Starting Five: Questions to ponder
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The first of college basketball's two signing periods begins Wednesday. In this week's Starting Five, we take a look at five of the biggest questions heading into the week.
Does Fox make it official for Kentucky?
Kentucky has been considered the favorite to land the nation's No. 5 overall player De'Aaron Fox for a while.
The five-star point guard from Katy (Texas) Cypress Lakes has completed official visits with the Wildcats, Kansas, LSU and Louisville and has indicated in the past that he would like to decide during the early period.
Fox told Rivals on Sunday he had not yet set a date or time to make his decision. All signs are still pointing towards Kentucky being the answer for Fox, but Wildcat fans would sure like to see him make it official sooner than later.
Is Mississippi State going to add to their haul?
When 2016 team recruiting rankings get updated for Signing Day, Mississippi State is positioned to make a jump into the national top 10. Now the question is, just how far into the top 10 can they climb?
Already in the fold are four-star center Schnider Herard and four-star guards Tyson Carter, Lamar Peters and Eli Wright, who rank No. 34, 62, 78 and 94 respectively in the 2016 Rivals150. But, Ben Howland and his staff don't look to be done adding talent and there are still some big names on their agenda.
Four-star forward Mario Kegler and four-star big men De'Ron Davis and Abdulhakim Ado rank No. 29, 33 and 73 themselves and all three have the Bulldogs among their finalists. Kegler has set an announcement date for Wednesday, while both Davis and Ado are expected to sign early as well. It would be a surprise if Howland and his staff don't land at least one of that trio.
I will be committing on Wednesday 🤔- Mario Kegler3 (@3Kegler) November 8, 2015
Does Adebayo go with N.C. State?
Maybe no one prospect has been viewed as a lean to a program recruiting him for a longer amount of time than Bam Adebayo has been considered a behind-the-scenes lean to N.C. State.
The 6-foot-9 power forward from High Point (N.C.) Christian took his official visit to Raleigh over Halloween weekend and he's also been to Kentucky officially and Auburn unofficially.
There was some talk that Adebayo could end things last week, but there has been talk several times that he was close to ending, only to see him continue to wait. Once again those rumors are kicking up and the speculation is that Adebayo will end his recruitment at some point during the early signing period. If that happens, Mark Gottfried and the Pack appear to still be in very good shape.
Will Kansas get its big man?
Maybe the more accurate question is will Kansas get its second big man? After all, the Jayhawks did score a commitment from Rivals150 power forward Mitch Lightfoot during October. But, Bill Self and his staff would like to add at least one more big man and they are involved with a trio of five-star bigs.
Centers Marquese Bolden and Udoka Azubuike have been to campus and so has five-star power forward Jarrett Allen. The Jayhawks appear to be in pretty good shape with all three, but it is hard to call them the outright leader for any of the trio.
It looks like the Jayhawks may have their best shot with Bolden, but they are facing stiff competition from Duke, Kentucky, Alabama and darkhorse candidate Oklahoma. Bottom line, it is tough to tell exactly which one of the three Kansas will land, but they should land at least one. It would be pretty surprising to see them miss on all three.
Who will wait?
There are still 11 non-committed five-star prospects and the question is, which of them will make it out of the first signing period without making a choice?
The nation's No. 1 player Josh Jackson isn't likely going to be making a decision anytime soon and the small forward won't be alone in waiting. No. 6 Malik Monk doesn't look likely to make an early decision and neither does No. 9 Rawle Alkins or No. 19 Kobi Simmons.
We've already addressed De'Aaron Fox, Bam Adebayo, Marques Bolden, Jarrett Allen and Udoka Azubuike, who all seem fairly close to making their final decisions but it wouldn't be a huge surprise if any of them waited.
That leaves No. 15 T.J. Leaf and No. 23 Dewan Huell as the other two who have yet to announce any intentions. Leaf is done with his visits and frankly it's kind of surprising that he hasn't yet announced a decision. UCLA has been considered the leader for a while, but Oregon and hometown San Diego State have been unwilling to go down without a fight. Huell has visited finalists Florida State, Miami and South Carolina. Though neither has set an announcement date, we'll go ahead and put them down as players who should have a decision sooner than later.
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