RANKINGS: 2018 Rivals150 | 2019 Rivals150 | 2020 Rivals150 | 2018 Team | 2018 Position
In this week's Twitter Tuesday, we check in on the recruitment of five-star Cole Anthony, evaluate Villanova's late 2018 options, look at the potential 2021 rankings and more.
First of all, Cole Anthony has been tremendous this spring. The point guard is arguably the most productive player in the country and even at No. 4, he may be a bit underrated and he’s putting some heat on the big guys - Vernon Carey, James Wiseman and Charles Bassey - that are ranked ahead of him.
As for Anthony’s recruitment, that’s a tough call because he doesn’t really talk about it or go into specifics those times he does. So, I can only go by what I’ve heard and what I see with my own eyes in terms of head coaches paying attention.
I expect Duke, Kansas, Louisville, North Carolina, Notre Dame, Oregon, Villanova, Wake Forest and perhaps some others like Pittsburgh or Georgetown to be among those he considers when it comes time to cut things down. When it comes to that cut, I don’t see anything happening all that soon and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see Anthony be a player whose recruitment goes into the spring of 2019.
Great question. Obviously, former five-star recruit Omari Spellman staying in the NBA Draft after playing just one year at Villanova would be a big blow. But Nova fans should be good with it since he won a title during his year on the floor.
I supposed that Jay Wright and his staff could look around to find a late replacement, but the fact is there just aren’t many players left that would be able to help a team as good as Villanova. The focus would be on developing Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree, having Eric Paschall play at the five and hoping Dylan Painter is ready to give some meaningful minutes. Though he’s not a banger, inbound Cole Swider will help to add some size and he can certainly stretch the floor with his shooting. They’ve got Donte DiVincenzo insurance in Albany transfer Joe Cremo, so no matter what, Wright's team will be more than okay.
This is something we won’t begin to discuss internally until at least after this summer, but you are correct because based on what I’ve seen, Arizona State commit Michael Foster would have the early inside track on the No. 1 ranking in 2021. But, it’s far from a done deal and there’s a good chance we haven’t even seen the player who would end up No. 1 by late August when we release our initial rankings for the class.
However, a few names that jump out to me as players who could be in the discussion are smooth New England wing Terrence Clarke, who has been very impressive playing in the 17U division of Nike’s EYBL for Expressions Elite. Patrick Baldwin Jr. is a big and skilled wing who like Foster plays his high school ball in Milwaukee, he’s probably in the conversation. Moussa Cisse a high energy big man from New York could be in the discussion.
Of the players from 2021 that I’ve seen, those would be the guys that are in my mind but our staff will be seeing a lot more guys over the next few months, so take that list with a big grain of salt.
I actually thought that Trayce Jackson-Davis was on the verge of committing – to Indiana – back during the beginning of the winter after multiple visits to Bloomington. The Hoosiers are still the best bet to land the five-star big man, but as far as I can tell he is in no real rush to make a decision.
My feel at this point is that Jackson-Davis wouldn’t surprise anybody if he made a June commitment, but I don’t anticipate that he would do so without taking at least a few more unofficial visits. If he doesn’t set any of those soon with places like Iowa, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State or UCLA among others, then it could go into the late summer or early fall. The bottom line here is that I still see Indiana as the team to beat, regardless of a when a decision goes down.
