Three-Point Play: Josh Christopher, Yoeli Childs, Tyrese Hunter

Despite speculation and some playful posts on social media, five-star senior Josh Christopher has not yet set a decision date. In today’s edition of the Three-Point-Play National Analyst Eric Bossi discusses that, a player out West who should be generating more All-American talk and a 2021 target heating up in the Midwest.

Starting Five: Big weekend for LSU, gut check time at Duke

2020 Rankings: Rivals150 | Team | Position

2021 Rankings: Rivals150 | Position

2022 Rankings: Top 75

Five-star senior Josh Christopher isn’t just a tremendous basketball player, he’s as savvy as they come in the social media world. The big time scorer at Lakewood (Calif.) Mayfair isn’t just a McDonald’s All-American, he’s as much of an influencer on Twitter and Instagram as a high school basketball player can be.

Recently, his posts have led to speculation that he’s set a a decision date for April 13. I called Christopher’s father Laron Christopher to see if that date was when his son would be announcing.

“No, there’s no date set,” the elder Christopher told me.

The most specific that Mr. Christopher could get about a decision date was that it was “coming soon."

In case anybody needs a refresher on Christopher’s recruitment, here is where things stand. He’s down to a final four of Arizona State, Michigan, Missouri and UCLA. He has seen all of them. If he wanted to use them, Christopher also has two official visits remaining. However, considering the college season is ending and Christopher is slated to play in four All-Star type games -- Hoop Summit, Iverson Classic, Jordan Brand Classic and the McDonald’s All-American Game – between late March and late April, finding time to take any additional visits may be tough.

For the past few weeks, both colleague Corey Evans and I have pegged Michigan as the team to beat. But, I couldn’t say I feel like that’s a stone-cold lock to happen and I wouldn’t be surprised if Christopher – who has made it a habit of breaking his own news about visits, school list etc. – comes up with something unique when he commits.

Maybe it has been picking up of late and I’ve just missed it, but given how well No. 15 BYU is playing coming down the stretch and the monster numbers that senior big man Yoeli Childs is putting up, perhaps Childs is deserving of some mention as a potential National Player of the Year. At the very least, he merits serious consideration for All-American honors despite having to sit the first nine games of the year due to an NCAA suspension for improper benefits related signing with an agent before filling out NCAA paperwork when he tested the NBA Draft waters last spring.

I’m not here to call anybody out on that, though, because I’ve been a little slow on the uptake myself. Just a few weeks ago I projected Player of the Year winners in the top conferences and I didn’t even consider Childs in the West Coast Conference. As of today, I’d say he should win the award and he’s had an incredible career in Provo.

This season, Childs is averaging 22.8 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while making nearly 59 percent of his shots. Those are big time numbers. Even more big time are the 2008 total points and 1,043 rebounds he’s collected. That’s good enough for sixth all-time on the Cougars scoring list and he’s just four rebounds short of catching Kyle Collinsworth as the No. 1 rebounder in school history.

The more I see Childs, the more I see him carving out a space for himself in the NBA and he’s deserving of some post season accolades.

It’s the time of year where we are starting to identify guys that could see their stock soar during the spring and summer months. Currently ranked No. 96 nationally in the class of 2021, Racine (Wisc.) St. Catherine’s point guard Tyrese Hunter just might be one of those guys.

Set to run in Nike’s EYBL with Milwaukee-based Phenom University-Team Herro, Hunter has led his team to a 22-0 record while averaging 21 points. 6.7 rebounds, 3.7 assist and 3.0 steals per game.

Those numbers have earned him offers from Bradley, DePaul, Illinois-Chicago, Loyola-Chicago, Marquette, Miami (Ohio), Minnesota, Murray State, South Dakota State, Texas A&M, UC Davis, Wisconsin-Milwaukeea and Wright State. Of those he’s been on campus unofficially at Loyola, Marquette, Miami and Wright State. More recently, Alabama, California, Kentucky, Missouri and UNLV among others have been in touch.

He has quickness, he can shoot and he’s going to get every chance to move up the rankings and offer boards. Antonio Curro of NY2LA Sports and Phenom U is certainly a believer.

“Tyrese Hunter is on the cusp of taking off nationally,” Curro told Rivals.com. “He's a high character young man with an exceptional work ethic who is very coachable. He has explosive athleticism and quickness that he pairs with excellent handles, nice vision, an ability to score at each level, and high-level defensive ability both on and off the ball.

“He's a fierce competitor who brings it every night on both ends of the court and he's pound for pound one of the most explosive pure athletes in the country. He's a potential top 25-50 national lead guard with McDonald's and Jordan Brand All-American potential. He will be one of the most exciting players in the Nike EYBL this upcoming spring and summer.”