Who’s Got Next? is a bi-weekly column by Josh Paunil, the RTC recruiting guru. We encourage you to check out his website dedicated solely to college basketball recruiting, National Recruiting Spotlight, for more detailed recruiting information. Twice a week he will bring you an overview of what’s going on in the complex world of recruiting, from who is signing where among the seniors to who the hot prospects are in the lower levels of the sport. If you have any suggestions as to areas we’re missing, please let us know at rushthecourt@yahoo.com.

Introduction

The stars were out to shine last weekend as the iS8/Nike Spring Classic wrapped up with national champions and all-americans garnering first and second team honors. The closing of a notable New York school that produced an NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, and a star junior naming his final four schools are among the other headlines dominating the world of college basketball recruiting that we will explore in this edition of Who’s Got Next? Oh yeah, there’s also the DeAndre Daniels saga which continues to drag on…

What They’re Saying

Class of 2012 shooting guard Ricardo Ledo (#9) speaks out about his list.

• Junior Ricardo Ledo (#9) on his list of schools: “I am looking at Kentucky, Providence, Syracuse and UConn.”
• Senior Josiah Turner (#13) on how good he thinks Arizona will be next year: “I think we’re going to be pretty good, Sidiki [Johnson]’s coming in. He’s a big man. He’s a beast, so I think we’ll still be pretty good.”
• Junior Archie Goodwin (#19) on his favorite basketball memory: “My greatest basketball moment would’ve been helping my team win an AAU national title last summer in Orlando. We had to go through a lot of hard times to get to that point. We had to win nine games in a row.”
• Senior D’Angelo Harrison (#47) on playing with his future teammates at St. John’s: “It was quite funny playing with them. We have a pretty good bond now and it makes it so much easier playing with them in the future.”
• Sophomore Isaiah Lewis on his favorite memory: “My most memorable basketball moment would’ve been making the all-tournament team at the City of Palms. As a sophomore that was a big accomplishment for me.”
• Senior Quincy Miller (#7) on his favorite basketball memory: “My greatest basketball moment would’ve been when I hit the game-winning three in the 18U championship game against Brazil last summer.”
• Junior Shabazz Muhammad (#3) on his favorite basketball memory: “My best basketball moment would’ve been winning back-to-back state titles my freshman and sophomore years. That was a great run we had.”
• Senior Nemanja Djurisic on his favorite part of the recruiting process: “Meeting people that have been in basketball for a long time and learning something new from interacting with them was great.”

What We Learned

The DeAndre Daniels Situation. Since last Wednesday, Duke, Kansas, Oregon and Texas fans have been in limbo wondering if Class of 2011 small forward DeAndre Daniels will choose their favorite school and what that means for the future of their team… but the catch is that he might not choose any of those options. The top unsigned prospect remaining has more choices than people think and can drag out this decision all summer or to when the NBA agrees upon a new Collective Bargaining Agreement if he wants to skip college and hope the one-and-done rule is eliminated. Since Daniels has remained undecided past the spring signing period, he can only sign a financial-aid agreement at this point, not a letter of intent. If a financial-aid agreement is signed, it only binds the school to the player but not the player to the school. Because of the flexibility in this type of arrangement, Daniels could stay unsigned until a few weeks into next school year. If he chooses to go this route (which many people believe he will), then the two main players in his decision will be Kansas and Texas, although he has also expressed interest in Duke and Oregon. It has been speculated that Daniels is a heavy lean to one of the Big 12 schools, but that his father, LaRon Daniels, wants him to go to another school. Daniels also has the options of going into the NBA D-League or playing overseas, but both of these options are highly unlikely. It’s also been rumored that he’s waiting to announce his decision at the Pangos All-American camp, which takes place from June 3-5. The bottom line in this whole situation is that Daniels has so many routes he can take and multiple months to decide which way  he wants to go. Also, considering how reluctant Daniels and his father have been in talking to the media, the only thing that’s certain in the ongoing recruitment of DeAndre Daniels is that nothing is certain.

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Matt Patton is the RTC correspondent for the ACC.

Conference Recap

The ACC had a down year though North Carolina’s Kendall Marshall-led resurgence and Florida State’s Sweet Sixteen appearance helped a little bit. Before and during the season, Duke was the runaway favorite in the conference: Kyrie Irving’s toe injury obviously was the pivotal point that brought Duke back down to earth. Equally pivotal (in the reverse direction) was Marshall’s move to starting point guard for North Carolina. With Larry Drew II at the helm, there is no way the Tar Heels could have come close to surpassing Duke for the regular season title. The down year did not really surprise most people, and despite lofty preseason expectations (read: people forgot how highly rated North Carolina was to start the season) I think the perception is that the league at least lived up to preseason expectations with a couple of notable exceptions: NC State, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech. NC State had NCAA Tournament talent, but did not come anywhere close to sniffing the Big Dance; Wake was arguably the worst major conference team in the country; and Virginia Tech once again found itself very highly seeded in the NIT. On the flip side, Clemson and Florida State both exceeded expectations.

Roy Williams and Kendall Marshall led a mid-season resurgence that resulted in a trip the Elite Eight. (News Observer/Robert Willitt)

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Introduction

Throughout the past week, there have been many great performances and match-ups at high school events such as Austin Rivers (#1 – Duke) and Bradley Beal (#6 – Florida) at the Jordan Brand Classic; there have been numerous developing stories such as where Oklahoma is on Perry Ellis’ (#20) list and what Greg Whittington’s (Georgetown) impact on Otto Porter’s (Georgetown) commitment to Georgetown will be; there’s been a key commitment which will make a big impact on the ACC; the New York Times did an interesting article linking Facebook and recruiting; a West Virginia commit joined the likes of LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard; and much more.

Austin Rivers (#1 – Duke) and Bradley Beal (#6 – Florida) fought for the #1 spot at shooting guard in the Jordan Brand Classic. (Credit: ESPN)

What We Learned

The Best SG in the Class of 2011. Going into the Jordan Brand Classic on Saturday night you knew that the battle between Rivers and Beal would be the primary match-up to watch. Both of these guys are great scorers and can hit shots from anywhere on the floor. They also have excellent three-point range and finish well above the rim. In this game, Rivers got the best of Beal as he finished with 16 points, six rebounds and four steals (the steals being very impessive due to the lack of defense in all-star games) whereas Beal had 15 points and eight rebounds.  Neither player shot the ball very well, combining for 11-32 shooting from the field and 1-8 shooting from the three-point line. However, the bad three-point percentage is in large part due to both guys taking very long threes that they wouldn’t normally take in a serious game. Look for these two guys to be two of the best scorers in college basketball starting next season.

Perry Ellis Likely Not Oklahoma-Bound. From what Fonda Ellis, Perry Ellis’ mom, told me (see full quotes from her in the “What They’re Saying” Section, below), it seems as though Oklahoma is losing ground in the Ellis sweepstakes (#20). This loss of interest looks to primarily be a result of the Sooners’ coaching change from Jeff Capel to former UNLV head coach Lon Kruger. Although Kruger said in a phone call to Ellis last week that he was still the Sooners’ top priority and that he wanted him to take an official visit to the OU campus, Ellis will have to get used to an entirely new coaching staff there. Ellis is also considering Kansas, Kansas State, Kentucky, Memphis and Wichita State and told me in an interview last month that he’s looking to “be comfortable, have a good relationship with the coach and be in a system I like.”

Greg Whittington and Otto Porter’s Commitments. According to what Greg Whittington (Georgetown) told me Sunday after The Capital Classic, he is the one who got Otto Porter (#40 – Georgetown) to become a Hoya this past week (see full quotes from Whittington in the “What They’re Saying” Section, below). Whittington was able to convince Porter to commit to Georgetown due to the conference they’ll be in, among many other things. However, one thing that seemed to really help the Hoyas was the coaching change at Missouri since the Tigers were believed to have been the frontrunners. According to an ESPN source, the new staff at Missouri did not even have a chance to meet with Porter and his family before Porter made his decision to attend GU. Porter was a big-time pickup for the Hoyas since he is very long and has one of the best mid-range games in his class. He is a match-up problem for almost everyone he faces due to his height and he rebounds the ball and runs the floor well too. He is also good on the defensive end on the floor and is a solid ball-handler. Porter needs to improve on his strength more than anything else but his all-around game is solid and he should make a positive impact at Georgetown next year.

What You Missed

Anthony Davis (#4 – Kentucky) and James McAdoo (#7 – North Carolina) were the Co-MVPs at the Jordan Brand Classic.

Power Forwards Dominated Jordan Brand Classic. Anthony Davis (#4 – Kentucky) and James McAdoo (#7 – North Carolina) were the co-MVPs in the 10th annual Jordan Brand Classic Saturday with Davis recording 29 points (second highest in event history to LeBron James’ 34 points) on 13-15 shooting from the field and 11 rebounds, and McAdoo tallying 26 points on 10-16 shooting from the field and 14 rebounds. Davis also added four blocks and McAdoo hit the game-clinching free throws with 1.6 seconds left which gave the East a 113-109 victory over the West. Both players ran the floor well and were able to knock down the perimeter shot. Although Davis had the better overall game, McAdoo was more impressive since he showed the ability to not only score in the paint, but he also made several nice mid-range jumpers and multiple three-pointers which showed off his range. Both showed good court vision and passing skills as well as an ability to  make the pass in transition or out of the low post when double-teamed. Kyle Wiltjer (#26 – Kentucky) also brought back his sky hook from the McDonald’s game to this event and Johnny O’Bryant (#28 – LSU) consistently knocked down a turn-around jumper that will be deadly if he adds other moves to his arsenal.

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Top 25 Games

• #4 Kansas 81, #18 Memphis 68: “Efficiency is the word.  Kansas has it on the offensive end and it’s something they can be even better at.  Clean up the silly empty possessions and the sky is the limit.” (Rock Chalk Talk)

Pre-Game Analysis

• Quick Look at Maryland-UNC Greensboro: The Return of the Cupcakes: After a challenging stretch of games the Terps appear to be getting a respite. (Testudo Times)
• Game Preview: Oakland at Illinois: Breaking down the Grizzlies trip to Illinois. (Golden Grizzlies Gameplan)

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