Recruiting winners and losers
ACC, Big 12 schools land basketball stars
College basketball’s early signing day period left some teams ecstatic and others devastated.
While a good chunk of the 2020 class had already made their school picks by Wednesday, there areeight of the top 25-ranked players who are holding off on their decisions.
Although there’s still much to be determined for the outlook of the 2020-21 season, post-signing day conclusions can be drawn.
USA TODAY Sports tracked the signing period to see which teams bolstered their programs the most and which teams fell short (by their own standards in some cases) and were left frustrated as Wednesday’s big day concluded.
Here are the winners and losers of college hoops’ signing day:
Winners
❚ Duke: Coach Mike Krzyzewski nabbed three five-star players and three four-star talents to essentially welcome a Fab Five-caliber batch of freshmen to Durham next season. Remember when Duke was the nemesis to the Fab Five? Times have changed, and Coach K continues to cash in on the one-and-done talent pool. While this class isn’t as topheavy as the Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish class, it could be a spectacle once put together based on the sum of its parts. Krzyzewski is a chemistry molder and that’ll be the key ingredient for wing Jalen Johnson (No. 4 in the composite top 100), guard Jeremy Roach (No. 22), DJ Steward (No. 25), forward Jaemyn Brakefield (No. 29), center Mark Williams (No. 30) and forward Henry Coleman (No. 41).
❚ North Carolina: The Tar Heels have a dazzling 2020 class that’s made up of three five-star talents — center Walker Kessler (No. 20), center Day’Ron Sharpe
(No. 18) and point guard Caleb Love (No. 21). Factor in two additional fourstar guys, and coach Roy Williams will have plenty of size and national titlecaliber talent right off the bat in 202021, as one-and-done phenom Cole Anthony pilots UNC in 2019-20.
❚ Texas Tech: On the heels of a national runner-up finish, coach Chris Beard has been busy on the recruiting trail — and it showed on signing day, as the Red Raiders landed the program’s first-ever five-star guard in Nimari Burnett, who will join two other four-stars — Micah Peavy and Chibuzo Agbo. Beard has kept Tech competitive via the transfer route, but now he’s joining the top dogs.
❚ Oklahoma State: Do-everything point guard Cade Cunningham (No. 1 in the composite rankings) became the program’s best-ever recruit since rankings were tracked, and he’ll join fourstar guard Rondel Walker to pair for a formidable backcourt in Stillwater under coach Mike Boynton.
❚ Kansas: In spite of an NCAA notice of allegations hanging over the program,
coach Bill Self beat out Oklahoma State and North Carolina to land fivestar talent Bryce Thompson, who will join two four-star players.
❚ Tennessee: Coach Rick Barnes had himself a solid recruiting run for 2020, bringing in two five-stars (Jaden Springer and Keon Johnson) and a fourstar (Corey Walker Jr.) that will give the Vols ammunition to contend in the SEC and launch a deep run in March.
Losers
❚ Kentucky: Listen, the Wildcats have a top-five class, as usual, with two five-stars and two four-stars. But by John Calipari standards, at least for now, the Wildcats are behind their fellow blue-blood competitors. It hurts that Cade Cunningham chose Oklahoma State over UK, especially after Cal visited him on a weekly basis, according to several reports. Kentucky is still in the mix for two five-stars (Isaiah Jackson and Greg Brown), although neither of those two are locks and could go down to the wire, with Alabama having a slight edge on Jackson and Texas on Brown.
❚ Memphis: Coming off news that projected No. 1 NBA draft pick James Wiseman was ruled ineligible by the NCAA, Penny Hardaway’s promising program has lost at least some of its appeal, even if Wiseman is still playing and the program is defying the NCAA. The Tigers, who had the No. 1 recruiting class of 2019, are in the running for some top 2020 players (five-stars Greg Brown and Jalen Green among them), but the timing of an illegal recruiting cloud is not ideal and they’re way off last year’s success.
❚ UCLA: While Mick Cronin’s gritty style can produce a winning program with three-star talent (see his Cincinnati résumé), luring five-stars (especially in-state) to Westwood will be the key to winning over an impatient fan base that expects championship banners tomorrow. Landing top-15 point guard Daishen Nix is a perfect start, and the Bruins still appear to be a front-runner for Josh Christopher. But the reason Cronin isn’t a winner on this list is mostly because of the pressure he faces. It doesn’t help that in-state rival Southern California brought in the crown jewel of the 2020 class in 7-footer Evan Mobley. Former coach Steve Alford tallied several top-five classes and that became the norm, meaning a bigger haul will be expected moving forward.
❚ Arizona: After an NCAA tournament-less season of irrelevancy last year, the Wildcats are a top 25 team again thanks to 2019’s top-15 recruiting class. Coach Sean Miller, who still is linked in the crossfire of an FBI probe, is in a downward recruiting trajectory with the Wildcats, who have brought in one four-star guy in Dalen Terry so far.
❚ Washington: After posting a top-10 freshman class last year that has coach Mike Hopkins’ team a dark-horse team to go far this year, the Huskies were nowhere to be seen on recruiting boards this time. Should this year’s talented class all go the one-and-done route, Hopkins might have to turn to the transfer pool for replacements.