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NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Top-20 prospect Walker Kessler’s recruiting options

By Daniel Benjamin

GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 31: A Final Four basketball goes through the hoop during practice ahead of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 31, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
GLENDALE, AZ - MARCH 31: A Final Four basketball goes through the hoop during practice ahead of the 2017 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four at University of Phoenix Stadium on March 31, 2017 in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images) /
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KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – MARCH 29: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts against the Auburn Tigers during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – MARCH 29: Head coach Roy Williams of the North Carolina Tar Heels reacts against the Auburn Tigers during the 2019 NCAA Basketball Tournament Midwest Regional at Sprint Center on March 29, 2019 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /

Other four finalists for Kessler

North Carolina

The Tar Heels aren’t desperate to find a big man as they did sign five-star 2019 recruit Armando Bacot this past year and have received a verbal commitment from 2020 four-star prospect Day Ron Sharpe (Winterville, NC). In addition, Garrison Brooks — who showed marked improvement in year two — 6’11” Sterling Manley and 6’10” Brandon Huffman will be seniors in 2020. Manley and Huffman have seen sparse minutes throughout their first two seasons, although Manley averaged 10 minutes a game in 37 appearances as a freshman.

Tennessee

The Volunteers could be hurting upfront this year, particularly if star big man Grant Williams remains in the NBA draft. While the Vols have four other big men, none have really done anything in their college career to this point. 6’9″ D.J. Burns and 6’11” Zach Kent, 6’9″ power forward John Fulkerson, as well as 6’8″ sophomore Derrick Walker Jr., were three-star prospects coming out of high school. Burns and Kent sat out this past season. Tennessee has also signed 6’9″ 2019 two-star prospect Drew Pember.

The Vols are looking at several other 2020 big men, including four-star recruits Greg Brown III (Austin, TX) and Dain Danija (Brooklyn Park, MN).

Vanderbilt

The Commodores still have four roster spots to fill for the 2019-20 season and they should be looking for some frontcourt depth. Currently, Vandy has open offers to three-star Kenyon Martin Jr. (West Hills, CA) and two-star David Skogman (Waukesha, WI). Clevon Brown, Matthew Moyer, and Ejike “Simon” Obinna are the only bigs on the roster at this point. Brown will not have any eligibility left following next season.

Next. Under the radar recruits in 2019 class. dark

Virginia

The Cavaliers will be almost as desperate for a big man as the Blue Devils, especially if 7’1″ redshirt sophomore Jay Huff doesn’t take his game to another level next season. The good news is that 6’10” 2019 four-star recruit Kadin Shedrick and 7’0 redshirt freshman Francisco Caffarro, who is a product of NBA Global Academy, will have a year of college experience under their belt.

Virginia is also looking at Williams and 7’1″ four-star prospect Hunter Dickinson (Alexandria, Va.) from the class of 2020.

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