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Yesterday our friends over at 247Sports released their updated class of 2014 basketball Composite Rankings. All four of Thad Matta's current Ohio State verbal commits find themselves listed among the top talent in the nation. D'Angelo Russell moved up three spots and is now listed as the 25th player in the country. The 6-4 left handed Russell can handle either guard position on the court and has showed all summer long on the AAU circuit and at camps he has no problem finding buckets or his teammates for open looks.
Coming in at 27 on the list is Keita Bates-Diop. Slim but long the 6-8ish Bates-Diop, a Illinois native, was the first commitment of the 2014 OSU class and moved down 4 spots from the 23rd player in the country ranking he previously held. Pickerington Central Mr.Do it all Jae'Sean Tate also fell four spots from 52 to 56. Tate has been battling a nagging shoulder injury most of the summer but still played through it, having many impressive outings over the summer. Garfield Heights big man Dave Bell jumped up from 145 to 138 after a good summer AAU run with Ohio Basketball Club.
Ohio State is looking to add another inside force to this years recruiting class. Matta and staff have their eyes on a number of the nations best including Jahlil Okafor, Myles Turner, Elbert Robinson and Payton Dastrup. Okafor comes in as the top overall prospect in the 247 rankings. The nearly 7-0 Chicago native has made it clear he wants to play with fellow five star prospect, Tyus Jones, a point guard out of Minnesota. Most in the recruiting game including Okafor's own AAU coach believe if the pair do indeed plan on being college teammates, Duke could be their future landing spot.
Myles Turner, who recently cut his list down to eight schools including Ohio State, comes in at the number five player while Robinson and Dastrup rank as the 55 and 79 top talent in the country. Turner is a near 7-0 post out Texas and is a coaches nightmare. He can run the floor like a guard and even has a decent three point shot in his bag of tricks. Elbert Robinson, also a Texas native, is a mountain of a man who like Turner is 7-0 tall but weighs in at over 300 pounds. A force on both ends, Elbert has offers from the likes of Georgetown, Louisville, Kansas and a long list of others.
Here are some highlights of Robinson in action:
Payton Dastrup might be a senior in high school but he won't touch the court at the next level till 2016 as the 6-9 220 pound power forward plans to go on a Mormon mission trip after receiving his high school diploma. I had the chance to catch up with the Mesa, Arizona native after he received his recent Ohio State offer and he was really excited to add the Buckeyes to his list, stating " It feels real good to have an offer, especially since Coach Matta and the program have had really good success in the recent past".
Lets switch gears to the football Bucks. 2014 New Jersey running back Jonathan Hilliman will make his college decision today between OSU and Rutgers. Just a few months ago the 6-1 225 pound power back was thought as a lock to join the Dream '14 recruiting class but with the staff now going full force to add fellow east coast back Curtis Samuel it looks like the Scarlet Knights now have the inside track to land Hilliman.
Can't wait to commit in front of my family and ma prep bros man , it's gonna be great 🙌🙌 !!!
— Jonathan M. Hilliman (@J_M_H23) August 14, 2013
QUICK HITS:
- 2015 Michigan quarterback Alex Malzone recently performed at the Buckeyes Friday Night Lights camp and turned some heads. Malzone told ESPN recruiting analyst Tom VanHaaren that coaches from Ohio State, Penn State, Toledo and Bowling Green want to get him on campus soon.
- 2015 Cleveland Villa Angela St. Joes forward Carlton Bragg received a scholarship from North Carolina State yesterday. The Wolfpack join Ohio State, Illinois, Indiana and Texas as a few of the schools to offer the five-star prospect.
- Five star class of 2015 shooting guard Malachi Richardson tweeted he is now only considering 12 schools with Ohio State, Syracuse, UConn, Indiana, North Carolina, Rutgers, Georgetown, Florida, Miami, Vilanova, Kansas and Arizona all making the cut.