The early signing period for the class of 2018 has come and gone. Who were the winners and who were the losers? We take a look.

EARLY PERIOD REPORT CARDS: Big Ten | Big East | ACC | Big 12 | SEC

DUKE, KANSAS AND KENTUCKY

I know, I know. It’s Duke, Kansas and Kentucky. Those programs should deliver monster recruiting classes on a yearly basis. We all know it and nobody disputes it but it shouldn’t mean that guys like John Calipari, Mike Krzyzewski and Bill Self shouldn’t get credit they deserve for consistently meeting sky-high expectations on the recruiting trail.

During this latest cycle, Duke hit on one of the biggest targets they’ve had in the last six or seven years by landing 2018’s top ranked player R.J. Barrett and adding him to five-stars Cameron Reddish and Tre Jones.

At Kentucky, Calipari and the Cats actually had to do some scrambling. They lost Barrett to Duke, aren’t going to land No. 3 Bol Bol and have to keep fighting into the spring for No. 2 Zion Williamson. So, what do they do? They come from behind to nab five-star wing Keldon Johnson and swoop in to land top 40 shooter Tyler Herro shortly after he bailed on Wisconsin.

Out in Lawrence, Self and his staff had to have a monster effort in the 2018 class. After landing five-stars Devon Dotson and Silvio De Sousa along with top 35 David McCormack earlier in the fall, they not only landed big-time combo guard Quentin Grimes, they got him to sign early rather than wait until the spring. It’s also looking like De Sousa may actually be able to enroll in December. It would be a hit to their 2018 team recruiting ranking, but it would be a huge help to this season’s team.

OREGON TAKES ADVANTAGE OF FINAL FOUR RUN

The great thing about a run in the NCAA Tournament is that it allows for extended exposure for a program. I’m not sure anybody took better advantage of that in recent years than Oregon has. Don’t get me wrong, Dana Altman has always done a nice job of luring talent to Eugene, but what he and his staff have done on the heels of their 2017 Final Four appearance is impressive. They convinced five-star wing Louis King to come all the way across the country, they locked up four-star big man Miles Norris early and they were able to talk four-star point guard Will Richardson into signing early at the very end of the early period. The Ducks may not be done either. If they can haul in 2018’s No. 3 player Bol Bol, they will move from the top ten to top three of team recruiting rankings.

BRYCE DREW PROVES HE CAN GO TOE-TO-TOE WITH THE BIG BOYS

In the history of Rivals.com, Vanderbilt had only landed one five-star player, shooting guard John Jenkins. This year Bryce Drew and the Commodores doubled that total by convincing five-star point guard Darius Garland to stay and play in front of his hometown. To land Garland, they had to beat bluebloods Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky and UCLA, who all offered scholarships. What’s so impressive is that they may not be done and could eventually triple their previous five-star total. Top 10 forward Simisola Shittu looks like he is leaning toward playing in Nashville and the nation’s top available shooting guard Romeo Langford has Vandy in his final three with Indiana and Kansas. Landing Garland was huge, adding Shittu would be program-changing and if they could somehow add Langford on top of those two, it would be a monumental accomplishment. Oh yeah, four-star wing Aaron Nesmith isn’t bad either.

MICHIGAN STATE DOES WELL IN-STATE

The class of 2018 in Michigan is a strong one and Tom Izzo and Michigan State dominated it on the recruiting front. In total there are seven Michigan products ranked as four-star prospects in the senior class and the Spartans landed four of the top five.

Make no mistake, the Spartans are currently loaded with talent and there doesn’t appear to be a Miles Bridges or Jaren Jackson type talent in this group. However, between face-up four man Marcus Bingham, winning point guard Foster Loyer, athletic wing Gabe Brown and solid post player Thomas Kither, the Spartans are getting a foundation class that is going to win a lot of games. By the time these guys are seniors, they could go down as a memorable group.

NORTH CAROLINA AVOIDS NCAA SANCTIONS

For the past few years, North Carolina has operated under the dark cloud of an NCAA investigation into sham classes taken by athletes and students. This fall, the university finally got cleared and the Tar Heels will face no consequences. It’s a decision that has enraged rival fans and I have to admit I was surprised that they suffered no losses of scholarships or any kind of probation as a result of the investigation. With that out of the way, in-state stars Coby White and Rechon Black were free to sign and the Heels were able to land their highest ranked player since Harrison Barnes when Nassir Little signed on the dotted line.

WICHITA STATE TAKES ADVANTAGE IN FIRST YEAR IN AAC

Hopefully by now there isn’t anybody left who thinks of Wichita State as a mid major program. The Shockers are a top 10 team in the country and Gregg Marshall’s group has moved into the American Athletic Conference from the Missouri Valley and announced their presence by landing the top recruiting class in the AAC. A top 30 class nationally, it was bolstered by the late additions of four-star point guard Alex Lomax from Memphis and sneaky good wing Chance Moore, who has huge upside. Not that they needed to prove it again, but the Shockers are for real.

AUBURN AND LOUISVILLE HIT HARDEST BY FEDERAL PROBE

The federal probe into corruption in college basketball is still in the process of playing out and we don’t know exactly how big of a black eye it will be on the sport. What we do know is that coaches from Arizona, Auburn, Oklahoma State and USC were arrested. While no coaches were charged, Louisville and Miami were also implicated. The ordeal has cost pretty much everybody involved on the recruiting trail, but Arizona somewhat weathered the storm while USC still landed a top 10 class. The two programs that got hit the hardest were Auburn and Louisville.

Auburn not only lost assistant coach Chuck Person, but five-star forward E.J. Montgomery backed out of his commitment and star players Danjel Purifoy and Austin Wiley are both being held out indefinitely. At Louisville, five-star Anfernee Simons and four-star Courtney Ramey both opened their recruitments while Rick Pitino lost his job and the only staffer left standing is David Padgett, who is the interim head coach.

COACHES ON HOT SEAT FEELING IMPACT FROM WORRIES OVER THEIR JOB STATUS

I just wrote about Auburn where Bruce Pearl is most definitely on a hot seat at this point. Trying to recruit there has to be a nightmare right now. At Georgia, talk about Mark Fox being on the hot seat has wrecked what was once a very promising recruiting class. The Bulldogs did land four-star power forward Amanze Ngumezi, and three-star wing Joseph Toppin could be good down the road. However, there’s no question that worries over Fox’s status cost them four-stars Will Richardson to Oregon and Landers Nolley to Virginia Tech.

At Pittsburgh, questions about Kevin Stallings’ status have made it difficult for the Panthers to attract high-level talent and others who have likely been negatively impacted by rumors about their future include Tim Miles at Nebraska and Pat Chambers at Penn State. Brad Brownell and his staff at Clemson have done okay all things considered. But, if he doesn’t have a big season and misses on No. 2 Zion Williamson then he could be in deep trouble.

FANS LOOKING FOR ELITE IMPACT BIG MEN

The class of 2017 features so many ready to roll and instant impact big men that college basketball fans are being a bit spoiled this season. Marvin Bagley, DeAndre Ayton, Jaren Jackson and Brandon McCoy are ready-made stars. I would not plan for that to be the case next year. Yes, there are talented big men in the class of 2018. Yes, somebody is going to exceed expectations. But, there simply aren’t that many ready to deliver in a major way big men prospects in the class of 2018 and generally speaking fans looking forward to those types of guys next season are going to be disappointed.

ANYBODY LOOKING FOR EARLY SIGNING PERIOD DRAMA

Those who follow college basketball know that the early signing period is for the most part drama-free. Many of the kids signing have been committed for some time and it’s not usually a surprise when we find out that a Zion Williamson or a Romeo Langford will wait until the spring. It’s not college football, where the bulk of the recruitments come down to the last minute and we see prospects flip flopping on Signing Day. But even by college basketball standards, the early signing period for the class of 2018 has been pretty tame and drama-free. In fact, this early signing period was probably the single most boring signing period I’ve seen in nearly 20 years in the business.