NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Impact of Isaiah Stewart picking Washington

Biggest loser from the Stewart commitment

The other 11 teams in the Pac-12 obviously should be concerned about dealing with Stewart next year but other teams outside the conference are impacted by his decision. Throughout his recruitment, there were times where Duke or Michigan State was considered the favorite.

Hopkins’ developed his relationship with Stewart when he was an assistant at Syracuse and still held hope that they could get the center without him. And Kentucky should always be considered a major threat to nab a five-star prospect.

Even without Stewart, the Blue Devils will be just fine. They already have the No. 2 overall prospect in the 2019 class in Vernon Carey, along with the likely returns of big men Javin DeLaurier and Marques Bolden for their senior seasons. From a depth perspective, Duke is fine in the frontcourt but will need to worry more about replacing RJ Barrett and possibly Tre Jones.

Same goes with Michigan State, who should bring back most of their key frontcourt players (Nick Ward, Xavier Tillman, and top-50 recruit Marcus Bingham) for another year. Top-100 power forward Malik Hall also will be joining the Spartans. And while Stewart may be better than any of these players overall but as long as both Cassius Winston and Joshua Langford return for their senior seasons, this team will be a future contender like Duke.

Syracuse will definitely lose their starting big man in 7’2 center Paschal Chukwu after this season. It could even get worse, depending on what forward Oshae Brissett does with the NBA Draft. Underclassmen frontcourt players Bourama Sidibe, Robert Braswell, and Marek Dolezaj are not at the level Stewart is. Having a top-10 big man would’ve done wonders for the team their odds of landing him were always slim.

That leaves Kentucky, a team that now is unexpectedly in a sticky situation regarding their frontcourt for next season. Reid Travis will be gone after his grad transfer year with the program, while sophomore PJ Washington could easily be going pro and leave the Wildcats. That leaves EJ Montgomery and Nick Richards, who are combining to average 26 mpg off the bench this season.

There are now just a couple of five-star big men recruits uncommitted in the 2019 class. And while Kentucky is in the running for each of them, just like Stewart, they aren’t viewed as favorites to land those players.

The Wildcats do have forwards already joining them for next year in Kahlil Whitney and Dontaie Allen. But both are 6’6 tweeners and could be more of a wing/guard rather than an undersized “four”. There isn’t a true big man in the group and unless someone from 2020 reclassifies and picks Kentucky, there might not be one.

Had Travis not become a grad transfer and left Stanford for Kentucky, we’d be discussing the Wildcats frontcourt a lot more – and not in a good way. So unless things change, that might have to be the route Coach John Calipari goes again to shore it up. And for a program who has annual national title goals, that’s a troubling place to be in recruiting-wise.