Tarkanian Classic: The Bossi Awards

LAS VEGAS - The Tarkanian Classic featured many of the West Coast's top players and after four days in Sin City, Eric Bossi has awards for players like five-star point guard Daishen Nix.

Recruitment: Signed with UCLA.

Why the award: Nobody at the Tarkanian Classic is going to be more important to the program they have signed with than Nix will be to UCLA. The guy makes people better and he wins. As usual he passed the ball and defended at a high level but his jumper looked much improved and he's become much more vocal. Mick Cronin got himself a stud.

Recruitment: Signed with Arizona State.

Why the award: How high will Bagley be ranked in our next update to the 2020 Rivals150? That still needs to be determined, but he will certainly move up from his current spot of No. 52. Nobody at the Tarkanian Classic made a bigger impression in terms of improvement, athleticism, size and production. Bagley deserves to be in the conversation for post season All-Star games like the McDonald's All-American game and looks like a monster get for the Sun Devils.

Recruitment: Signed with Portland State.

Why the award: There probably weren't many outside of the Corona (Calif.) Centennial locker room who expected to win the championship of the Tarkanian's top division, but that doesn't matter. Headed to Portland State, Dawson led his team through a gauntlet of the West's top teams to win a title. Quick, competitive, full of energy, Dawson is flat out fun to watch play and his teammates fed off of his energy.

Recruitment: Offers from Alabama, Arizona State, DePaul, LSU, Memphis, Nebraska, TCU and others.

Why the award: When most think about finishing at the rim, they think about guys who play above and punish the rim. Johnson isn't an above the rim guy, but you won't find a better finisher at any level of high school basketball than Johnson is. A super skilled point guard who plays with flair, there isn't an angle he can't finish from at the rim and he does so with either hand against pretty much any defender.

Recruitment: Offers from Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Washington and many others.

Why the award: The award name is pretty self explanatory, there's simply not a better guard in the class of 2021 than Hardy at this point. Now, he'll have to keep getting better and improving but his combination of size, skill, athleticism, toughness and versatility to play either the one or the two make him the current top dog of backcourt players in the junior class.

Recruitment: Signed with Gonzaga.

Why the award: It's easy to tell who is taking their future seriously and Strawther is clearly serious about his. The smooth scorer looks committed to doing everything in his power to succeed at Gonzaga and the physical transformation he's undergone is something else. Strawther has shed weight while also adding muscle and as a result he's quicker and more athletic. Combine that with his natural ability to get buckets and you have a guy who is looking to maximize his talent.

Recruitment: Offers from Alabama, Florida, Iowa State and South Florida.

Why the award: First impressions can be lasting and that's the case with the Bewley twins who made a tremendous first impression. They are athletic, they are competitive and they are unafraid of physical play at the point of attack. Matt is the more skilled and active of the two, but you have to love Ryan's desire to dunk everything around the rim. There is big time potential with the duo.

Recruitment: Arizona, Baylor and others.

Why the award: The NBA has made a pretty big investment in their Global Academies and Mojave King is currently the best player in their system. He's a strong guard who would rank somewhere in at least the top 30-50 of the class of 2021 if he were attending school in the States and that could even be a little conservative. He knocks down shots, can handle and defends with toughness.

Recruitment: Signed with California.

Why the award: To rebuild their program, Cal and Mark Fox are going to have to find some under the radar guys with upside and hit on developing them. Bowser looks like he may be that exact guy. He's got great length, can really move his feet and anticipate on defense and he's gotten significantly better over the last year. He's similar to the type of player that Rick Barnes has used to turn things around at Tennessee and if that holds through his college years then Bowser will end up a huge steal in Berkeley.

Recruitment: Final five of LSU, Texas Tech, UNLV, USC and Vanderbilt.

Why the award: Technically there were three higher ranked players at the Tarkanian Classic who haven't signed but five-star Makur Maker had a disappointing outing and has no plans to go to college and the same could be said for top 30 wing Marjon Beauchamp. Five-star Josh Christopher, didn't play his best either. But, even if all of those guys were planning to go to college Wilkinson played better than them in Vegas. A ridiculous athlete, he's building his skill level and learning to merge the two together. The only finalist he hasn't seen is Texas Tech and he hopes to do so this winter.