TwitterTuesday returns as we answer your questions on the national college hoops recruiting landscape. We take a deep dive into where five-star Romeo Langford may be leaning, Notre Dame’s class and whether Indiana may add Nahziah Carter for 2017 or 2018.
Romeo Langford, the top wing in 2018, has been an elite target for two years. Louisville has always been one of the favorites for the local product. Rick Pitino and his staff zeroed in on the five-star recruit super early in the process, which has pushed the Cards to the top for the impressive rising senior.
Indiana, who recently tabbed Archie Miller to be its head coach, has also made its push in recent weeks. IU fans have clamored for keeping the best talent within its borders, and even though Langford may live closer to Louisville than Bloomington, the first real test of Miller’s tenure will be if he can close ground and pick-up the super talented wing.
Kentucky would love to be able to add Langford, a prospect that would have been ideal for next year’s roster. Playing with the talent John Calipari annually assembles in Lexington would be a big selling point for the New Albany product.
Lastly, Duke is right there in the mix. It has always been difficult for prospects to decline the chance to be coached by Coach K, especially over the past five years when Duke’s recruiting has gone up a notch or two. The Blue Devils, just like many others, have made sure Langford is a priority of theirs this spring.
Louisville and Indiana are two programs in the best spot for Langford, though it is always difficult to discount Kentucky or Duke when it comes to five-star talent.
Notre Dame came up with one of the sneakier, surprise commitments of the 2018 class earlier this month as Prentiss Hubb, a top-50 guard from Washington, DC, committed to the Irish. Choosing Notre Dame over Maryland, Virginia and a slew of others, Hubb is an excellent start to the 2018 class for Mike Brey. Hubb can play either guard spot, make shots and also defend the basketball.
The next step for the Irish will be adding a good-sized wing that can do a bevy of things on the perimeter. Two of the more pertinent names that keep coming up are Robby Carmody and Luther Muhammad.
Carmody, a 6-foot-4 wing that can play either the 2 or the 3, grew up a fan of the program as the Irish sit in a good spot with the Pittsburgh native. Maryland, Purdue, Michigan and Pitt remain in contention and while a commitment may not occur until after the summer, Notre Dame is among one of the heavy favorites for Carmody’s signature in November.
Muhammad, an elite defender that can make shots with consistency, has become a priority recruit for some of the local schools near his New Jersey home. Seton Hall, St. John’s, Rutgers and Cincinnati are some of the biggest contenders, but Notre Dame has continued to pursue.
If neither decide to call South Bend their home, look for Notre Dame to heat things up with top-100 small forward Tim Finke, do-it-all wing Saddiq Bey (Hubb’s travel team teammate), and Noah Locke, a top scoring guard on the Nike EYBL circuit this spring.
Nahziah Carter is a 6-foot-6 small forward from New York who was originally committed to Dayton before then backing away from his letter of intent following the departure of Miller to Indiana. Over the past few weeks, Carter’s intentions were to head to the prep ranks for a year before then taking another stab at the recruiting process. However, within the past few days, Carter’s interest in heading to college in the fall has ramped up some as programs have entered the mix.
Indiana had said that they would take Carter as a 2018 prospect since it has not room on its current roster. Things have since changed as the Hoosiers wouldn’t mind bringing in the capable defender and active ballplayer this fall. Georgetown, Boston College, Pitt, Washington and St. John’s have also entered the mix, but seeing that Carter had already established such a great rapport with Miller and the prior staff at Dayton, Indiana could be seen as the favorites. There still is some debate as to whether he will attend college this fall or not. It feels about 50-50 at the moment.
Seton Hall ended the 2017 recruiting cycle on a very high note thanks to the spring signings of Jordan Walker and Sandro Mamukelashvili. Add those to top-100 guard Myles Cale and big man Darnell Brodie, the incoming class should bring optimism to Kevin Willard’s program.
The 2018 class will be even more important seeing that Seton Hall will have to replace such stars as Khadeem Carrington, Desi Rodriguez and Angel Delgado, the latter being quite possibly the best returning big man to college basketball this year. The Pirates are targeting Markquis Nowell, a 5-foot-8 lead guard from New York that brings major speed, toughness and scoring to the floor. Also on their radar is Tavon Jones, a glue guy they’d love to have. Lastly in the post, Valdir Manuel may be the biggest piece to the puzzle as the 6-foot-9 center is a physical presence that rebounds and can score on the block.
Outside of Nowell, Jones and Manuel, Seton Hall, of course, would love to be able to land at least one high-level prospect such as Jalen Carey, Luther Muhammad, Jahvon Quinerly, Isaiah Mucius, Lou King, Khalid Moore, Naz Reid and Moses Brown. Each would be significant get, but Willard has been able to land at least one impressive prospect over the past few years.
