Juice up the rental car and make sure that GPS on the dashboard is working.
The July recruiting period is here!
College basketball coaches will be criss-crossing America over the next three weeks in the hopes of landing players who can help their programs win games and, ultimately, capture NCAA championships.
Beginning at 5 p.m. Wednesday, an army of college coaches will descend upon Las Vegas, Philadelphia and Chicago for the Nike, Reebok and Adidas camps.
“1st official day of recruiting. Starts at 5 pm. So excited to see a lot of future Orange!” Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins Tweeted.
“Couldn’t sleep last night — first day of recruiting” N.C. State assistant Orlando Early Tweeted.
As we head into July recruiting, here are five key storylines to keep an eye on as the month unfolds.
1. Where will Cal be?
Love him or hate him, there’s always a buzz when Kentucky coach John Calipari strolls into a gymnasium in July.
Why? Calipari almost always has the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation. Except for 2014, when Kentucky “slipped” to No. 2 behind Duke.
Anyhow, if Calipari is watching a game, chances are there’s at least one elite prospect in it, if not several.
Our friend Ben Roberts of the Lexington Herald-Leader reports that Calipari will begin the live period at the Breakout Classic in Philadelphia, which features 2015 Kentucky targets in Milwaukee big man Diamond Stone, Philadelphia wing Derrick Jones and Memphis post player Skal Labissiere, as well as 2016 targets in California point guard Derryck Thornton and New Jersey combo guard Tyus Battle.
Calipari and his staff are also focused on Cleveland power forward Carlton Bragg, Georgia small forward Jaylen Brown, Long Island big man Cheick Diallo, Mississippi guard Malik Newman, California post player Ivan Raab and Las Vegas center Stephen Zimmerman.
Several of these guys will be at the LeBron James Nike Skills Academy in Las Vegas.
Louisville coach Rick Pitino, who is also involved with many of these top players, will also be in Philadelphia to start, according to Jody Demling.
Next week, as Roberts points out, Diallo, Newman, Rabb and Zimmerman will all be at the Peach Jam, and you know Cal will be watching them there. (Rabb and Zimmerman both run with the Oakland Soldiers).
2. Is anyone hotter than Kevin Ollie right now?
After leading UConn to its fourth NCAA championship in just his second year on the bench, Kevin Ollie is hotter than a ghost pepper right now.
Several NBA teams were linked to Ollie, who ultimately signed a five-year, $15 million extension to remain in Storrs.
Now, after the recent decommits of guards Prince Ali and Will Jackson, Ollie is like an NBA GM armed with cap space and multiple draft picks.
He’s got one commit in point guard Jalen Adams and three scholarships to work with.
Ollie and his staff are targeting some of the same guys Calipari (and everyone else) is, namely Malik Newman, Derrick Jones and Las Vegas wing Ray Smith, as well as Milwaukee center Diamond Stone, New Jersey point guard Isaiah Briscoe and Connecticut post player Steven Enoch.
3. How many package deals will actually come to fruition?
Every summer, a bunch of recruits dream of playing with their friends in college and talk about package deals.
Just last summer, Rashad Vaughn and Josh Perkins discussed the possibility, and Vaughn ended up pledging to UNLV and Perkins to Gonzaga.
Isaiah Whitehead and Ja’Quan Newton also talked about it, and Whitehead picked Seton Hall and Newton Miami.
Cliff Alexander and JaQuan Lyle pondered it, and Alexander will play for Kansas while Lyle will suit up for Oregon.
This summer, Diamond Stone and Malik Newman are pondering a package, with UConn and Kansas two potential landing spots for the big man/point guard combo.
Newman told SNY.tv the package was “100 percent,” while Stone’s father says it’s not a certainty.
Stone will be in Philadephia this week at the Reebok Breakout Classic, while Newman will be at LeBron. It should be interesting to see how this one unfolds.
4. Who’s going to reclass to 2015?
Every year, some big-time player reclasses a year and heads to college earlier than originally expected.
Andrew Wiggins was originally in the Class of 2014 before he reclassed to 2013 and chose Kansas.
Now he’s the No. 1 pick in the Draft and, who knows, he could be suiting up next to LeBron James in a year or so?
This year, keep an eye on 7-footer Thon Maker of the Carlisle (Va.) School.
Maker has recently taken a bunch of college visits, hitting Duke, Kansas and Missouri. He also plans to visit Arizona, UCLA, Kentucky and Indiana this summer.
That’s a lot of visits for a kid in the Class of 2016.
His guardian, Ed Smith, tells SNY.tv Maker will know by January whether or not he plans to reclass to 2015.
5. Who might commit the soonest?
Some elite players are fixing to make their decisions soon.
As in before the summer ends, or shortly thereafter.
Las Vegas big man Chase Jeter told SNY.tv, “I will announce towards the end of the summer.”
The 7-foot, 225-pound Jeter is fresh off a gold medal with the USA U18 team and told SNY.tv UNLV, Arizona, Duke and UCLA are recruiting him the hardest.
Expect to see coaches from those schools hot on his trail this month.
Other players looking to commit in the late summer/early fall include Las Vegas wing Ray Smith, Jeter’s teammate on Dream Vision, and New Jersey guard Isaiah Briscoe.
Smith is listing Arizona, Arizona State, Texas, UConn, Georgetown, Louisville, UCLA, USC , UConn and Cal, but his father told SNY.tv the list is fluid.
Briscoe lists St. John’s, UConn, Louisville, Arizona, Villanova, Seton Hall and Rutgers, so expect to see a steady diet of Steve Lavin, Kevin Ollie, Rick Pitino, Sean Miller, Jay Wright, Kevin Willard and Eddie Jordan at his games at the Peach Jam.
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