Thursday, October 3, 2019

Recruiting Notes - Thursday, October 3rd, 2019

Once we hit basketball season, I plan on ramping up my Throwback Thursday feature, where I highlight fun, important, or otherwise noteworthy moments in Pitt basketball history. I'm excited to share deeper dives on the moments that made us all fans. To that end, feel free to reach out to me with any of your favorite moments in Pitt basketball history so that I might be able to cover them. Onto the recruiting news of the day:

  • We start today's recruiting notes with five-star wing and Pitt target Earl Timberlake from DeMatha Catholic in Maryland. The news has started coming pretty quickly for Timberlake, beginning with a cancellation of an upcoming visit to a major program, courtesy of Corey Evans:
    • Obviously, any time a recruit cancels a visit to a program like North Carolina, that's going to be good news for the other schools involved. In this instance, as Hammett notes, the potential beneficiaries appear to be Pitt, Providence, Seton Hall, South Carolina, and Miami.
    • While Jim Hammett of Rivals suggests that Timberlake will visit Seton Hall this weekend, according to Adam Zagoria, Timberlake took his Seton Hall visit this past weekend. 
    • It would appear that Pitt finds itself in a top-five situation for Timberlake, given his decision not to visit two of the other top-seven (Alabama and North Carolina). Not a bad spot to be in for a five-star, top-25 overall recruit, eh?
  • But today's news regarding Timberlake didn't stop there: shortly after announcing the cancellation of his North Carolina visit, Timberlake also announced a commitment date:
    • Indeed just a couple of hours later, Timberlake announced that he'll pick his college basketball destination on Nov. 4 between a top-five that does include Jeff Capel's Pitt Panthers.
  • So does Pitt have a real shot with Timberlake? It's possible, but Timberlake's recruitment has been very hard to read up to this point. In fact, no Rivals experts have made predictions yet. On 247sports, it appears that both experts who have put in their Crystal Balls have guessed that Timberlake will pick Miami. That includes the pick of Jerry Meyer, who has been correct on 44 of his 48 predictions for the class of 2020. What's more? Both of those experts put their predictions in this morning, as this information was unfolding.
    • Of course, this does not mean that Pitt doesn't have a chance with Timberlake, even if Miami is the current favorite. Especially with one month to go before he commits, Capel and Pitt will have plenty of time to put the finishing touches on their recruitment of the talented wing.
    • To that end, we will keep an eye out for any contact between Capel and Timberlake, and keep Pitt fans in the loop to anything that we learn.
  • It has also been reported that Pitt will be receiving an official visit from another five-star wing: Josh Hall. 
    • That's pretty huge news for Pitt. Hall recently announced his top 12 schools and included Pitt, but to give Pitt one of his official visits should have fans feeling pretty good about where Pitt stands with Hall, since recruits are allowed to take only five official visits. 
    • Does that mean that Pitt will ultimately wind up in Hall's top five? Not necessarily, since he may wind up taking unofficial visits to some schools beyond the five official visits that he takes. 
    • Moreover, since he's planning to start his visits in November, don't look for a commitment any time soon: he'll miss the early signing period in November and won't sign until April, 2020.
  • Pittsburgh Sports Now has also provided an interesting update on top target RJ Davis. While North Carolina received a big commitment earlier this week from five-star point guard Caleb Love, Davis is still planning to take his upcoming official visit to North Carolina.
    • This would seem to indicate that Davis is still considering North Carolina, despite the fact that they recently took a more highly-ranked recruit at his position. 
    • Love's commitment surely can't help UNC in their pursuit of Davis, but you can never rule a school like North Carolina out until the player has committed.
    • According to the PSN article, Davis plans on committing before the early signing period in November, which means that he should be committing shortly after his UNC visit. Ostensibly, the finalists are Pitt, Marquette, Georgetown, and North Carolina, while Pitt and Marquette have long been rumored as the teams to bear.
  • Finally, Pittsburgh Sports Now dropped another potential bombshell this morning:
    • Typically, when Pittsburgh Sports Now tweets out paw prints, it's because they've received news of an expected commitment. So, who could they be referencing? It could be John Hugley, who has announced that he will commit on Oct. 18. It could be Davis, who is wrapping up his own commitment. 
    • Our guess is that it's Hugley, who took his official visit to Pitt last weekend, and an unofficial visit to Pitt two weekends ago. 
      • To that end, all five experts who have weighed in on Rivals are predicting that Hugley will commit to Pitt when he announces in two weeks.
  • As if that isn't enough news, Pitt will be visiting two more top prospects today, including 2020 prospect Cliff Omoruyi:
  • While there is still so much in flux for the 2020 class, head coach Jeff Capel will be visiting a 2021 four-star frontcourt player today in Rivals150 center Adama Sanogo. 
    • It just goes to show the lengths to which coaches need to go to build and maintain relationships with recruits. It would surely be easier to focus on the 2020 class with a few scholarships remaining open, but Capel's reputation as a strong relationship-builder precedes him, and building these relationships over an extended period of time will surely benefit Pitt in the long run.
    • We're already seeing this approach bear fruit with players like Hugley, Davis, and Hall--players that wouldn't have even looked in Pitt's direction two years ago before Capel's arrival.
Well, that's the recruiting news for the day, Pitt fans. Keep an eye out for more news throughout the day and week, as well as a new episode of the Pitt Pod to be dropped later today. And consider giving us a follow on Twitter @PittLead. Hail to Pitt!
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