The (long) weekend in college hoops

Tennessee, Xavier headlined a busy few days for commits, but Charleston may have stolen the show. Plus, an Ohio State player steps away, and much more.

September 06, 2022

Sure, college football is great, but have you ever created a brand in anticipation of an announcement that will shape the sport?

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Now, let’s get to the college basketball news. There was plenty of it the last few days.

STARTING FIVE

1. Two impact recruits highlight a busy weekend

Who had a better weekend: Rick Barnes or Sean Miller? The obvious choice is Barnes, who got a commitment from one of the fastest-risers in the class of 2023 in J.P. Estrella.

The 6-11 center — who’s grown 8 inches since his freshman year of high school — has good hands, is a good passer and flaunts a soft shooting touch. These are all things you’d expect from someone who played guard not too long ago. Currently projected as a 4-star player, there’s a chance Estrella could end up as one of the top players in his class depending on his continued development.

He and Freddie Dilione are the pieces of Tennessee’s Top 10 group.

Still, Miller made his claim for the better holiday.

Xavier’s new (old?) coach added the third player to his 2023 class — and secured the commitment while recruiting against Ohio State, Arkansas, Clemson and Arizona State. The addition also puts Xavier’s class in the Top 10.

The 6-7 Swain is a playmaking guard who’s terrific in the open floor and could develop into a dynamic two-way player thanks to his long, lean build.

Swain joins other Top-100 guard prospects Trey Green and Reid Ducharme, giving Xavier a solid backcourt for the future, but don’t count on them being the last 2023 recruits.

“I definitely think we have a statement year coming up. Me, Trey (Green), and Reid (Ducharme) are going to (recruit) some more bigs,” Swain told On3.com.

More recruits who committed the last few days:

2. CofC recruiting factory

OK, sorry. Got ahead of myself. The happiest coach last weekend was Pat Kelsey. He landed his second 4-star recruit for his 2023 class.

Isaiah Coleman, a 6-5 shooting guard, chose the College of Charleston on Sunday. He’s an aggressive, athletic player with excellent size.

Coleman joins fellow 4-star recruit Mayar Wol and 3-star big man James Scott — all of whom play for Team Loaded on the Adidas 3SSB Circuit. Credit assistant Thomas Carr, who was the Director of Team Loaded, before joining Kelsey’s staff.

Does Coleman now give Charleston the best mid-major recruiting class of 2023? Adam Finklestein says yes. Currently, the Cougars are vying with St. Joe’s (three 3-star commits) and Richmond (two 3-stars) as the only mid-majors among 247’s Top 40 classes for 2023.

Kelsey could use ‘em, too. He’ll need to replace three starters after a 17-15 debut season at CofC. His roster is filled with incoming sophomores. Could their senior seasons be bolstered by incoming freshmen? Looks like that’s the plan.

In the meantime, how will Charleston fare this season? The answer can be found here.

3. Two recruits have second thoughts

The last few days weren’t all commitments, though.

Washington, a 4-star guard, was Ohio State’s first 2023 commit, and made a campus visit over the weekend, along with Taison Chatman and Bronny James. A host of schools reportedly reached out to him Monday. (Notable on that list? Dayton, which is where Washington’s father is an assistant women’s coach.)

The silver lining for the Buckeyes? They’re the likely front-runner to land Chatman, a bigger and higher-rated guard.

Ohio State wasn’t the only program to lose a commitment, either.

Bol Kuir, a 7-3 center in the class of 2022, says he’s no longer headed to New Mexico State this fall. The Belfry, Kent., prospect chose the Aggies over Illinois, Texas, DePaul and Kentucky. He only played six games as a high school senior, so it’ll be interesting to see where the big guy ends up.

4. Ex-Ivy POY calls it a career, won’t play this season

Ohio State also got news this weekend that affects the 2022-23 roster. Forward Seth Towns announced he won’t play this season.

Towns played just one campaign in Columbus, appearing in 25 games during the 2020-21 season, averaging 3.8 points a game. A back injury kept him out last year.

It’s a tough beat for the 6-8 Towns, who was the Ivy League Player of the Year as a sophomore when he put up 16 points and 5.7 boards a game in 2017-18. Injuries derailed his next two seasons at Harvard — though he did earn his degree. The Ohio native transferred to Ohio State in 2020.

“Seth is a really good, thoughtful person who struggled with this difficult decision,” coach Chris Holtmann told The Columbus Dispatch. “He has been an outstanding teammate and obviously a very productive player for us when healthy. He absolutely loves being a Buckeye so I know how hard this has been for him. He's been a pleasure to coach and I can't wait to see what's next for him.”

5. More Big Ten expansion hardly a sure thing

USC is preparing for its move to the Big Ten. UCLA is still working on it. But if the conference wants to add any more schools in the future, it’ll need to build consensus among the existing members first. And that’s not a given from at least one Big Ten school.

From The Athletic:

“I feel like when we added the two that we added, it made sense. It had a lot of momentum behind it,” [Iowa AD Gary] Barta said Thursday. “I’ve not yet heard anything that would get me at Iowa — I’m just speaking for Iowa — excited to say, ‘Let’s continue to expand more.’ So, I don’t feel like it’s a hot button. But that’s one person’s opinion. I won’t speak for the conference.

“Whatever upside Iowa will receive from the new TV contract, I’m certainly not going to be interested in supporting additional expansion, if that means Iowa would get less. That’s just one criteria, but that’s an important one.”

The Big Ten inked the largest media rights deal ever with Fox, NBC and CBS, worth more than $8 billion over 7 years. Member schools will get $71 million annually each from the new deal, about $14 million more per year.

TWEET OF THE WEEK

Hokies could use a do-over

Virginia Tech lost to Old Dominion on Friday. But that wasn’t the only tough thing about the Hokies’ opener. They reportedly had items stolen from the locker room, plus, this was how the second half started.

THE FAST BREAK

Links as you decide if you need the iPhone 14.

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