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College Basketball Talk’s Recruiting Roundup: Isaac Humphries, ’15 Point Guards

Illinois Class 4A Basketball

AP Photo

AP

Each Monday and Friday, College Basketball Talk’s Scott Phillips goes over some important news and notes in the world of college basketball recruiting. Today, why high school basketball prospects form lists, the lack of point guards in the 2015 class and Australia 2016 big man Isaac Humphries.

Isaac Humphries hits the college basketball recruiting landscape

One of the best Class of 2016 prospects has yet to play regularly against American competition, but 6-foot-11 center Isaac Humphries is making some major waves this week at the FIBA U17 World Championships in Dubai.

A native of Australia, Humphries is coming to the United States this fall to play with prep basketball powerhouse La Lumiere in LaPorte, Indiana and after his 41-point, 19-rebound performance against Canada on Monday, Humphries has the look of a potential elite prospect.

La Lumiere assistant coach Brad Johnstin told NBCSports.com that Arizona, Duke, Florida, Kansas, New Mexico, Notre Dame and Vanderbilt have all inquired about Humphries and he’s sure to garner even more attention once he comes to the United States.

Having just turned 16 in May of this year, Humphries is intriguing as a prospect going forward because he has sound fundamentals, good hands and feet and plays with physicality in the post to go along with his good size.

Why do high school basketball prospects form lists?

One of the questions I hear the most from college basketball fans that are unfamiliar with recruiting is why do high school basketball prospects form lists?

With the July live evaluation period in the books, now we’ll often see high school basketball prospects forming a list of schools they are still considering. Sometimes, these lists are reported by members of the media, and other times, kids decide to release a tweet with the logos of the schools they’re still considering.

I’ve heard kids being called selfish and misguided for forming lists, but they do serve a very important purpose.

While a list of 10-12 schools might seem a bit excessive, a high school basketball prospect forming a list of eight or so schools gives a clear message that he only wants to be recruited -- and hear from -- a certain number of schools.

You’ve seen how teenagers operate on their phones. Now imagine a hoard of overzealous college coaches constantly texting and checking in? Without a list to keep some coaches in check, that can probably be tiresome to deal with.

But a list also gives the schools recruiting a prospect an idea of where that player might stand in the process, since each player is only allowed five official visits.

Ultimately, some measure of attention-seeking can come from forming a list, but why shouldn’t a teenage athlete enjoy the recruiting process? It could be one of their few times to shine in the athletic spotlight.

The lack of Class of 2015 point guards

As I’ve mentioned a handful of times on CBT, there is a glaring lack of point guards in the 2015 class and we’re starting to see high-major programs make a major priority out of finding top-flight lead guards.

Since Rivals doesn’t do positional rankings, I looked at Scout.com‘s point guard rankings and of the top 25 point guard prospects in the 2015 class, 11 are already committed.

Now, as we see top point guard prospects like Jalen Brunson, Juwan Evans and Glynn Watson setting official visits, college programs are quickly realizing that they need to make a move to secure a top point guard before its too late.

As we see some schools swing-and-miss for point guards this fall, it will be intriguing to see which point guards get a lot of college coaches in for open gyms this fall and high school basketball games during their senior seasons. We’ll likely see a trickle-down affect as high-major coaches begin to prioritize second- and third-tier prospects on their list, if they’re really looking for someone to take care of the ball.

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