Twitter Tuesday: Latest with Ramey, Langford, Montgomery
Back for another round of #TwitterTuesday as we bring you up to date on the evolving recruitment of top-50 guard Courtney Ramey, and five-star seniors EJ Montgomery and Romeo Langford. Also, we look at where Michigan State might go with its 2019 class.
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Pat, you may have missed it, but Oklahoma State has been a consistent competitor for top-50 guard Courtney Ramey since he backed off of his commitment in September.
One of the top senior prospects available this winter, Ramey took his first official visit to Oklahoma State in December. He then followed it up with a trip to Texas a few weeks later as the recruitment of Ramey remains a high-level affair.
Last week, Ramey’s father told Rivals that he will no longer be visiting Villanova, which is big news on two fronts. First, the Wildcats may now be solely chasing after five-star guard Jahvon Quinerly; second, Villanova was thought to be a favorite for Ramey. Now, with one of the top contenders no longer in contention, it should only better the chances for OK State in securing Ramey.
The top-50 guard remains set on visiting UCLA on Feb. 16, that is as long as four-star guard Tyger Campbell doesn’t commit to the Pac-12 program before then. A slew of others, including Ohio State and Illinois remain involved, too, but a decision remains on the backburner until he completes his senior year of high school ball.
Things remain in a holding pattern with five-star guard and the best available 2018 prospect, Romeo Langford. The sixth ranked senior in America has remained set on a final three, a group consisting of Kansas, Indiana and Vanderbilt.
Langford continues to jump through the state of Indiana record books, now sitting fourth in scoring. This past week, the five-star guard went for a cool 63 points as he remains one of the top scoring weapons in high school basketball.
How would he impact each of his finalists? At Kansas, he would not be forced to have such a heavy offensive burden placed upon him as a freshman but instead comfortably evolve into a vital cog within Bill Self’s offense thanks to his bevy of perimeter firepower. For Vanderbilt, Langford would create a devastating backcourt with fellow five-star guard and good friend Darius Garland. Shot opportunities would not be an issue for him in Nashville, neither would it be at Indiana, a program whose fan base has been longing for the in-state recruit to pledge to them.
Where Langford lands remains up for debate but there has been whispers that Vanderbilt and Indiana have begun to separate themselves. Can Garland sway his friend to join him a few hours south or could Archie Miller wrap up his first five-star recruit? In the coming weeks, we should all find out.
The light has turned fully on for EJ Montgomery this winter and with it, there has been no shortage of college suitors for the five-star power forward. Originally committed to Auburn, Montgomery recently narrowed his list to a group of 11, but as Hunter asks, yes, the Tar Heels are a more than strong suitor for the five-star senior.
Upon backing off of his pledge to Auburn following the FBI investigation in September, Montgomery and his camp shut down any sort of communication regarding his newfound recruitment. However, there were whispers throughout the fall that he was holding out for the blue bloods on Tobacco Road to come calling, of which they have as he will visit both UNC and Duke over the next 10 days, trips coming in the unofficial variety.
Last week, UNC head coach Roy Williams made the trip down to see Montgomery twice, the latter coming with an offer handed out to the Wheeler High standout. Williams is not going to leave his Chapel Hill abode during the meat of the ACC season if he doesn’t feel like Montgomery is a priority for his program and someone that he didn’t believe he had a legitimate shot at.
A commitment is not expected within the coming weeks, but his two-day stay in the Tar Heel state could create for an even bigger gap between the blue blood programs and the other nine in the mix as North Carolina remains in a much better spot than any others outside Duke.
For all of the talk surrounding Michigan State of late, regarding the Larry Nassar sexual abuse case, the Spartans remain on stable ground ranked in the top five on the floor with a top-10 2018 recruiting class and they sit in a good spot with a few prospects from the 2019 class.
One name that continues to come up with the Spartans is Romeo Weems. Built in the mold of past MSU standouts in the frontcourt, Weems already has the pedigree having played on the international circuit with the younger United States national teams and has made his fair share of visits to East Lansing over the past two years.
His travel teammate, Rocket Watts, is another to keep tabs on. The Spartans remain firmly entrenched as a top suitor for the explosive four-star point guard.
The final name that Michigan State sits in a good spot with is Harlond Beverly. The thought regarding the top-75 junior is that Baylor and MSU take up his early top two, though he is due to emerge this summer as national name and see multiple offers roll in. Baylor has an in with Beverly as his cousin is former Baylor standout Ekpe Udoh, though MSU has the proximity with the in-state prospect.
Other MSU targets include Isaiah Stewart, Trayce Jackson-Davis, and Vernon Carey Jr., the latter someone who will take an official visit to East Lansing this weekend, remain on Michigan State’s radar, just as well.
