After another full weekend of evaluating high school basketball recruits, Florida head coach Mike White and his staff will likely spend much of today discussing what they saw.
Here are five of our observations after the second live period of April.
1. White getting after it: Through the first two live periods, White traveled to Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Atlanta and Pittsburgh and was able to get a feel for the high-major talent on each of the three main circuits, the Nike EYBL, Under Armour Association and Adidas Gauntlet. At this point last year White and his staff were still at Louisiana Tech and recruiting mid-major talent -- what a difference a year makes.
2. A name on the rise: In less than two months, Antwan Walker has gone from an unrated mid-major prospect to a potential high-major priority recruit. The 6-foot-7 Washington, D.C. forward helped lead his H.D. Woodson High School team to the first undefeated season by a city high school team in 31 years by averaging 16 points, 13.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 5.5 blocks per game. Georgetown offered last month, Virginia Tech offered last week and Maryland could be close to extending an offer. The Gators watched him in Atlanta with his Team Loaded AAU program. The question with Walker, who won’t turn 18 until December, is will he remain in the 2016 class or take a prep year. Walker plays with a ton of energy, can play with his back to the basket or facing up. He won’t hesitate to dunk on someone, has good shot blocking skills and is used to tough rugged inner city ball. If he stays in the class of 2016 Walker is likely to stay local, but if he does a prep year the Gators could get in the mix with him.
Florida also kept an eye on 2017 Florida Vipers forward RaiQuan Gray. The Dillard High School product averaged just over 10 points per game during the first live period in New York City, but wasn’t as productive in Indianapolis until he had 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals on Sunday. The 6-foot-7, 235 pounder reminds us of a young Keith Stone because he has three-point shooting range, is strong around the rim and has developed some point forward skills. Gray was at Florida's Elite camp last summer and is in regular phone contact with the Gators coaching staff.
3. Sexton is a big fish: Possibly the most dynamic back court scorer in the EYBL – or any circuit for that matter -- for the class of 2017 is Southern Stampede guard Collin Sexton. The 6-foot-1 Sexton is superb at getting buckets. Through seven EYBL games, Sexton is averaging 30.1 points per game to go along with 5.1 rebounds per game. He is shooting .429 from the floor but is not having much success beyond the arc where he is just shooting .250 thus far. Regardless, many onlookers think Sexton may be the best scoring guard in the EYBL, if not the 2017 class. Gators assistant Jordan Mincy watched him all weekend, and White checked him out Friday night and Saturday morning. It is starting to look like Arizona will prioritize him as well. If he continues to perform the way he did in the April live periods other top schools will get in the picture, and location isn’t going to be much of a factor for him. Florida also kept tabs on 2017 guards Chaundee Brown (who switched AAU teams this weekend to Nike South Beach) and David Nickelberry.
4. Alexander’s stock continues to trend up: Shai Alexander had a big weekend and it should continue to solidify his recruiting rankings. He showed his skills at getting teammates involved and showed his ability to get into the lane to score and draw contact. His ability to play either the facilitator or the scoring guard gives Florida more flexibility when looking at potential guards to pair alongside him and DeAndre Ballard – Sexton could be the perfect complement to Alexander’s skills. Florida wants to have a couple of interchangeable guards on their roster and this vision could come to fruition in 2017.
5. Other youngins getting looks: Florida recently offered 2019 power forward Matt Hurt. He is a long, lean skilled face-up four man out of Minnesota. I've seen him listed at 6-foot-7 on up to 6-foot-9 which is not surprising since, as a ninth grader, he is probably still growing. There's scant video on him now but he dominated a game last weekend in Dallas so more video will surface soon enough. He plays for D1 Minnesota on the Adidas Gauntlet. This kid is elite and will attract North Carolina, Duke, Kansas and Kentucky interest before it is all said and done. His brother Mike is a senior and signed with Minnesota who has yet to offer Matt.
Closer to home, Florida watched skilled 2019 7-foot-1 center Balsa Koprivica and 6-foot-10 power forward Vernon Carey II of Nike Team Florida’s 15U team. The two big men are also teammates at University School in Ft. Lauderdale. Miami offered Koprivica over the weekend and Florida offered both Koprivica and Carey on Monday.
InsideTheGators.com first saw this young twin towers last July in Atlanta and two things stood out immediately – how skilled both players were at such a young age and that no college coaches were watching the game. Granted, not many college coaches watch 15U games but word is starting to circulate about these young bigs so it will not be long before the secret is out and programs are flocking to U-School to watch them go through drills.
Jonathan Kabongo a 2018 three-star PG with Boo Williams 16U team is getting interest from UF. He already lists offers from Indiana, Missouri, Virginia Tech and Washington State. He is the younger brother of former Texas point guard Myck Kabongo.
Other 2018 prospects on the Gators radar are four-star combo guard Dwayne Cohill, three-star shooting guard Robbie Carmody and three-star big body center David McCormack
Sunday marked the final time college coaches can evaluate prospects in-person until July.
