ESPN Recruiting Nation Basketball

Amile Jefferson (Philadelphia, Pa./Friends Central), No. 25 overall and the best prospect remaining in the 2012 class, will announce his college decision at 4 p.m. ET Tuesday afternoon.

The finalists – I believe – are NC State, Duke, Kentucky, Ohio State and Villanova.

On Monday, the call came through: “Dave, can you write a blog handicapping Amile Jefferson’s recruitment?” I would have been more comfortable coming up with an exacta pick for the Kentucky Derby.

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DALLAS – The third session of the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL) is in the books. Unfortunately, injuries depleted the talent pool at the top as standouts PF Aaron Gordon (San Jose, Calif./Archbishop Mitty), PG Tyus Jones (Apple Valley, Minn./Apple Valley), SG Jabari Bird (Richmond, Calif./Salesian) and SG Keith Frazier (Dallas/Kimball) either played sparingly or didn’t play at all. Recent Alabama commit, big man Jimmie Taylor (Greensboro, Ala./Greensboro) was also not in attendance.

Same old Wiggins
For the second consecutive EYBL session, the best prospect was 2014 small forward Andrew Wiggins (Toronto/Huntington Prep, W.Va.). So far through the spring, he’s turned into the standard by which everyone is measured. Frankly, Wiggins did things last weekend that no one else is capable of doing. His athleticism and creativity at the rim is elite and he’s looking like a pace car that holds a larger-than-expected lead on the pack. When you have the highest ceiling and are among the most productive players, that’s a lethal combination.

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ESPN 60 center Jimmie Taylor (Greensboro, Ala./Greensboro) committed to in-state Alabama on Thursday during an unofficial campus visit.

Taylor said he always knew he had options but the visit gave him good piece of mind about the Crimson Tide. “I went up there and I saw it and I wanted to get it over with,” Taylor said.

Alabama head coach Anthony Grant’s had a hand in the development of more than a few guys (Al Horford, Joakim Noah and Larry Sanders) who made it into the first round of the NBA draft. Don’t think Grant didn’t toss those names around ad nauseum with Taylor.

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There's no better time than the present to learn about prospects. In this business, if you're not in information-gathering mode and learning on a daily basis, you're not pulling your weight (my suitcase goes from trunk to the laundry room and back into the car for the next trip) and our staff has been in gyms from coast to coast.

Since March 24, here are a few questions that have been answered and a handful more that need to be addressed:

2013 recruit rankings wide open

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As evaluators of talent, each spring we all make our must-see lists. These must-see prospects might be guys whose game ascended to previously unfathomable levels or simply guys you’ve never seen before.

Going into this past weekend's Spiece Run N' Slam Classic, one of the unknowns for me was point guard Demetrius Jackson (Mishawaka, Ind./Marian). Colleagues Reggie Rankin and John Stovall were already big fans and I wanted to see him for myself.

There I was last Friday night, courtside at the Spiece Fieldhouse watching Jackson's MBA Select team warm up. One problem: no Jackson. Twitter’s a great tool for information gathering and within a few minutes, it was clear Jackson wasn’t coming and he had a good reason. He was going to take the SAT the next morning. However, the next day, Jackson tweeted me that he was done with the SAT and on his way.

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Another weekend of travel basketball is in the books. The most recent victim of the spring tour: Hensley Memorial aka Spiece. It’s a favorite because of the roots of the tournament. Bill Hensley built the event brick by brick into one of the crown jewels of the spring. Hensley died a few years ago while jogging and his son Todd has continued the tradition.

Last weekend provided a good backdrop to evaluate and spend a few minutes with some of the best talent the Midwest has to offer.

2013 forward Nigel Hayes (Toledo, Ohio/Whitmer) has offers from Xavier, Cincinnati and Toledo. Wisconsin is looking and the behind-the-scenes chatter indicated he might be waiting on the Ohio State Buckeyes.

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There are two remaining programs for ESPN 100 PF Anthony Bennett (Brampton, Ont./Findlay Prep), the top remaining prospect in America.

Last week when the Florida Gators and Bennett severed ties, the writing was on the wall as we foresaw the elimination of another program: Kentucky. On Monday, word spread that Kentucky was no longer an option.

The recent shifts leave UNLV and Oregon chasing Bennett. What’s the next move? Well, it’s not written in stone as to who winds up with the commitment. If I’m Oregon, I’d wonder if the Ducks could land Bennett without the benefit of an official visit. Bennett visited the school unofficially, while he was in the state playing in the Hoop Summit in April, however, no program has hosted him on an official visit.

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One down, two more to go before we have a winner.

On Friday, power forward Anthony Bennett (Brampton, Ont./Findlay Prep) tidied up his remaining list of suitors and removed the Florida Gators from consideration. The Gators, for a long time, had been rumored to be the clubhouse leader.

“At first I really liked Florida but when [Brad] Beal decided to leave it affected me, cause I was looking forward to playing with him,” Bennett said.

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On April 15, 2010, I received an email from New Mexico Force coach Ross Romero. Each year Romero brings a team of kids from New Mexico and Texas to the Real Deal on the Hill in Arkansas, an event I typically attend. In advance of the event, Romero sends out a blast email describing his team. One player in particular stood out: Jerry Joseph. He had Romero excited.

“6-5, Wing, 2012, Jerry Joseph (Odessa Permian HS - Odessa, TX) - high major potential - one of the top scorers in district as a Soph.”

During the event, I watched the Force and Joseph, who looked to me like a bull out on the court. I’ve seen thousands of high school sophomores in my day and the physically mature ones tend to stand out. Joseph looked older, much older. I can’t say I gave it much thought, as kids reclassify or are held back a lot nowadays. Plus, I’m sure on some level I saw “Permian” and thought Boobie Miles and Texas high school football. Either way, I noted he looked older, rated him a mid-major prospect as a small forward and included him in my report to college coaches.

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Marcus Lee (Antioch, Calif./Deer Valley) has the personality to match his talent. The guy’s engaging and a helluva quote. He’s come on strong and to many, it was out of left field.

“I really don’t know what happened,” Lee said. “I just started playing harder at the beginning of my season this year. My coach came to me and said I had to do this now because my team needed me and I had no choice.”

Lee said before this year he had no idea how to play hard or what it meant. A quick study, he bought into his high school coach’s ideals.

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If your school needs a point guard, chances are they’ve inquired about Tyler Ennis (Newark, N.J./St. Benedict’s). Ennis can go and he’s the fuel for CIA Bounce’s engine that features No. 1 2014 prospect Andrew Wiggins (Toronto, Ontario/Huntington Prep).

There was chatter that Ennis was high on Arizona.

“Arizona’s not the situation anymore,” the guard said. He’s watched the Wildcats closely and doesn’t think it sets up for him there anymore.

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Semi Ojeleye (Ottawa, Kan./Ottawa) is a tongue twister. When Oj-a-lay is the easier part to pronounce, there’s trouble. His first name goes like this: Shim-e. After butchering it for a long time, the wingman sounded it out for me last weekend.

The first name out of Ojeleye’s mouth last weekend: UCLA. “UCLA’s on me big time,” Ojeleye said. “Coach [Ben] Howland’s been to my school twice. Schools like Oregon, Kansas State and Stanford [are in there].” Ojeleye’s begun the application process with the Cardinal.

If he stays in-state, Kansas State has always been trending his way. However, the coaching change put a wrinkle (for the time being) in his recruitment. “It’s part of life, it’s part of basketball and that’s how things work,” Ojeleye said. “They’ve got a great coach in Bruce Weber and they’ve been down twice as well.”

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The Nike EYBL has yielded a host of premium performers this season; none bigger than wing man James Young (Troy, Mich./Troy). We slipped Young into our top 10 of the 2013 class earlier in the year and he’s not done moving up. Young sounded almost naively surprised with his own success.

“The competition moved up a lot and I wasn’t expecting it to be this good,” Young said.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo wouldn’t let him out of his sight last weekend in Hampton, Va., and should Young remain in-state, the Spartans would be the pick. However, Young’s got options and he intends to check them out. “I have a lot of colleges looking at me but I’m staying open,” Young said. “My top three so far is Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State.”

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Philip Nolan (Milwaukee, Wisc./Riverside) is about as strong a pickup for the Connecticut Huskies as they could get on May 3. The power forward with a face-up game recently visited St. John’s and had USC, Marquette and Missouri bearing down on him.

Nolan missed a substantial part of his senior season and dipped off the radar because he transferred from Vincent to Riverside, but he's a nice left-handed athlete with shot-making ability.

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