Who will 5* hoops recruit Jarrett Allen sign with?

[HornSports Staff]

Article by Chris Flanagan

The signing period for basketball recruits ends this Wednesday May 18th. All recruits must sign their letter of intent by then. So where will Jarrett Allen play college basketballl?

Finalists for Jarrett Allen

Recently, Jarrett Allen tweeted that Kansas was still on his list after a reporter tweeted out that Texas and Houston were Allen's final two schools. He did not mention Kentucky. I would be shocked if Kentucky swoops in at the last minute and gets the signature of this highly touted recruit.

What does he bring to each school?

Kansas

Jarrett Allen is very similar to Perry Ellis. A great basketball big that may not immediately fit into the NBA. Bill Self also has a good record of developing bigs to being superstars in college and many going on to become NBA lottery draft picks.

What he could bring is a continuation of the Kansas bigs legacy and he would get plenty of playing time because their front line is very weak.

Houston

The Cougars went 22-9 in Kelvin Sampson's second year at the helm. Houston is building up its athletics in impressive ways and landing Jarrett Allen would go a long way to re-establish Houston as a college basketball powerhouse program.

Texas

While Texas has a few bigs ready to play for next season, the Longhorns have no true power forward for next season and Jarrett Allen's versatility will add depth to a roster that could contend for a Big 12 title.

Who does Jarrett Allen sign with?

Getting anything out of Jarrett Allen is hard. He doesn't talk, tweet or indulge the spotlight. While he might make some of the older generation proud that he isn't a part of the "Me" generation, it makes covering his recruitment much more challenging.

With that said, I do believe Kentucky is out of the Jarrett Allen sweepstakes. Kentucky basketball fans are like Alabama football fans in that they believe as soon as their school expresses interest, recruits will automatically sign on the dotted line to go to school in Lexington. Jarrett Allen isn't like most recruits and he won't sign with Kentucky.

So that leaves 3 programs: Texas, Kansas and Houston.

Houston is intriguing but at the end of the day, he will not be a Cougar because that program needs more foundation players before Allen could shine.

That leaves Kansas or Texas. I believe he chooses the Kansas Jayhawks.

For Texas fans, I hope I am wrong. But if Allen was serious about becoming a Longhorn, he would have signed by now instead of waiting for the last day of the signing period to make a choice. Kansas has the pedigree to develop big men and he will fit into Bill Self's system well in Lawrence.

Since he's out of school for the summer, he is likely relieved of the pressure to sign with the hometown team. Again, I very well could be wrong but I fully expect Jarrett Allen to sign with Kansas.

 

[tejasrulz]

I hope you're wrong. Other web-sites show him favoring the Horns so nothing personal but I'm going with them. 

 

[Coot]

If he makes the decision purely based on basketball, it should be Kansas.  If he weighs other criteria as well, e.g. university academics, city of Austin vs. Lawrence, distance from home, that should help UT considerably.  It may depend on what is of paramount importance to him.

 

[MBHORNSFAN]

 

[BudreauReye]

Obviously, nobody knows what Jarrett is thinking.  As you acknowledge, he does not vent his emotional state of the day all over the interwebz like a lot of youngsters today, so 'the "experts" are left reading tea leaves regarding what they think he is gonna do.  He is a kid.  He may really be torn on what direction he wants to go.  He could well know what he is going to do and he might just enjoy watching the drama unfold.  One possibility is that he might want to be as high profile as possible for the short time he is in college.  He well could be waiting to see whether Marques Bolden ends up at Duke.  In that case he might still choose Kentucky, because it is a higher profile program ... or, as you suggest, Kansas, for the same reason ... Or Houston, because he loves Sampson in spite of his nefarious character ... or he might be torn about staying closer to home at Texas.

Jarrett may know what he is going to do, or he may be genuinely torn.  One thing is for sure, though, he does NOT have to decide Wednesday.  He does not have to sign a LOI.  As long as the school that he eventually attends is willing to hold a scholarship for him, he can wait as long as the late enrollment period for the fall semester and said school will be happy to provide him with a Grant-in-aid.

I sure hope he chooses to stay close to home with the good guys, but until that puppy lets us know where he wants to go ... well, you get the picture.

 

[Bear19]

Why is it that you have to press the like button before you can press an unlike button?

I demand a pure unlike button. And I want to be able to press it more than once.

 

[BudreauReye]

Why is it that you have to press the like button before you can press an unlike button?

I demand a pure unlike button. And I want to be able to press it more than once.

Bear ... you should oughta unnerstand.   My grandpa Tucker taught me to read before I could walk.  My first word was a paragraph.  

To quote MBHORNSFAN ...

 

[Bear19]

Bear ... you should oughta unnerstand. My grandpa Tucker taught me to read before I could walk. My first word was a paragraph.

To quote MBHORNSFAN ...

And my comment was regarding the original post.

Whoever wrote it deserves multiple "unlikes".

 

[Bear19]

Now I see it was Flanagan.

If he jinxed us, I hope his pecker falls off. ðŸ˜

 

[BudreauReye]

Now I see it was Flanagan.

If he jinxed us, I hope his pecker falls off. ðŸ˜

You know, we COULD help with that ... just on general principles for his being a famous sports web site guy and all. 

And if Allen DOES sign with us eventually, we could say, "Oopsie!  Nevermind!"  

 

[bierce]

The Bill Self legacy of NBA big men?  Quick.  Name an NBA PF or C who played under Self at Kansas who is pulling 6 figures.  You can't do it, because there are none.

Making college superstars of big men?  In Self's 13 years at KU, he's had two first team All-Americans at C or PF.  Wayne Simien and Thomas Robinnson.  Simien was RSCI 20, was drafted 29th after his senior year, played a grand total of 51 games and 2 starts in two seasons, was traded, waived, uninvited to camp, went off to Spain, and quit.  T-Rob is with his 5th team in 4 seasons, and played just 13 mpg. 

Other highly ranked big men for Self?  Darrell Arthur, RSCI 11 in 2006, has 34 starts over the last 7 years.  Cole Aldrich, RSCI 21, don't make me laugh.  Sasha Kaun, RSCI 40, 7 years in Russia.  Julian Wright, RSCI 6, never got more than 15 mpg in 4 years off the bench. Jeff Withey, RSCI 29, is 26 and playing 13 mpg after 5 years in college.

The latest batch of top prospects have gone totally south:

Diallo--benched all year, dropped out of lottery, maybe out of first round had he not had a great combine

Alexander--RSCI 4 went undrafted

Embiid--got hurt at KU and hasn't played in the NBA yet.

And Ellis has gone from 30 RSCI to maybe undrafted.

Yep, that's some legacy.  Two starters, a couple of good bench players, a couple of lousy bench players, and three recent guys who went from RSCI top 10 to nobody knows if they'll ever do anything in the NBA. I'll grant Self did a pretty good job of making the Morris twins into decent NBA players, but a creator of NBA big men?  If he has only 2 successes in 13 years at KU, despite all the RSCI top 40 talent he has had on campus, then the evidence tends to show that he is not.

But not doing his research and instead acting like Evan Berkovitz in continuing the myth of Bill Self as NBA big man molder might not be the worst flaw of the writer with this article.  What's this nonsense about KU having a weak front line to provide plenty of playing time for Allen while Texas has a few bigs ready to play, so Allen only adds to depth?  Crap.  Utter crap showing the author didn't even look at what's available for each team.

KU will have a senior who has logged 1256 minutes including 664 last year (Lucas), a transfer who has logged 851 minutes (Coleby), a sophomore who was a top 20 overall recruit and who played 338 minutes as a freshman for a team that was loaded on the front line (Bragg), the 35th overall composite recruit for 2016 (Azubuike), and the 116th overall composite recruit (Lightfoot).

By comparison, Texas will have a senior who has logged 1282 minutes, but has played fewer minutes each successive season, including 397 last season (Cleare), and the 63rd overall composite recruit (Banks).

Yeah, tell me again where the PT is for Allen and where he just helps with depth.  Could it possibly be he'd be far more likely to just sit on the bench in Lawrence behind the older players, just as did Diallo and Bragg this past season?

This article was an ill-researched abomination, and the Horns Sports staff should be ashamed to have published it.

 

[BudreauReye]

5-star Texas PF target Jarrett Allen may not sign NLI

By Wescott Eberts

May 17, 2016

http://www.burntorangenation.com/2016/5/17/11694730/jarrett-allen-nli-texas-longhorns-kansas-jayhawks-houston-cougars

No one knows for sure when the nation's No. 15 prospect will finally end his recruitment.

"In basketball and football, most athletes opt to sign a binding National Letter of Intent, but that may not be the case for Texas Longhorns power forward target Jarrett Allen, the Austin St. Stephen's product who may delay his decision past the late signing period that ends on Wednesday.

Of course, a decision from the rather cryptic 2016 McDonald's All-American could come down on Tuesday evening or at some point on Wednesday -- there was some buzz on Twitter about Allen choosing the Longhorns over the Houston Cougars after eliminating the Kansas Jayhawks, but nothing substantial enough to suggest that a decision is indeed that imminent from the 6'9, 210-pounder.

 

Allen is one of five highly-rated basketball recruits to remain unsigned with looming and fellow Texas big man Marques Bolden already announced that his public decision will come on Thursday, after the end of the signing period, so there is even some in-class precedence for waiting. Georgia power forward Romello While will visit Iowa State over Memorial Day weekend, so he won't sign either.

But where do things stand with Allen? There's not much to report since Allen rarely gives interviews and seems to speak so little to those around him that little information filters out about his decision-making process or behind-the-scenes thoughts, meaning that most analysis is merely guesswork.

The biggest factor with is supposedly the ability of coaches to develop big men. In that regard, that progress of Texas center Prince Ibeh caught Allen's attention this season, though Kansas head coach Bill Self certainly has some chops in that regard.

However, playing time will also factor into Allen's decision and that's where the Jayhawks start running into trouble -- there are two bigs currently in the class in Udoka Azubuike and Mitch Lightfoot and with the emergence of Landen Lucas last season, the path towards heavy time on the court will be more difficult in Lawrence than in Austin.

As for Houston, the Cougars seemed to fall off in recent weeks. Once a perceived favorite for Allen in his 247Sports Crystal Ball, head coach Kelvin Sampson's program no longer holds any predictions as the 'Horns are now the overwhelming favorite:

 


Promoting Director of Operations Jai Lucas to head coach Shaka Smart's bench in replacement of demoted assistant Mike Morrell probably helped there, as Allen trains with John Lucas when in Houston.

If Texas does win out, proximity will be a major reason why -- not necessarily because Allen wants to stay close to home, but because he was able to watch the team's progress in person throughout the early parts of 2016 as a frequent visitor at Longhorns home games. Without all those visits, it would have been much more difficult for Smart to establish a comfort level with Allen that is high by all reports.

Assuming that Wednesday passes without Allen signing a National Letter of Intent, he would then sign a non-binding financial aid agreement with the school of his choice that would require the school to honor his scholarship, but would not bind him to the school. That decision would come at his leisure. The odds of him then backing out on his verbal commitment during the summer probably wouldn't be particularly high in such a scenario, but it would provide a little bit of extra drama.

But here's guessing that Smart wouldn't mind as long as he can land the player who now has the biggest role in determining the upside of the 2016-17 Texas basketball team."

 

[BudreauReye]

Bierce, your points are all well made and taken, by me at least.  The hostility with which they are made might be a little bit better received if they were not delivered in such a "drive by hit" manner.  Try participating a bit more before trying to "burn down the house".  Last time I checked, nobody pays a penny to participate in this community.

 

[bierce]

This site and I owe each other nothing.  I joined some months ago, brought my Big 12 roster breakdowns, generated little meaningful discussion, and pretty much left.  I haven't been reading this forum or the articles here.  The only reason I commented on this particular article is that it popped up in a google news search re: Jarrett Allen.

I am livid that a UT fan site writer has adopted the Evan Berkowitz strategy of getting on his knees before Bill Self and ministering to his needs.  He wants to think Bill Self is a wonderful coach who develops stars out of power forwards?  Great, he can think that.  He wants to write that in support of a plea for a prospective UT recruit to go to Kansas instead, then he damn better well be able to back up his opinion with facts.  Sure, KU put a few guys in the lottery.  I'll grant Mr. Flanagan that, but he does the UT athletic department and fanbase a disservice by expounding the virtues of KU without also at least mentioning the difficulties that many highly regarded prospects that attended KU have faced in their NBA careers.

Six months ago I found Horn Sports to be largely useless.  Yesterday I found it to be infuriating, and I wasn't even trying to find it.

 

[MBHORNSFAN]

This site and I owe each other nothing.  I joined some months ago, brought my Big 12 roster breakdowns, generated little meaningful discussion, and pretty much left.  I haven't been reading this forum or the articles here.  The only reason I commented on this particular article is that it popped up in a google news search re: Jarrett Allen.

I am livid that a UT fan site writer has adopted the Evan Berkowitz strategy of getting on his knees before Bill Self and ministering to his needs.  He wants to think Bill Self is a wonderful coach who develops stars out of power forwards?  Great, he can think that.  He wants to write that in support of a plea for a prospective UT recruit to go to Kansas instead, then he damn better well be able to back up his opinion with facts.  Sure, KU put a few guys in the lottery.  I'll grant Mr. Flanagan that, but he does the UT athletic department and fanbase a disservice by expounding the virtues of KU without also at least mentioning the difficulties that many highly regarded prospects that attended KU have faced in their NBA careers.

Six months ago I found Horn Sports to be largely useless.  Yesterday I found it to be infuriating, and I wasn't even trying to find it.

Well aren't you just a bottle of fun. Hopefully this time you won't be back after six months...

 

[BudreauReye]

And now for your late night perusal ...



Durnburnit MBHORNSFAN!!!!!  Couldn't you at least give me time for my so cogent response???

 

[MikeV73]

Comment on the above statement to name a KU big

man making 6 figures in the NBA------Not to be a smart ass, even though I am quite accomplished in that realm, but six figures is pocket change to even the lowly of NBA talent. Saw a KU big man riding pine for OKC last night who probably makes 5 million a season at least. I do understand the commentary regarding the quality of KU bigs and their mediocre success in the league though, message received.

 

[Sirhornsalot]

This site and I owe each other nothing.  I joined some months ago, brought my Big 12 roster breakdowns, generated little meaningful discussion, and pretty much left.  I haven't been reading this forum or the articles here.  The only reason I commented on this particular article is that it popped up in a google news search re: Jarrett Allen.

I am livid that a UT fan site writer has adopted the Evan Berkowitz strategy of getting on his knees before Bill Self and ministering to his needs.  He wants to think Bill Self is a wonderful coach who develops stars out of power forwards?  Great, he can think that.  He wants to write that in support of a plea for a prospective UT recruit to go to Kansas instead, then he damn better well be able to back up his opinion with facts.  Sure, KU put a few guys in the lottery.  I'll grant Mr. Flanagan that, but he does the UT athletic department and fanbase a disservice by expounding the virtues of KU without also at least mentioning the difficulties that many highly regarded prospects that attended KU have faced in their NBA careers.

Six months ago I found Horn Sports to be largely useless.  Yesterday I found it to be infuriating, and I wasn't even trying to find it.

I think you rebutted Flanagan's points very well. You supported most everything you said, which makes your post rather convincing. You sold me on facts.

I do think you're a little angry in your posts but it didn't bother me because I, like you, can't stand Bill Self or KU. Self benefits from the KU brand on the recruiting trail. He should do better than he does and if he did, Kentucky wouldn't be so damned loaded every year. KU would be getting some of that.

This site is about contributions and about average Joe's and Josephines. There are sites out there who not only get info wrong and analysis wrong, but when they do get something good they butcher it by not knowing how to spell. And then there's sites (I know of at least two) whereby if you post, it's just an invitation for a juvenile food fight.

Feel free to post your thoughts, spread good information, and feel good about the fact that lots of folks appreciate people who do that. But have a little patience my friend.

 

[Bear19]

And I thought hoping his dick falls off was harsh. 😎