Tarkanian Classic: Jaden Hardy does it again; Marcus Bagley

LAS VEGAS -- On Wednesday at the Tarkanian Classic, five-star junior Jaden Hardy continued his dominant play. Arizona State will be very happy with Marcus Bagley and more takeaways from Eric Bossi.

Already the highest ranked guard in the class of 2021, five-star Jaden Hardy is in the midst of an absolutely dominant junior season.

I remember speaking with Hardy back in early August while watching an event in Vegas and he said that he was going to come out showing new levels to his game during the winter. He wasn't lying and after watching him go bonkers at the Hoophall West a few weeks ago, I thought he was even better playing in his adopted (he's from Detroit originally) home town.

He's strong, he makes the right play, he scores with ease and he dictates the pace of the game. At this point, he has to be in the conversation for top five in the class of 2021 and if he doesn't crack it in the next rankings update, he won't be far off. I saw a lot of Brad Beal in high school, and what Hardy is doing reminds me of watching Beal flip the switch from pretty good to beast during his junior season.

On the recruiting front, nothing has changed since Hardy updated his recruitment 10 days ago. Arizona, Kentucky, UCLA, USC and many others are chasing hard.

It has been since last winter since I personally got a good in person look at Arizona State bound wing Marcus Bagley. Man, the Sun Devils got a good one here.

Bagley is 100% healthy after battling some nagging injuries and he's looking pretty impressive. At 6-foot-7 or so with a strong frame, he looks like most college seniors physically and he is also bouncy in the paint and is punishing rims. His shot looks good from deep, he's patient in creating his offense and based off of what I saw on Thursday, he looks like an instant impact guy. In fact, he would help ASU out right now.

I'll see him a few more times over the next couple of days and if the way he played on Wednesday continues, he is going to merit some pretty serious consideration for the major spring All-Star games.

.... I think it's pretty obvious at this point that Frankie Collins is a legit high major point guard. I watched him during his first Wednesday game and his toughness, control of the offense and the way he communicates with his Compass Prep teammates is really impressive. Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, TCU, UNLV and others have offered scholarships and more high major offers should be on the way. Fellow junior four-star Josh Primo didn't have a great game in the win I watched but it's easy to see his upside and talent. He's got good size at around 6-foot-5, can play all three perimeter positions on either end of the floor and has some pop in his legs. He's visiting Alabama at the end of the month.

.... I saw sophomore point guard Milos Uzan of Las Vegas (Nev.) Desert Pines a few months ago at the Pangos All-West camp and he intrigued as a rangy playmaker. Wednesday, he was in total control and did it all in a win over Lakewood (Calif.) Mayfair. He didn''t care that Mayfair had the star players, he just wanted to whatever he could to get a win. Arkansas Little-Rock, Southern Utah, TCU and UNLV have already offered. There were a lot of coaches in the building today and he really helped himself.

.... Mayfair fell and looked a little out of sorts at times, but five-star sophomore point guard Dior Johnson was very, very good. His skill level, feel for the game and crafty finishing make him good for at least 3-4 absurdly high level plays each time he hits the floor. Senior five-star teammate Josh Christopher was pretty quiet by his standards and had assistants from Michigan, Missouri and UCLA watching.

.... Keep an eye out for freshmen twins Matthew Bewley and Ryan Bewley of Oakland Park (Fla.) Northeast. Talk about two high energy and aggressive freshmen. Both of them are quick off the floor, have great frames to grow into and the upside is big. Matthew is perhaps a little shorter but he's athletic, tough and has some game from the perimeter. Ryan tries to dunk everything and really gets after it on the glass. Alabama, Florida, Iowa State and USF have each offered.

.... Cal has a guy who could be pretty good a few years down the road in wing Monty Bowser. At 6-foot-5 he's got long arms and is fluid in his movement. He can score some, has big time potential as a defender and it will be interesting to see how much a college weight room could help him out a few years from now. Guys like Bowser not only panning out, but also exceeding expectations for Cal are going to be important for them to get things turned around.