Basketball Recruiting Update: The Seattle Talent Drain Continues

Out of the Running

Kevin Porter Jr.

SG; Rainier Beach High School, WA; 6’5”, 205

Scout: 4 stars, #26 Overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars, #71 Overall; ESPN: 4 stars, #81 overall

The University of Washington and Coach Hop received a big blow when 2018 prospect Kevin Porter Jr. announced today that he is committing to USC. That acronym apparently now stands for the University of Seattle- California campus. The Trojans have now secured commitments from both of the consensus top two prospects in the city of Seattle following the recent commitment of J’Raan Brooks from Garfield.

Scout has Porter Jr. ranked as their #26 prospect for the class of 2018 and Brooks as the #86 prospect. This comes on the heels of a commitment on Friday from the #24 prospect, Taeshon Cherry, to USC as well. The Trojans will return their top 8 players from last season when they went 10-8 in conference and add in a high 4 star freshman on top of it. With what looks to be a top-10 recruiting class for 2018 we can expect USC to be a force in the conference for the next several years.

But what does this mean for UW? Technically, Washington has 0 available spots for the 2018 class. Someone will undoubtedly end up transferring after the season and open up room but I can understand there being hesitation on the part of any future recruits over the fact their commitment necessarily forces someone out. But Porter Jr. was Scout’s highest rated recruit out of the state of Washington since Tony Wroten in 2011 (excluding last year’s transplant Michael Porter Jr). The Wroten experience didn’t work out particularly well for UW or for Wroten but he’s the caliber of player that you need to keep home unless you can recruit nationally at an elite level.

The recent commitments of Nahziah Carter and Hameir Wright suggest that maybe Hop can to some degree but the more sustainable route long term is to secure the Seattle guys. This is why Cameron Dollar and Will Conroy were brought on board. To keep the local talent home. In 2015, Romar got commitments from all 3 Scout top-100 players from the state of Washington (Murray, Thybulle, Green). Otherwise, UW is 1/11 going back to 2012, with Jaylen Nowell this year being the only other player to stay. Now they’re 0/3 in the 2018 class. If UW can’t get P.J Fuller in the 2019 class than either Conroy or Dollar should be worried about their job security.

Erik Stevenson

SG; Timberline High School, WA; 6’4”, 180

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars; ESPN: 3 stars

Stevenson committed to Wichita State recently. There was never an indication that either UW or Stevenson were seriously interested in one another but he’s a local player who held an offer from UW so worth a brief mention.

Marcus Bingham

PF; Catholic Central High School, MI; 6’10”, 195

Scout: 4 stars, #55 overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars, #79 overall; ESPN: 4 stars, #97 overall

Bingham committed to Michigan State this week. He held an offer from UW but there was never any indication whatsoever that he gave UW any consideration over the local programs.

Status Update

Bryan Penn-Johnson

C; Coronado High School, NV; 6’11”, 220

Scout: 4 stars, #98 overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars, #39 overall; ESPN: 4 stars

In the last recruiting update, I mentioned that I was surprised that the blue bloods weren’t getting involved in Bryan Penn-Johnson’s recruitment. Well, now they are. Both Arizona and UCLA offered in the last week. Both schools are in on other top level big men and are a little bit late to the party but it depends on the prospect how much that actually matters. If he sees himself as a one-and-done type guy then he may be more likely to be swayed by the cachet behind those names. We’ll see but things got a lot tighter this week.

Marcus Zegarowski

PG; Tilton High School, NH; 6’1”, 165

Scout: 2 stars; 247 Sports: 4 stars; ESPN: 4 stars

Zegarowski appears to be UW’s top Point Guard target for the 2018 class and he has been busy over the last several weeks. In addition to an unofficial visit to UW, he also took unofficial visits to Arizona State, Creighton, and Pitt. UW still has a good relationship with Marcus from Hop’s time recruiting Marcus’s older brother, Michael Carter-Williams to Syracuse. Given the fact that he’s visited schools in 3 separate corners of the country it doesn’t seem like distance is too big of a concern for Zegarowski.

• Ed Chang

SF; Papillon-La Vista High School, NE; 6’7”, 180

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 4 stars; ESPN: 4 stars

Nebraska is the most likely outcome here but watch for news tomorrow if he does decide upon UW. The final 5 are UW, Nebraska, Creighton, Iowa, and St. John’s.

Add to the List

Dimon Carrigan

C; Woodstock Academy, CT; 6’9”, 212

No Rankings

Dimon Carrigan is another late blooming big man that UW has extended an offer to recently. He’s extremely raw offensively but has been dominant as a shot blocker and rim protector. On the Nike EYBL circuit, he averaged 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.4 blocks in just 16 minutes per game. That blocks per game total was 2nd nationally behind only Scout’s #2 overall prospect 7’2” Bol Bol (son of Manute Bol). Numbers 3 and 4 on that list? #1 overall prospect (and basketball prodigy) Marvin Bagley and Jontay Porter. Carrigan profiles as the kind of uber-athletic shot blocker that would fit into the middle of a Syracuse style zone. His stated top-5 as of right now are Georgia Tech, Washington, Miami, Houston, and Wichita State and he plans on taking an official visit to UW at some point.

The List

Serious Chance

• Nic Lynch

C; Seattle Prep High School, WA; 6’10”, 255

Scout: 3 stars; ESPN: 2 stars

• Bryan Penn-Johnson

C; Coronado High School, NV; 6’10”, 200

Scout: 4 stars, #98 overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars, #39 overall; ESPN: 4 stars

• Marcus Zegarowski

PG; Tilton High School, NH; 6’1”, 165

Scout: 2 stars; 247 Sports: 4 stars; ESPN: 4 stars

• Ed Chang

SF; Papillon-La Vista High School, NE; 6’7”, 180

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars; ESPN: 4 stars

Have Visited Campus

• Kamaka Hepa

PF; Jefferson High School, OR; 6’9”, 215

Scout: 4 stars, #36 overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars, #37 overall; ESPN: 4 stars; #48 Overall

• Jamal Bey

SF; Bishop Gorman High School, NV; 6’6”, 195

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars; ESPN: 3 stars

Have Offered

• Elijah Hardy

PG; Bishop O’Dowd High School, CA; 6’1”, 165

Scout: 4 stars; 247 Sports: 4 stars; ESPN: 4 stars

• Dimon Carrigan

C; Woodstock Academy, CT; 6’9”, 212

No Rankings

• Emmitt Matthews Jr.

SF; Wilson High School, WA; 6’7”, 175

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars

• George Conditt

C; Corliss High School, IL; 6’10”, 200

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars

• Nate Roberts

PF; Brewster Academy, NH; 6’11”, 220

Scout: 4 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars; ESPN: 4 stars

• K.J Hymes

C; St. Mary’s High School, AZ; 6’10”, 215

Scout: 3 stars; 247 Sports: 3 stars; ESPN: 3 stars

• Frankie Policelli

SF; New Hartford Senior, NY; 6’7”, 155

247 Sports: 3 stars

• Ignas Brazdeikis

SF; Orangeville Prep, Ontario; 6’7”, 220

Scout: 4 stars, # 39 overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars; Rivals: 4 stars

• Luguentz Dort

SG; Calusa Prep, Quebec; 6’5”, 220

Scout: 4 stars, #29 overall; 247 Sports: 4 stars, #64 overall; ESPN: 4 stars

*****

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