No. 1 point guard sets college decision date, and it could be bad timing for Kentucky
Five-star point guard Hunter Sallis has set a date to announce his college decision, and it might not be the best of timing for Kentucky.
Sallis — a 6-foot-5 prospect from Omaha — will reveal his college choice March 26, which also happens to be his birthday. He still has eight schools on his recruiting list, but the three that have been the subject of the most buzz in recent weeks are UK, North Carolina and Gonzaga.
The timing of Sallis’ choice might be good news for the Zags, the only program that was able to host him for an official visit before the COVID-19 pandemic led the NCAA to institute what has become an indefinite “dead period” for recruiting travel.
Sallis had expressed hope that he would be able to take additional official visits once the dead period was lifted, and Kentucky and North Carolina likely would have been the two programs at the top of that visit list. The NCAA’s current dead period is still in effect until mid-April, however, which means that Sallis will announce his decision without taking an official visit to UK or UNC.
If he picks Gonzaga, it wouldn’t come as a surprise. The Zags had been picking up Crystal Ball predictions in recent weeks, and 247Sports national basketball director Eric Bossi wrote recently that he was close to changing his prediction from Kentucky to Gonzaga. Shortly after Sallis announced Sunday that he would be making a college announcement in March, one of Rivals.com’s top analysts, Dan McDonald, changed his Future Cast pick from UK to Gonzaga.
Entering Sallis’ senior season, Kentucky was widely projected as a favorite in his recruitment.
Sallis is ranked by 247Sports as the No. 6 overall recruit in the 2021 class, and Rivals.com has him in the No. 7 spot.
UK is still looking for another backcourt player for next season — with Sallis and top-three national recruit Jaden Hardy at the top of the list — but the Wildcats are projected to have a talented group in Lexington for the 2021-22 season, regardless of their decisions. (Many recruiting analysts have predicted that Hardy will go straight to the pros).
Kentucky has already signed highly touted point guard Nolan Hickman for the 2021 class, and freshman point guard Devin Askew is expected to be back at UK for his sophomore season. The Cats also have an early commitment from five-star point guard Skyy Clark, who is currently in the 2022 class but is taking the necessary academic courses to reclassify to 2021 and play college basketball next season. Clark is expected to make a decision on reclassification in the spring.
This story was originally published January 24, 2021 at 5:26 PM.
