Twitter Tuesday: Knox's Kentucky pledge, West Coast risers
Rivals' #TwitterTuesday mailbag returns with a look at some pressing topics in college basketball and college basketball recruiting.
Today, National Analyst Eric Bossi answers readers' questions about the level of surprise that accompanied Kevin Knox's commitment to Kentucky, five-star Marvin Bagley III, rising West Coast prospects and more.
MORE: DePaul scores with top-25 prospect | Howard Pulley wins Jayhawk Invitational
On a scale of one to 10 with 10 being the most surprising, I would rate Kevin Knox’s decision to attend Kentucky at around a seven. Yes, it was a bit of a surprise pick, but it wasn’t a huge shock to me as I had been on Kentucky and Duke message boards the few days prior to his announcement saying that Kentucky was still in there and that Knox was exactly the type of kid to throw a curve ball.
In terms of this question, let’s define recent as within the last five years. With that limit, I would say 2013’s No. 1 player, Andrew Wiggins, picking Kansas is still the most surprising result I’ve seen. Not that it’s a surprise that Kansas would get a big-time player, but nobody saw them as a legitimate threat and most expected either Florida State or Kentucky.
Next in line would probably be Jaylen Brown, the No. 3 ranked player in the class of 2015, picking California over Kentucky.
So I guess it’s only fitting that Kentucky ended up the beneficiary of a surprise decision after the way a few of the more recent surprise commitments went down.
Marvin Bagley III is a power forward all the way, and he would be more likely to play center than he would small forward.
Bagley remains the clear cut No. 1 player in the class of 2018 because of his size, athleticism and budding skill. I also love the way that he rebounds the ball. I always get a little nervous when talking ultimate upside, but the fact of the matter is that if you could name a few players in high school or college who look like multiple-time NBA All-Stars in training, then Bagley would have to be on the list.
It’s not a perfect comparison, but I remember watching Amare Stoudemire in high school and they have some similarities. Stoudemire was more powerful and reliant on athleticism while Bagley is a bit more skilled, but at the end of the day, they dominate in similar ways at the high school level.
You are probably going to think I’m dancing around this one a bit, because, well, maybe I am. But given that Williams will not publicly discuss how he feels about any of the schools recruiting him or really even list those in the mix, picking a favorite is tricky.
Because the five-star power forward is a native of Florida and plays his high school basketball in the Sunshine State, I do think that Florida and Florida State will both be heavily in the mix along with Miami which is the one campus that we know Williams has been on. If he’s going to leave the state, I imagine that it would most likely be for a blueblood program like Duke or Kansas, which have both offered.
However, based on the limited amount of intel available on Williams and any leanings at this moment, I think he’ll end up staying close to home
I think that one guy that has really had a strong start to the spring from out West is Timmy Allen. The wing from Arizona is in the best shape I’ve ever seen him in, has really rounded out his game and he’s producing on a consistent level. Utah, California and Iowa State have made recent offers, and for good reason.
After Allen, another player out West who has my attention is Emmitt Matthews. The smooth wing from Washington has very good size and can score at various levels of the floor. Mike Hopkins didn’t waste much time offering Matthews after getting the Washington job, and I think more high-major programs will be following suit.
First of all, Dwayne Cohill is more of a combo guard and natural scorer, but the four-star from Ohio can certainly run the point for stretches. There was a tremendous amount of early buzz for Ohio State with Cohill, but I’m not sure I see that holding up at this point.
He’s added offers from all over the country recently, but Bob Huggins and West Virginia have done an outstanding job of prioritizing him and building a relationship. I don’t want to say they are the leader just yet, but the Mountaineers do seem to be in good shape.
Others that I would really keep a close eye on with Cohill include Northwestern, Butler and maybe even Virginia Tech. However, this is just my gut read on the situation based on what I’ve heard; when I spoke directly with Cohill in April he was pretty adamant that he is still wide open.
