When three-star center Micah Potter decided to announce his allegiance to Thad Matta and Ohio State, it appeared the head coach of the Buckeyes put the finishing touches on his next recruiting class.
Not so fast.
Though it appears Ohio State's available scholarships will be exhausted due to 2016 commitments Potter and Derek Funderburk, Matta's been staying in touch with the nation's second-ranked point guard, Kobi Simmons.
"I've been to Ohio State as well. Don't forget them," Simmons told scout.com's Evan Daniels Wednesday at the Stephen Curry Select camp. "All of them, I text every day."
"All of them" include the usual suspects of Kentucky, Ohio State, Syracuse, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona. Big-name programs — among loads of others — who are after the services of the five-star combo guard from Alpharetta, Ga.
The coaches of the schools Simmons' listed above have all flown to Georgia to spend an in-home visit with him, he said. And while Kentucky leads according to his crystal ball, Simmons said he wants to take another visit to Ohio State (where he visited last year), Arizona and Kentucky.
"I'm slowing it down a little bit," Simmons told Daniels. "I start thinking about it more and more each day as the decision starts getting closer and closer."
Simmons said he doesn't have a decision date set — "whenever I feel like the decision is right," he said — but it is notable that he continues to hear from Matta since it doesn't look like there would be place for another player in the 2016 class.
Roster attrition happens all the time in college hoops, especially with transfer rates being higher than ever in the last few years.
The Buckeyes do not have a senior scholarship player next season — forward Marc Loving is the lone junior and oldest player on the team — so in order for them to be able to add anyone, whether it be Simmons or someone else, a vacancy must be present.
But much like any coach at the head of a major program, Matta is staying in touch just in case something like that does happen. If not, he could miss out on a huge chance to add a great talent.
An opportunity like that arose this past season with D'Angelo Russell, who left after just one year when it was initially thought he'd stay in Columbus for at least two. That opened up the door for the Buckeyes to add JaQuan Lyle, another combo guard who committed in late January.
Whether or not there's a spot available for the 6-foot-5, 170-pound proficient scoring guard won't be decided until much later, but his interest in Ohio State remains.
"I'm just slimming it down right now," Simmons said of his choices.
Whatever choice he makes is entirely up to him, but the fact that he earned an invitation to participate in a camp with the 2015 NBA MVP speaks volumes.
"Just how he sees the game," Simmons said of Curry and what working with him is like. "We've been doing film and looking at how he sees things on the court. Not just talking about his good, he talks about his bad as well and what he could have done better. That's an amazing thing as well."
He continued: "I'm just working on everything. Anything I'm bad at, I'm trying to improve that. Anything I'm good at, I'm trying to make it great. That's just all I'm doing."
