Early Signing Period: Winners and losers
Jeff Drummond/Cats Illustrated
Who has the early signing period been kind to? Which programs have faced some obstacles. Today, we look at who got the job done during the early period and who still has work to do between now and the spring.
MORE: Isaiah Jackson picks Kentucky
THEY GOT THE JOB DONE
Associated Press
TOBACCO ROAD TRIO
It has been a strong early signing period for the ACC as a conference, with seven programs ranking among the top 25. But it has been particularly good to a trio of schools along Tobacco Road in Duke, North Carolina and North Carolina State.
With the second ranked class, Duke and Mike Krzyzewski find themselves dueling with Kentucky, again, for the top spot. Their class headliner is Jalen Johnson a gifted playmaking combo forward. What may be the best thing about the class, though, is that with guys like D.J. Steward, Henry Coleman and Mark Williams, the Blue Devils are also getting some good program pieces they won't have to replace after nine months. One-and-done talent is fun, but ideally teams have a blend of young talent and experience and they are getting a better balance of that in this class.
If the No. 1 order of business in Chapel Hill was finding a replacement for Cole Anthony, getting more skilled overall was 1b. Roy Williams and his staff did all of that. Five-star Caleb Love should fill in nicely for Anthony but the real story is how much more skilled the Heels have gotten. Five-star bigs Day'Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler have more scoring tools than any current Heel and Puff Johnson and R.J. Davis should give them shooters that they badly need.
Over in Raleigh, Kevin Keatts is off to a good start for 2020 recruiting and he's probably going to reel in another big fish before the period ends. The Pack's class already ranks No. 20 nationally with Shakeel Moore, Cam Hayes and a pair of big men in Nick Farrar and Ebenezer Dowuana. The real story, though, is that there's a good chance five-star forward Josh Hall ends up at N.C. State and it should be happening sooner than later. If they do land Hall, the class grades out as an easy A.
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KENTUCKY
I wrote earlier in the fall that I expected Kentucky to make a return to the top of the recruiting rankings. It didn't quite go down as might have been predicted early on, but we are talking about John Calipari here and the man always has a plan.
The Wildcats class moved to No. 1 thanks to five-star guard Devin Askew's decision to reclassify to 2020 and Isaiah Jackson's weekend commitment. Already on board were high scoring and skilled wings Terrence Clarke and B.J. Boston who should be able to give Coach Cal the kind of shooters he needs to open up the floor. Four-stars Lance Ware and Cam'Ron Fletcher are both athletes with upside.
