what’s four-star Jalen Terry’s top three looking like? Eric Bossi on that and more in the Starting Five.
1. TALKING JOSH CHRISTOPHER
At the Tarkanian Classic I had the chance to watch undecided five-star Josh Christopher play a pair of games.
The explosive scorer has visited Howard and Michigan. He's also got Arizona State, Missouri and UCLA involved heavily. After initially setting some visit dates coming out of the summer, things are now a bit more up in the air.
I spoke with Christopher's father Laron Christopher and he told me that as of now visits to ASU, Mizzou and UCLA haven't been finalized, so when those will take place still needs to be determined.
There has been talk about this school or that school leading and UCLA has certainly gotten plenty of that talk over the past few months. But, from what I have been able to gather and as best I can tell, I do not think there is any clear leader for Christopher and he is not in any kind of hurry to make a decision.
2. GONZAGA GETS THEIR CRACK AT NO. 1
Here we go again, after Kansas lost in Philadelphia to Villanova on Saturday we'll be needing a new No. 1. The overwhelming favorite to get the next crack at a top ranking that has been far from kind so far this season is Gonzaga.
Mark Few and his program have been impressive all season, has played a good schedule and have size anchored by an emerging college star in Filip Petrusev. I don't see why they shouldn't get the nod for No. 1. It will be interesting, though, to see if they can break the No. 1 curse and for how long.
Conference play in the WCC where they usually dominate is right around the corner and if any team's schedule would lend itself to running off some wins, then Gonzaga's could. Looking at the Zags schedule, the two toughest games appear to be at BYU and at St. Mary's. Traditionally, it might not be a surprise to see them run off a long streak of wins in the WCC, but this isn't a traditional year and it would be a pretty big surprise if there wasn't some sort of slip up.
This season's start tells us that nobody at No. 1 should be safe. However, the Zags should be able to hold onto the top spot for a while.
3. JALEN TERRY'S FINAL THREE
One of the top remaining prospects in the senior class, top 50 point guard Jalen Terry is down to a final three of Louisville, LSU and Oregon.
When Terry decommitted from Michigan State, there was a lot of buzz suggesting he would end up at Louisville and he's been there. But, he never signed early and has also been to Baton Rouge and Eugene.
Terry has set no announcement date and it would be a mild surprise if he were to make a decision in the very near future. As for a leader? It still seems a little too early to call and there's much more behind the scenes speculation about where he'll end up than there has been what could be considered solid information.
4. ST. JOHN'S WINS TEAM OF THE WEEKEND
Plenty of teams had a good case to the win the team of the weekend award but I'm going with Mike Anderson and St. John's after their win over Arizona.
I've written before that I felt Arkansas pulled the plug on Anderson's tenure too quickly and that I thought St. John's was making a good hire by bringing him in. It wasn't the most popular opinion.
Well, beating Arizona to move to 11-2 is good of a start as anybody could have asked for. It's also impressive that the Red Storm won without Mustapha Heron. They look like a legitimate NCAA Tournament team.
Up next is Butler on New Year's Eve. St. John's wins that one, Anderson will have even more believers
5. MCCLUNG TURNING INTO A STAR AT GEORGETOWN
During his freshman season, I wrote that I had underrated Mac McClung coming out of high school. Now in his sophomore year, he is quietly developing into a star for Patrick Ewing and Georgetown.
The Hoyas have had some negative headlines this month as four players have entered the transfer portal. Yet somehow, they've won all five games since the attrition started. McClung has had a lot to do with that.
On the season, McClung is averaging an impressive 16.2 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists. But over the last five games, McClung has been even better going for 22.2, 3.4 and 3.4 an outing.
Those are college star type numbers and McClung is certainly an entertaining player. If he does anything near that kind of damage in conference play and the Hoyas continue to win, McClung could become a big thing.