Northwestern Basketball: Miller Kopp commits to the Wildcats

Northwestern basketball continues to trend in the right direction with another commitment. Miller Kopp is a top recruit in the class of 2018.

Out of Houston, Miller Kopp is one of the most highly-coveted recruits in the country. By 247Sports Composite ranking, Kopp slides just outside the top-100 at #101. In addition, he is the #5 prospect from Texas. On Sept. 21, Kopp announced his commitment to play for Northwestern basketball.

In the past month, Kopp took visits to see Northwestern, Butler, and Texas A&M, all of which were placed in his top six schools. Prior to his announcement, Northwestern seemed to be the favorite and that turned out to be correct. After visiting Evanston the weekend prior to his commitment, Kopp made his decision in the middle of the week.

A 6’6″, 200-pound shooting guard, Kopp was electric during his junior season in high school. While playing for Houston Christian High School, Kopp averaged 22 points and 10 rebounds per game. For Northwestern, he will be able to make an immediate impact as a freshman due to the assumed makeup of their roster during the 2018-19 season.

Kopp is a highly-touted recruit and his signing means a lot to Northwestern as the program continues to be on the rise.

As Scout.com reports, Kopp noted how Northwestern’s persistence made an impact on his desire to play for the Wildcats:

"“After the first Under Armour session, he (Northwestern coach Chris Collins) didn’t miss one of my games. That kind of showed to me early on the belief in me and how much he wants to coach me and believes I’m a key part in Northwestern basketball.”"

Kopp is now the fourth recruit signed for Northwestern’s ridiculous class of 2018. Each of the four recruits signed by the Wildcats is in 247Sports’ top-200. After the signing of Kopp to go along with top-100 power forward Peter Nance, Northwestern’s recruiting class has risen to the seventh-best in the nation.

With the enormous amount of talent already racked up for the recruiting class, the future of Northwestern looks extremely bright. After making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history last season, the Wildcats are returning their main trio from a season ago in Scottie Lindsey, Vic Law, and Bryant McIntosh.

These players are expected to lead Northwestern to the Big Dance once again this season, but both Lindsey and McIntosh will graduate after the 2017-18 campaign. Although this will surely be a blow, that hit will be cushioned by the arrival of Kopp, Nance, and the remainder of this electric 2018 recruiting class.

Head coach Chris Collins is building something special in Evanston. For starters, he was able to coach the team to their first NCAA Tournament berth. That is an achievement in its own right, but now things are trending towards Northwestern becoming a potential contender to compete in the Big Ten for the next several years.

Next: Stars of the Big Ten

If Collins continues to snag high-end recruits like he has in the class of 2018, then look out for the Wildcats to become one of the leaders of the conference. The signing of Kopp might not be a big deal on the surface, but by looking underneath, the emergence of Northwestern as a competitive team both on the court and on the recruiting circuit is a great sight for Wildcat fans and a danger sign for the rest of the Big Ten.