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In this week's Twitter Tuesday mailbag, Rivals.com basketball recruiting analyst Corey Evans checks in on Quentin Grimes' recruitment, discusses recent reclassification chatter, evaluates Indiana’s junior hunt and looks at where Houston can strike in the frontcourt.
Quentin Grimes is going to be a heavily-recruited prospect in the coming weeks and while he will likely sit out next season due to transfer restrictions and could only play one more year in college, he would be a take for practically every program in America.
The Texas native and Kansas transfer could be looking at returning to the Lone Star State. The three programs that are worth keeping tabs on at this point include Houston, Texas and Texas A&M.
Houston is the program closest to The Woodlands, where Grimes grew up, and the Cougars have a lot to offer as they have quickly become one of the better developmental programs in the country. Texas was a top suitor before Kansas got involved and while there is some gray area with how things would go in transferring within the Big 12, the Longhorns might pique his interest again. Lastly, Buzz Williams is looking for his first recruiting home run at Texas A&M. Williams can sell playing in the competitive SEC and his recent success with Nickeil Alexander-Walker, a guard in Grimes’ mold.
Others will also be involved but those three in-state programs are worth keep an eye on.
Reclassification talk is here to stay, with R.J. Hampton just being the most recent example. More could be on the way, though they will not be skipping college like the five-star guard just did.
Makur Maker, the younger cousin of Thon Maker, is a potential reclassification prospect that would be a top target for the best nationally. N’Faly Dante, if he can gets the necessary test scores and grades, could make the leap into the 2019 class. Kansas, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan State and Oregon have been the most talked about with him.
Kyree Walker could make a similar move, though the expectation is that he will remain in the 2020 class for now. If and when he does make a move, Arkansas, Kansas and Oregon are thought to be among the few to beat. Junior Addison Patterson could reclassify, while talk of Sharife Cooper and Jayden Stone moving a year up has diminished some. Jalen Green, meanwhile, will definitely remain in the 2020 class.
Matt Cross and Anthony Leal are the two to watch. Cross took his first official visit to Indiana this past weekend and Archie Miller and his staff have made him a top priority this spring. Cross told Rivals.com last week that he is in no rush to make a college decision but getting him onto campus before anyone else is a major step in the right direction. He will take official visits to Miami and South Carolina in the coming weeks, and a variety of programs up and down the East Coast continue to recruit him.
Leal, the top local product, took another unofficial visit to campus last week. The close proximity to the program and the fact that it was his favorite school growing up definitely helps, but many believed that an IU offer would have been immediately followed by a commitment. That was not the case and Leal has been adamant about waiting the process out but, ultimately, Indiana is the team to beat and should win out whenever things finally do complete.
Houston has already hit it out of the park in the 2020 class thanks to two top in-state guard commitments. The pledges of Tramon Mark and Jamal Shead should enable for Kelvin Sampson’s bunch to focus more of their time on the frontcourt. One of the Cougars' targets is Rivals150 center Jon Aku. He has already taken official visits to Texas A&M, Tulane and Virginia Tech, but Houston is a strong suitor. Sampson's program also just offered Indiana native Kiyron Powell last month. Houston has begun to pick up conversations with Donte Houston, a travel teammate of Shead that has had a strong end to his spring travel season with the Drive Nation program. Finally, keep an eye on Eduardo Andre, a product out of Woodrow Wilson High School that has emerged as a high-major talent in recent weeks.
