RANKINGS: 2019 Rivals150 | 2019 Team rankings | 2019 Position rankings
While the winter temperatures decimated most of the Midwest and northeast last week, the recruiting world kept spinning. In this week’s #TwitterTuesday, we look at the recruitment of Jalen Johnson, my pick for five-star Anthony Edwards, Syracuse’s 2020 board, and who is involved with top-40 junior Dalen Terry.
BOSSI'S STARTING FIVE: Anthony Edwards delays visit
I will give Kentucky a 40 percent chance with Johnson. The third ranked junior has already taken official visits to Arizona, Duke and UCLA in recent months, and was also on hand for Kentucky’s Big Blue Madness prior to the college season. The thought surrounding Johnson is it is a battle between Duke and UK and that might not be inaccurate, though local programs Marquette and Wisconsin have not been short in focusing priority attention Johnson’s way since he first stepped foot onto a high school playing floor.
Now, if either were to grab the commitment of Johnson, it would go down as one of the biggest recruiting wins in recent memory. Not saying that this cannot happen, since Johnson is one of the more intellectual, though-out prospects found in the 2020 class, but programs in the mold of Duke and Kentucky tend to win out in such recruitments. Defeating either will be difficult as the Blue Devils might actually be my pick for where he ends up, but Kentucky has just as good of a shot as anyone else involved.
Edwards will take an official visit this weekend to Florida State, the program that many within the industry believe that he will end up at. This can definitely be the case and I am not going to be the one to bet against Leonard Hamilton with a prospect that he is in hard pursuit of, yet I am going to select the in-state program.
Georgia has the most momentum in the race with Edwards and while defeating FSU will be difficult, as will Kentucky, the Bulldogs have the chance to build their entire team around Edwards next season. Plus, I found it a bit intriguing that, whenever I spoke with Edwards last month, he said that he studied the games of Dwyane Wade and Victor Oladipo, two standout guards that each played for Tom Crean during their respective college days. Throw in that Crean hired two respected assistants that hail from the Peach State with strong connections throughout and I will have to side with the Bulldogs when it comes to Edwards revealing his commitment next Monday morning, despite the timing looking a bit off if it were to be Georgia.
While Syracuse was within the final group for Isaiah Stewart, his commitment would have been a bonus for its 2019 class rather a desperate need that would have remained unfulfilled. The have already secured the signatures of Brycen Goodine, Joe Girard, Quincy Guerrier and John Bol Ajak. The Orange could be active within the transfer waters this spring, or decide to jump into an unfamiliar prospect’s recruitment following the decommitment spree that always enfolds following coaching changes, but most of their attention will be within the 2020 class.
Their top target looks to be Andre Jackson. The local talent out of Albany is a do-it-all guard that is evolving into a must-get for some of the top local programs. Addison Patterson has had some Orange interest in the past, and Jamari Sibley, a Milwaukee native that fits what Jim Boeheim looks for in his rangy forwards, just received an offer from the program two months ago, too. In the frontcourt, Noah Collier, a talent out of Philadelphia, Cliff Omoruyi and Elijah Hutchins-Everett, sit on Syracuse’s 2020 board.
No, Kentucky has yet to jump in the recruitment of top-40 junior Dalen Terry, but Memphis has. The Tigers jumped in with an offer on Monday evening as I wouldn’t be surprised to see Terry become a top target of theirs within the 2020 class.
Meanwhile, Terry has not been short on college offers or priority attention. This past weekend, he completed his second official visit as he was on campus at California. Utah was the first to host the talented prospect and, in reaching out to Terry on Monday, he told Rivals.com that Arizona State, Georgetown and Louisville are the three others in touch with him the most often. A commitment is far from near it would seem but Terry, a tremendous playmaker and defender with added size in the backcourt, will only become that much more of a valuable, must-get recruit in the coming months as more schools will enter the race for the talented prospect.
