NCAA Basketball Recruiting Winners: Tennessee, MSU find building blocks

Chris Mack and Dan Hurley start off hot

After successful careers at Xavier and Rhode Island, respectively, head coaches Chris Mack (Louisville) and Dan Hurley (UConn) are now onto bigger things with new programs. And, quite simply, both are off to tremendous recruiting starts. Of course, it is easier to recruit to powerhouse programs but that does not mean that their efforts should simply be overlooked. In regards to this past week, Mack and Hurley each landed a top-150 recruit to continue their hot starts on the recruiting trail.

For Coach Mack and Louisville, the program landed a commitment from combo guard David Johnson (No. 72). At 6-foot-5 with excellent playmaking and scoring skills, Johnson projects as a major piece for the future of the program. Additionally, this commitment came just five days after the Cardinals landed top-50 prospect Samuell Williamson. A 6-foot-6 wing, Williamson should be able to play alongside Johnson in the future as Louisville’s perimeter looks almost set. Now with four total commits in the 2019 class thanks to prior commits from Jaelyn Withers (No. 86) and Josh Nickelberry (No. 96), the Cardinals’ class now ranks third in the nation.

As for Coach Hurley, he is hot on the trail for UConn. Despite some down years in the past for the Huskies, he seems to have the program heading in the right direction due to excellent recruiting. In regards to this week, UConn snagged top-150 recruit Jalen Gaffney. Similar to Louisville’s hot stretch, Gaffney’s commitment came just six days after James Bouknight (No. 79) elected to join the program. These are the only two recruits committed to the Huskies at the moment but together they make up the No. 23 overall class.