Starting Five: Five-star Trae Young sets decision date

Five-star point guard Trae Young has set his decision date. There's a new member of the Rivals150 and Trevon Duval is locking in more visits. That plus much more in this week's Starting Five.

The wait for five-star point guard Trae Young's college decision will be over soon.

The No. 14 player in the class of 2017, Young announced that he will make his choice public on Feb. 16.

We'll have much more on him in the days leading up the commitment, but as things stand it looks like the choice will be either Kansas or Oklahoma. The Jayhawks had been picking up steam through the winter, but over the last few weeks the chatter about Oklahoma has picked up again as this one comes down to the wire.

There's a new member of the 2017 Rivals150 as combo guard Mark Smith of Edwardsville (Ill.) High enters the rankings at No. 78 overall.

With four-star L.J. Figueroa's decision to enroll early at New Mexico State and essentially move back into the class of 2016, a spot in the rankings was created and after seeing Smith first hand over the weekend it was an easy choice to slide him into Figueroa's vacated spot at No. 78 overall.

We detailed Smith's recruitment over the weekend here, but the physical combo guard is somebody who has totally blown up this winter. Initially committed to Missouri to play baseball, Smith now has offers from Indiana, Illinois, DePaul, Kansas State, Northwestern, Boston College and others.

Last week, the nation's top point guard and top undecided player Trevon Duval took an official visit to Kansas, where he watched them beat Baylor. It now appears that he has at least two more visits set.

We speculated last week that he would likely visit Duke when they host North Carolina on Feb. 8 and that date has now been confirmed. In addition to setting his Duke visit, Duval will head out to Tucson to see Arizona in late February (likely when the Wildcats host UCLA on Feb. 25).

All reports are that the Kansas visit was strong and Duval has now been to Lawrence twice this season. Obviously, the Jayhawks face stiff competition from the Blue Devils and Wildcats along with Duval's two other finalists -- Baylor and Seton Hall.

When we updated the 2017 Rivals150 in January, Nebraska-bound wing Nana Akenten was very close to making the cut. After watching him again over the weekend at the Bank of O'Fallon Shootout, the 6-foot-6 senior has made another strong case for inclusion when we finalize 2017 rankings in April.

In a matchup of future Big Ten wings, Akenten went for 31 points and 15 rebounds and helped Bolingbrook (Ill.) High take out Belleville (Ill.) East and their Illinois-bound senior Javon Pickett, 85-70.

Pickett had a strong game of his own going for 30 points, six rebounds and seven assists. But, he also needed 27 shots to get there and had to carry more of the load than Akenten.

As for Akenten, he shot the ball very well from deep. Was efficient in how he scored and showed off a Big Ten body and athleticism. Exactly how well he creates shots off the dribble at the Big Ten level is up for debate at this point. However, his size, ability to shoot, live body and potential as a rebounder and defender on the next level suggest that the Huskers may have stolen one.

In addition to the previously mentioned Nana Akenten and Javon Pickett, there were a few more standout performances at the Bank of O'Fallon Shootout to touch on.

In the event's marquee game, it was the big-time junior tandem of Louisville-bound point guard Courtney Ramey and St. Louis-bound big man Carte'Are Gordon that allowed Webster Groves (Mo.) High to emerge victorious over Chicago (Ill.) Morgan Park. Long, slender and quick, Ramey seemed to be everywhere. He crashed the glass, pushed tempo and hustled back on defense during a 26-point, nine-rebound and three-assist effort. Actually ranked a bit higher than his teammate at No. 18 overall, Gordon looked good even though his minutes were somewhat limited by fouls. At 240 pounds, he is very quick, physical and has patience. He finished with 16 points, nine rebounds and four blocks.

On the other side, junior point guard Ayo Dosunmu showed why he currently ranks No. 22 overall in 2018. The Morgan Park standout had 21 points and five assists while putting constant pressure on the defense because of his terrific size, length and escapability off the dribble. Dosunmu is a prime target of Creighton, California (had an assistant on hand), Xavier, Illinois, Northwestern, Cincinnati and Wisconsin and has seen all of those campuses since the summer.

Four-star junior Torrence Watson got off to a terrible start for St. Louis (Mo.) Whitfield but came on late to finish with 26 points and nine rebounds. The No. 93 ranked player in the class of 2018, Watson is a pretty athletic 6-foot-4 wing who is at his best in transition and attacking the basket. He had Butler head coach Chris Holtmann on hand to see him play on Saturday. Watson saw Butler earlier this year and has also seen Missouri, Iowa State, Creighton and Notre Dame among others.

Another ranked player on hand was four-star junior Tim Finke of Champaign (Ill.) Central. Ranked No. 77 overall in 2018, Finke was on fire from deep (5-for-7 from three) and aggressive all day long in a 29-point, 10-rebound and four-assist effort. He's another that Butler's Holtmann was watching and he visited the Butler campus in mid-January. Also involved are Illinois, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Notre Dame, Creighton and many others.

Finally, Jalen Shaw of Elgin (Ill.) Larkin doesn't yet have any scholarship offers or even any real Division 1 attention to speak of, but that will change soon. The 6-foot-9 center is not super explosive off of the floor, but he's a crafty low post player with touch and a feel for post play. He finished with 20 points, seven rebounds, four assists and a pair of blocks.