Published Sep 25, 2017
Starting Five: Williamson postpones Kentucky visit
Eric Bossi  •  Rivals Network Hoops Hub
National Analyst
Twitter
@ebosshoops

The No. 2 player in the class of 2018 Zion Williamson didn't make his planned visit to Kentucky over the weekend. Should Big Blue Nation be worried? A flurry of commitments to end the week has caused change in the team rankings and much more in this week's Starting Five.

RELATED: Class of 2018 team recruiting rankings

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1. WILLIAMSON POSTPONES KENTUCKY OFFICIAL

Prior to his planned official visit to Kentucky over the weekend, 2018's No. 2 ranked player Zion Williamson has seen South Carolina and Clemson unofficially. However, Williamson never made it to Lexington.

The question is, should John Calipari and Big Blue Nation be worried? Probably not.

In checking on the situation, it was indicated to Rivals.com that a family matter came up and that Williamson should be rescheduling his visit in the near future.

Currently, Williamson is scheduled to visit Kansas this coming weekend and the next week he'll be in Colorado Springs for USA Basketball. Williamson's two other planned visits are for Duke (Oct. 20) and UCLA (Oct. 27). That leaves the weekend of Oct. 13 open for a possible visit and that would appear to be an ideal makeup date.

That's the weekend of UK's annual Big Blue Madness event. While there will be other recruits on campus which could somewhat limit Calipari and his staff's chances to personalize Williamson's visit, BBM is the Wildcats signature recruiting event and would be a pretty good time to reschedule if both sides can make it work.

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2. LATE WEEK MOVERS IN 2018 TEAM RANKINGS

Thanks to a flurry of late week and weekend commitments, 94 members of the the 2018 Rivals150 have made their commitments. Not surprisingly, that recent movement has had a big impact on the status of the 2018 team rankings.

Over the past few days, four programs in particular have made big moves and landed in the top 12.

Michigan added a perfect fit in four-star Ignas Brazdeikis. A pure scorer who can play either the three or the four, Brazdeikis would rank among the top 40 or so in the Rivals150 if he attended school in the States. His addition gives the Wolverines the No. 7 ranked class.

With the addition of four-star forward Miller Kopp, Chris Collins now has Northwestern's class all the way up to No. 9 nationally. Regardless of where they end up, this is unprecedented recruiting success for the Wildcats.

By adding top 35 big man David McCormack to go along with five-star big man Silvio DeSousa, Kansas has made a huge jump. The Jayhawks now come in at No. 10 overall and with several more high profile targets in their site a run at the national top five doesn't seem out of reach.

At the beginning of the week, Ohio State didn't have a single commitment. Now they have four of them. In a five-day span the Buckeyes added four-star forward Jaedon LeDee, four-star shooting guard Luther Muhammad, Rivals150 wing Justin Ahrens and three-star shooting guard Duane Washington Jr. Those additions have moved the Buckeyes into the No. 11 overall spot.

The Big Ten is looking like a major winner at this point in 2018 recruiting. Thanks to the moves made by Michigan, Northwestern and Ohio State the conference now has six of the top 12 in the team rankings. Michigan State is in the top spot, Indiana is at No. 5 while Maryland checks in at No. 12.

3. FOUR-STAR IAN STEERE SCHEDULES IN-STATE VISIT

On Friday, four-star power forward Ian Steere surprised everybody with an unexpected decommitment from Creighton.

Sunday night, Steere told Rivals.com that he's already locked in his first official visit since opening things up three days ago.

This coming weekend, Steere will make an official visit to N.C. State. Steere told Rivals.com that he's working on some other visits but that he didn't want to speak specifics until they were set.

Aside from being an in state program which fits Steere's desire to be closer to home, Kevin Keatts and his crew already hold a commitment from Steere's high school teammate Immanuel Bates, a four-star center. Not saying that they are a lock by any means, but watch out for State here.

4. FOUR-STAR BIG MAN DOWN TO A PAIR OF BIG TEN PROGRAMS

And then there were two.

Four-star big man Colin Castleton is now down to Illinois and Michigan, meaning that he'll be leaving his home state of Florida.

Though he lacks strength and is still developing as a scorer, Castleton is very mobile, has a frame that will easily carry another 30 pounds without costing him athleticism and he's a high upside payer.

Castleton has already been to Illinois for a visit and that the Illini were on him strong before he "blew up" over the summer is a plus.

However, Michigan is closing hard and will get their chance to pitch him on campus this weekend when he goes to Ann Arbor for an official visit.

Currently, the expectation is that he should have a decision pretty soon after he completes the Michigan trip.

5. BUFFALO PULLS OFF A HUGE STEAL

There are surely some other steals in the class of 2018, but Buffalo may have pulled off the biggest one to date by landing Jeenathan Williams.

A native of nearby Rochester, NY who is spending his senior year of high school out West, Williams had several high major offers but will be an impact recruit in the MAC.

Strong, athletic and versatile, Williams can play on the wing or as a mobile and quick four man with toughness to burn. He still has to go out and live up to his potential, but it looks like Buffalo has landed a future All-Conference type talent and perhaps a guy who could one day challenge for player of the year honors in the MAC.