In the final days of the recruiting period, coaches are taking advantage of their final chance to meet with high school talent.
The Ohio State basketball staff is no exception, as their footprint extends from Ohio to Georgia, Tennessee, New Jersey and California. Today is the final day in which coaches can make in-home or at school visits and make contact with recruits off campus until July.
With that in mind, Thad Matta spent the past week in Georgia with five-star center Doral Moore (Locust Grove). According to The Recruit Scoop, Matta had an in-home visit with the 7-foot tall center over the weekend. Moore has an Ohio State offer, and Matta watched him play with his Luella High School squad in February. Check out some highlights of the lanky big man here.
From there, Matta traveled north to Tennessee, where he is meeting with a relatively new target – Andrew Fleming (Ensworth High School, Nashville). As first reported by Future150, the 6-foot-5-inch wing is meeting or has met with Matta, at some point today. While he does not currently have a Buckeye offer, Fleming has the opportunity to impress the OSU head coach while working out in front of him. Highlights show Fleming is tough around the rim:
Fleming isn't the only prospect Matta plans on visiting around Nashville. He'll watch 2016, composite five-star Braxton Blackwell practice, according to Blackwell's head coach. The 6-foot-6-inch forward already has offers from Florida and Indiana, among others.
As covered in last week's recruiting notebook, Matta will head to California, this weekend. He is supposed to be in attendance while Esa Ahmad's All-Ohio Red team continues EYBL play. Matta has not watched Ahmad play in-person, according to Ahmad's father, so an offer not been extended, yet.
The King James AAU squad will also compete in Sacramento, meaning Matta has the opportunity to watch 2015 commit A.J. Harris and 2016 five-star V.J. King. Plus, Kyle Ahrens (Versailles) will return to action, completing his return from a severe, left leg injury.
The rest of Matta's staff has been busy, as well. Assistant coach Greg Paulus continued his recruitment of Tyus Battle. He watched Battle, Tuesday, according to SNY.tv.
Coaches Ain't Too Proud To Beg Turner
Myles Turner has repeatedly stated he's still considering the Buckeyes, but they won't get a chance to make a final impression.
Much like other undecided recruits, Turner and his family are hosting coaches during the final week of the recruiting period. According to SNY.tv, Oklahoma State and Duke will receive the final in-home visits, after Turner already met with Kansas, Texas and Texas A&M.
That means there are only two schools on his list that won't reportedly visit with him – Ohio State and SMU. They're not lacking in communication, though, as Turner has previously said he speaks frequently with the Buckeye staff.
Future Buckeyes Compete in Brooklyn, Louisville
Incoming OSU freshman D'Angelo Russell once again joined Turner, as the two highly-touted recruits competed in the Jordan Brand Classic.
Brooklyn's Barclays Center hosted the 13th annual event, which features many of the same recruits that played in the McDonald's All American Game. While Turner sat out with an ankle injury, Russell played 18 minutes. The box score wasn't particularly flattering (hit only 1 of 9 shots), but he did dish out an assist on what was, probably, the top highlight of the night.
Meanwhile, future Buckeye Keita Bates-Diop competed in the Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic, April 18. Although it did not have Michael Jordan's namesake, it still fielded rosters with elite talent. In addition to Bates-Diop, former Ohio State target Goodluck Okonoboh and several future Big Ten freshman took part in the event.
Via NextUpRecruits.com, here are highlights of Bates-Diop from the event:
Around The B1G
In the past week, Indiana received a bit of good news and bad news.
First, Tom Crean landed a commitment from Jeremiah April. The 7-foot center received interest from Washington State, Marquette and Arizona State before the Hoosiers swooped in.
A few days later, Crean lost an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator to Louisville. Kenny Johnson will join Rick Pitino's staff after helping IU land Noah Vonleh, Rob Johnson, and James Blackmon, in his two years in Bloomington.
