🌪Cyclone warning! (For other programs)

Get your Hump Day hard hats on folks, we have work to procrastinate on and college basketball to talk about.

THREE POINTERS

1. Omaha Biliew commits to Iowa State

Class of 2023 five-star power forward Omaha Biliew has committed to Iowa State, choosing the Cyclones over Kansas, Oregon and the G-League Ignite. Biliew is a consensus Top 10 prospect and is the highest-ranked Iowa State commit in the history of the 247 database.

For Biliew, the appeal to play in his home state factored heavily into his decision. He told ESPN he felt it was ‘destined’ for him to play in Ames.

It may be time for college basketball fans outside of Iowa State to pay attention to what TJ Otzelberger is building. Taking over a team that finished 2-22, he led the Cyclones to the Sweet 16 in his first year and is now strutting his stuff on the recruiting trail. Biliew joins recent 4-star forward Milan Momcilovic and 4-star guard Jelani Hamilton to form what is (for now) the third-ranked recruiting class in the country for 2023, trailing only Duke and Kentucky.

It remains to be seen what will be stronger in 2023 — Otzelberger’s upper body or his finalized recruiting class.

TOGETHER WITH FAST MODEL SPORTS

An easier way to binge watch

Go ahead. Queue the videos and spend hours watching. But this isn’t Stranger Things. It’s better.

When it’s time to binge, FastRecruit’s video tools allow you to easily line up highlight after highlight from the latest events. That way, when someone like Justin Edwards pops, you’re ready with the latest notes and insights because you’ve already stored their biographical and contact, and their social media handles in their player profile.

But when it comes to those episodes of Alone, well … you’re on your own.

Learn more about FastRecruit.

2. How many Kentucky guards are too many Kentucky guards?

Speaking of insanely good recruiting classes, John Calipari is well on his way to yet another historic haul, particularly in the backcourt. With five-star point guard Robert Dillingham and five-star combo guard Reed Sheppard already onboard in UK’s 2023 class, Calipari pulled in his highest ranked add of the group yet: five-star wing Justin Edwards committed earlier this week.

That’s a lot of mouths to feed. What a problem to have! With the Cats still aggressively chasing a handful of elite big men and one more guard (DJ Wagner, perhaps 2023’s top player), it’s fair to wonder how many uber-talented freshmen are too many, and if certain skillsets are critical to team success.

Our own Jeff Goodman posited that having a floor spacer next to a primary playmaker is a necessity and that Kentucky might be more successful adding a knockdown shooter instead of another ball-dominant guard.

For seven of the last 10 seasons, Kentucky teams have featured two or more freshmen guards that played 20+ minutes per game. Let’s take a quick look back at that performance history.

2013-2014

• Freshmen guards: Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, James Young, Dominique Hawkins

• Veteran guard: Jarrod Polson

• Record: 29-11 (2nd in SEC)

• Fit: Solid, but missing a trusted veteran and/or an elite floor spacer. This would have been a better backcourt of one of the freshmen shot better than 35% from three, but with Andrew running point alongside his brother Aaron and James Young looking to score, stylistically it worked. Especially in March.

• Grade: B

2014-2015

• Freshmen guards: Tyler Ulis, Devin Booker

• Veteran guards: Aaron Harrison, Andrew Harrison, Dominique Hawkins

• Record: 38-1 (1st in SEC)

• Fit: Did fit matter? This was the most talented college basketball team in 30 years. The Harrison twins’ decision to return, plus one of the best recruiting classes in college hoops history left Calipari with an embarrassment of riches, leading to his PLATOON SYSTEM where no player topped 25 minutes per game. It worked, although I sure wish we could have seen Devin Booker as a featured shot hunter who ran more than ‘like four’ pick and rolls in college instead of as a catch and shoot role player.

• Grade: A+

2015-2016

• Freshmen guards: Jamal Murray, Isaiah Briscoe, Charles Matthews

• Veteran guards: Tyler Ulis, Dominique Hawkins

• Record: 27-9 (1st in SEC)

• Fit: Very good. Next to SEC player of the year Ulis, Murray led the team in scoring and attempted nearly eight 3-pointers per game. Briscoe, Murray and Ulis each played 32 or more minutes per game, resulting in Charles Matthews’ transfer to Michigan after falling out of the rotation. Michigan fans say thank you.

• Grade: A

2016-2017

• Freshmen guards: DeAaron Fox, Malik Monk

• Veteran guards: Isaiah Briscoe, Dominique Hawkins, Mychal Mulder

• Record: 32-6 (1st in SEC)

• Fit: Fantastic. Fox’s lightning quick speed paired with Monk’s shot-making was perfect. Sophomore Briscoe was a ‘veteran’ only in Kentucky terms, but he was thunder to Fox’s lightning as the two shared playmaking duties. Mulder’s sharpshooting off the bench was the cherry on top for one of the best teams in the country that season

• Grade: A+

2017-2018

• Freshmen guards: Quade Green, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo

• Veteran guards: none

• Record: 26-11 (4th in SEC)

• Fit: Pretty smooth. Green, SGA and Diallo shot efficiently and were capable of sliding on or off ball. SGA proved to be the best playmaker of the bunch, racking up assists forcing Green to operate more off-ball than they may have wished, and a veteran shooting presence was sorely missed.

• Grade: C+

2018-2019

• Freshmen guards: Ashton Hagans, Immanuel Quickley, Tyler Herro and Keldon Johnson

• Veteran guard: Quade Green

• Record: 30-7 (2nd in SEC)

• Fit: Smooth, but with chemistry concerns, Hagans operated well as the primary playmaker with Herro and Johnson flanking him as shooting threats. Quade Green fell behind Hagans and Quickley in the rotation and transferred mid-season

• Grade: B+

2020-2021

• Freshmen guards: Brandon Boston, Devin Askew and Terrence Clarke

• Veteran guards: Davion Mintz

• Record: 9-16 (8th in SEC)

• Fit: Choppy, none of the freshmen shot above 30% from three. Mintz and Askew both needed the ball in their hands, but neither should have had the ball in their hands.

• Grade: F

So what should we make of all this, besides the fact that Kentucky is a talent factory unlike any other? Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. It’s no surprise that when you put four NBA-ready guys in the same backcourt at once, usually they figure it out. But fit matters more than you would think, and it has been awhile since Calipari has truly had two or more lottery pick guards at once.

That would almost certainly change if DJ Wagner chooses Kentucky

3. Hardaway vs. Holloway = Ignore family members on Thanksgiving

The bracket is set for the ESPN Events Invitational next season. Held in Orlando over Thanksgiving, you can add “watch basketball” alongside “meet Mickey Mouse” and “eat turkey” to your Florida trip plans (while avoiding awkward Thanksgiving dinner conversations with that one uncle you haven’t seen in awhile).

This year, the tournament is no competitor to the loaded fields in Maui or the PK85, but there’s one particular matchup that tickles my fancy: Memphis vs. Seton Hall.

There will be plenty of unknowns — it’s early enough in the season that there’s no telling what stage of the annual Memphis roller coaster ride the Tigers will be in. On the other side, Holloway steps into his first year in the Big East with a roster full of new faces — five incoming transfers and three freshmen are in the fold.

It may be beautiful basketball, ugly basketball, or beautiful ugly basketball. But it’s Penny Hardaway vs. Shaheen Holloway. I’ll be asking for seconds.

OFF THE CAROUSEL

Prohm is where the heart is

In his first run as a head coach, Steve Prohm led Murray State to 104 wins in four seasons, won four conference titles and molded two different recruits into NBA point guards. And now we get an encore? Prohm’s return to head coaching at the program that he took to relevance after a glorious one-year stint with The Field of 68 will be one of the most fun things to watch for next season.

Here’s what Prohm himself had to say about it:

Subscribe to The Field of 68 on YouTube.

THE FAST BREAK

Links for when you’re done debating your significant other on if teal is a palatable color or not:

• Five-star big man Ugonna Kingsley officially reclassified to 2022.

• Five-star 2023 big man Xavier Booker is down to 10 schools.

• Our countdown of the top 25 college basketball players in the last ten seasons rages on, and enrages many.

• The Wooden Legacy bracket has been released.

• The Diamond Head Classic bracket has been released.

• The Myrtle Beach Invitational bracket has been released.

• The Planters Dry Roasted Peanuts Tip-Off bracket has been released.

• The Charleston Classic bracket has been released.

• Only one of those last five bullet points was made up.

• John Fanta’s 10 favorite non-conference matchups.

• The 25 most impactful incoming freshman classes.

• This high school freshman is as tall as Tacko Fall and somehow he’s not committed to Purdue yet.

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