A favorite is emerging for one of Kentucky’s top basketball recruiting targets
National basketball recruiting experts are coming to a consensus regarding one of the top immediate targets on Kentucky’s wish list.
Cliff Omoruyi — a 6-foot-11 center from Nigeria, now at Roselle Catholic in New Jersey — is still in the process of taking his official visits as his high school career comes to an end, and one college program has emerged as a favorite.
Rivals.com national analyst Eric Bossi logged a Future Cast prediction in favor of Arizona State on Omoruyi’s page Monday morning, becoming the latest recruiting expert to go with the Sun Devils for the top 50 national prospect.
Omoruyi previously cut his list to Arizona State, Auburn, Kentucky, Rutgers and UConn, and he has now taken official visits to all of those schools except UK and UConn — two programs he has said he still intends to visit before making a college decision. He was at Rutgers — the home-state school — for an official visit over the weekend, and Arizona State hosted him a couple of weeks ago.
Bossi joins several other national experts who have made predictions in favor of the Sun Devils, some of those coming in the past several days. National recruiting experts Andrew Slater and Jerry Meyer both logged picks for Arizona State last week. Rivals.com national analyst Corey Evans and 247Sports recruiting insider Brian Snow picked Arizona State for Omoruyi in the fall.
The Sun Devils now have 100 percent of the picks on Omoruyi’s Rivals.com page and 88 percent of the picks on his 247Sports Crystal Ball page — as of Monday morning — and no national experts have logged a prediction in favor of any of the other teams on his list.
Bossi told the Herald-Leader recently that Arizona State assistant coach Rasheen Davis had done an especially good job of recruiting Omoruyi, and it’s worth noting that Evans logged his prediction in favor of the Sun Devils on the same day that ASU Coach Bobby Hurley added Davis to his staff.
Davis was previously at UMass and has also been an assistant at Virginia Commonwealth, Manhattan and Xavier, as well as a season as a program assistant at Louisville. He’s well-respected in the New York area, and Arizona State noted that he would bring “strong east coast ties” with him to Tempe.
Bossi said in a Rivals.com write-up Monday morning that future campus visits could have an effect in Omoruyi’s recruitment, but, “I like where Bobby Hurley’s team stands with the relentless and physical big man so I’ve gone ahead and made my pick.”
Omoruyi and five-star forward Greg Brown are the only two uncommitted prospects in the class of 2020 with UK scholarship offers, and Omoruyi seemingly fits a specific need for Kentucky’s roster next season, should current center Nick Richards leave for the pros, as is expected.
Richards’ departure would leave the Cats with no physical post preference, and there are no other instant-impact options remaining in the 2020 class.
If Omoruyi does pick Arizona State (or another school), UK would likely be forced to go the transfer route or hope for a 2021 reclassification to shore up the frontcourt. If sophomore forward EJ Montgomery were to return for another season, the Cats could also attempt to play a smaller brand of basketball, combining Montgomery with incoming power forwards Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware — and a large number of talented guards and wings — for a more modern lineup.
Omoruyi is ranked No. 36 nationally by Rivals.com. He has not set a specific announcement date for his college decision, but he did say last week that a commitment date would be coming soon.
