The latest on Crystal Ball picks, and the top Kentucky basketball recruiting links
Those who follow college basketball recruiting and like to keep an eye on the Crystal Ball predictions over at 247Sports haven’t had much to look at these past few weeks.
There was a rush of pro-Arizona picks for five-star point guard Kylan Boswell earlier this week, but other than that, there’s been very little action on those prediction pages. It’s just that time of year.
“Some of these 2023 kids are making moves early. But there’s just not a lot of recruiting movement going on yet,” 247Sports analyst Travis Branham told the Herald-Leader on Wednesday. “We could go through and gauge who ‘leads’ for what kid. But, for me, that’s not enough to put in a Crystal Ball pick. I don’t put in a Crystal Ball until I have good information that’s insinuating a strong leader. ... For everybody, recruiting is just quiet right now.”
Kentucky has an early commitment from 2023 guard Reed Sheppard, and the Cats have extended additional scholarship offers to seven other high school juniors, but UK fans shouldn’t expect much in the way of Crystal Ball picks for those players anytime soon. (And nearly all of the top 2022 recruits have already picked their schools).
Right now, college coaches are all in on their current teams, and high school prospects are also concentrating on their own seasons. Grassroots basketball will start in April — and college coaches will be out in force then — but Branham said it’ll likely be later in the summer before we start to see some real movement on the Crystal Ball pages.
“It will really pick up come June and July and August. That’s when you’ll start seeing the most commitments start to come about,” he said. “August is hot. September is hot. And then, obviously, leading up to that early signing period (in November). After the summer, you’ll see a whole lot more action in that Crystal Ball, and just with recruiting news, in general.”
Top Kentucky basketball recruiting links
Bronny’s future: Analysts talk about LeBron’s son and his recruitment
Four forwards to keep an eye on for the recruiting class of 2024
The SEC coaching carousel could spin in a big way this offseason
South Carolina greats selling virtue of the school to No. 1 recruit
No. 1 sophomore Naas Cunningham offers insight on his recruitment
UK targets Tre Johnson, Naas Cunningham are 2024 wings to watch
Reed Sheppard had 12 points in blowout win to start his postseason
Arkansas and Texas thriving after relying on transfers to build rosters
Hansel Enmanuel’s NIL potential ‘could be one of the best we’ve seen’
Arizona looking like leader for five-star point guard Kylan Boswell
Dominick Barlow is taking a unique pathway to the NBA Draft
2023 wing Scotty Middleton getting a lot of big-time offers early
More Next Cats links: Duke fires first shots in 2024 recruiting battle
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
