Tag: five-star small forward

Five-star SF Dillon Mitchell commits to Texas over Florida State and Tennessee

Another five-star in the 2022 class for Chris Beard!

College basketball is just around the corner and Chris Beard has the Texas program moving in the right direction. On the court, they were ranked No. 5 in the AP poll and picked second in the preseason Big 12 poll.

Off the court, recruiting has never been better. Beard is in the hunt for some of the top prospects in the country, attracting them to Austin.

On Monday evening, another top 30 prospect announced he would become a future Longhorn.

Five-star small forward Dillon Mitchell announced his commitment to Texas via Twitter. He picked the Longhorns over home-state Florida State and old Texas head coach Rick Barnes’ Tennessee.

Other offers included Auburn, Florida, Illinois, and Virginia Tech.

Mitchell is the second commitment in Texas’ 2022 class. Five-star point guard Arterio Morris out of Kimball High School in Dallas has been locked in since July 17.

It will be the first time since the 2016 recruiting class Texas has signed two five-star prospects (Jarrett Allen and Andrew Jones) on the 247Sports composite.

Kelly Oubre is the player comparison for Mitchell from 247Sports’ Jerry Meyer. His athleticism is seen as the biggest upside, being an electric player up and down the court. Texas will have to mold him into a better offensive player but Mitchell’s defense seems to already be up to par, if not better.

Texas got Mitchell’s final official visit, hosting him on Oct. 17. Florida State and Tennessee got their shots back in the summer, as did eventually cut Ohio State.

On the 247Sports composite, Mitchell is the No. 28 overall player and No. 9 within the state of Florida. At the small forward position, he ranks as the No. 8 prospect.

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Five-star SF Emoni Bates talks relationship with Chris Beard

Every program in the country is going to want Emoni Bates. Recently, he discussed his relationship with Texas and head coach Chris Beard.

Every program in the country is going to want Emoni Bates. The class of 2022 small forward is the No. 1 player in the country and rated a perfect 1.000 on the 247Sports composite.

To compare, only six basketball recruits have been rated a perfect 1.000 since the composite’s inception in 2003. Those names are LeBron James (2003), Dwight Howard (2004), Greg Oden (2006), Andrew Wiggins (2013), R.J. Barrett (2018), and Chet Holmgren (2021).

If you need a football comparison, Vince Young is one of five players on the gridiron to reach the same level.

For Texas, landing Bates would be the biggest thing since Kevin Durant arrived on campus. Shaka Smart had the ability to bring in highly-rated recruits but were all big men in a day and age where elite guard play is going to win you championships.

Bates may be classified as a small forward but has more than enough capability to take over games. He has been compared to Durant and even more recently Paul George.

The five-star prospect caught up with 247Sports to discuss his newly open recruitment. Chris Beard and the Longhorns were the first program to reach out to Bates after he decommitted from Michigan State in early May.

“Our relationship is really good, they were the first school to offer me after I decommitted from Michigan State,” said Bates. “They just called, talked to me and reached out to my family. With them I haven’t really gotten to watch them yet. I watched videos of (Kevin Durant) when he was there but not their game recently.”

According to the article, Memphis and Tennessee remain squarely in the competition, while turning professional is still an option. Former Texas head coach Rick Barnes, who was Durant’s college coach, is leading the charge for the Volunteers.

With Beard only signing one member in the 2021 class, Texas will be taking a few players in the ’22 cycle. Five-star shooting guard Keyonte George recently released a top-five list, as did four-star point guard Arterio Morris.

Bates could headline a historic recruiting class for Texas basketball.