Diamond Stone, the 6-foot-10 big man from Milwaukee Dominican, announced his top five schools on Thursday, according to reports.
Stone listed Duke, Maryland, Oklahoma State, UConn and Wisconsin, with Kentucky among those not making the list.
Stone will announce his college choice Nov. 12, the first day of the NCAA early signing period.
He and 6-4 point guard Malik Newman have talked about a package deal.
UConn, Kentucky and Kansas were thought to be the most likely landing spots for the combo package, but Kentucky and Kansas are now out for Stone.
Duke, Maryland, Oklahoma State and Wisconsin are not thought to be likely options for Newman.
Newman recently told SNY.tv that he doesn’t have a date set for his announcement, and will likely announce on a different date from Stone.
“My boy committing before me…wish him the best of luck… @Diamond_Stone33 don’t mean that’s the school I’m going to tho…,” Newman recently Tweeted.
Newman has insisted all along that he and Stone will be a package deal in college, telling Steve Jones of the Louisville Courier-Journal, “I think that team [that gets us] is going to win the NCAA championship.”
Newman told SNY.tv at the LeBron James Skills Academy: “[Stone]’s a great player, he’s a great person. I’d love to play with him in college because he’s a dominant post player. That’s something I’ve always wanted to play with because I figure that if he can get the post going, that can help me out because that can really spread the floor.”
Stone, who visited UConn over the summer on a trip Newman did not make, has been less committal on the package deal, telling Jones there’s a “50 percent chance” he and Newman will go to the same school.
