NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Top-40 prospect Trendon Watford narrows down list

Top-40 recruit in the 2019 recruiting class Trendon Watford is expected to make a decision on April 20.

Consensus four-star 2019 prospect Trendon Watfold is nearing a decision on his college future. Watfold is one of the nation’s top uncommitted seniors and he is down to five schools. The five schools are Duke, LSU, Alabama, Indiana and Memphis.

According to Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog, Alabama has made it  a priority to keep the Birmingham (Ala.) native in state even though they just recently hired coach Nate Oats. Oats and his staff traveled to Destin, Florida, on March 31, to visit with Watford while he was on Spring Break.

“They stressed the style and speed of play,” Ernest Watford, Trendon’s father, told ZAGSBLOG.  “They can exploit matchups using Trendon’s versatility and impressive playmaking abilities.”

Watford is a scorer who can put the ball in the basket from the inside as well as outside. He is a good ball-handler who can change pace and get into the lane. The 6-foot-8 combo forward also likes to pound the glass, although he is not the most explosive athlete. Despite possessing good size and length (7-foot-4 wingspan), Watford is not strong defensively.

Watford is rated as a five-star prospect by 247Sports Composite (No. 27 overall), ESPN (No. 22) and Rivals (No. 19). However, 247Sports has him listed as a four-star prospect and the 37th best player in the class.

The two-time Mr. Alabama Basketball selection averaged 23.7 points along with 11.8 rebounds a game and led Mountain Brook High School to its third straight 7A state title this season. He finished his high school career with 3,783 career points and an Alabama High School Athletic Association-record 1,909 career rebounds.

Oats, who had a ton of success in his four seasons at Buffalo, has a lot of work ahead of him. The Tide knew they were going to lose forward Donta Hall and guard Riley Norris at the conclusion of the campaign to graduation. But since former coach Avery Johnson’s firing several players have decided to transfer including former four-star recruit Daniel Giddens, 2018-19 leading scorer Kira Lewis and former three-star recruit Dazon Ingram. With those departures, it means that Alabama currently has only seven scholarship players on its roster.

The good news is that, unless something changes, Alabama has signed three recruits from the class of 2019 — four-star point guard Jaden Shackelford, four-star shooting guard Jalen Forbes, and four-star small forward Juwan Gary. The Tide also has received a verbal commitment from three-star center Raymond Hawkins. Hawkins is the only of the four players to be recruited by Oats.

"“It’s Duke, it’s Coach K, so it is what it is. You definitely have to give Duke a shot because I know there’s a lot to offer there.“They really feel like I would be able to thrive in their system because I can do so many things. I like the idea of playing with other elite players; I feel like that makes me so much better. Look at what they did with their super-team this year.”"

Alabama currently has two scholarships more available to use this offseason. The Tide’s biggest need is on the wing. In addition to Watford, the Tide has an open offer to four-star shooting guard Harlond Beverly.

Watford is slated to make his college selection on April 20 at the Jordan Brand Classic. While Memphis and Alabama have long been thought to be the favorites to obtain Watford’s services, it appears that Duke may now have the inside track. The Blue Devils only expressed their interest in him in early March, but Watford told USA Today Sports that Duke is “one of those schools you have to listen to no matter when they jump in.”