Cincinnati, Louisville, and Memphis are the favorites to land the nation’s top JUCO prospect, Jay Scrubb. Here’s how he would fit with each NCAA Basketball program.
Jay Scrubb is the top-rated JUCO prospect in the 2020 NCAA basketball recruiting class, and a number of high majors have put him at the top of their wishlists.
20 Division I schools have already offered Scrubb a scholarship according to 247sports, with 13 of those schools being high-major programs. He didn’t have a D-I offer coming out of Trinity High School in Louisville, but his play during his first year at John A. Logan College in Carterville, Illinois quickly garnered him plenty of attention.
Scrubb is a versatile 6-6, 220-pound guard who can play anywhere on the perimeter, including the point. Those skills were on full display this past season when he averaged 19.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in an extremely efficient way, shooting 46.4 percent from three-point range (51/110) and 54.9 percent from the floor.
Those numbers were good enough to earn Scrubb NJCAA first team All-American honors and an invitation to the USA Basketball U19 trials, making him the only JUCO player to earn an invite.
College schools aren’t the only ones monitoring Scrubb’s progress. Given his size, skill set, and efficiency, NBA teams have taken notice – and there’s a chance he jumps straight from JUCO to the NBA.
But, assuming he ends up playing for a college program in the 2020-21 season, how would Scrubb fit in at Cincinnati, Louisville, or Memphis? Here’s a breakdown of his top three schools.
Cincinnati Bearcats
There are more question marks surrounding Cincinnati than the other three schools on this list.
From a pure roster standpoint, the Bearcats provide perhaps the best opportunity for him to step in and be the go-to guy. Reigning American Player of the Year Jarron Cumberland will be gone and there’s no clear next guy in line currently in the rotation. As Scrubb looks to get to the NBA, showcasing his skills as the focal point of Cincinnati’s attack would be appealing.
Of course, we still don’t know what to expect from the program under new head coach John Brannen.
He built Northern Kentucky into a winner with a perimeter-oriented style that, on paper, looks like it would fit well with Scrubb’s game. We just haven’t seen it on the court for the Bearcats, and there’s no guarantee he’ll have the same level of success in the American.
There’s also the program transition Cincinnati is undergoing. Former head coach Mick Cronin had a team based on defense and athleticism, and was one of the worst shooting teams in the country. Brannen puts an emphasis on shooting, so it may take a couple of recruiting cycles for Brannen to really implement his system.
Scrubb would certainly be a major part of that transition, but how competitive will the Bearcats be during Brannen’s early years? The first part of the 2019-20 season will be huge in Scrubb’s recruiting in this regard.
He’s currently set to make an official visit to Cincinnati on August 6th.
Louisville Cardinals
The hometown program figures to be in the driver’s seat for Scrubb. They’d provide him the opportunity to play at home for one of the country’s elite program and will have a high-level role for a championship contender.
Head coach Chris Mack largely exceeded expectations during his first season and, with most of that roster returning and one of the nation’s top recruiting classes coming in, Louisville will be a preseason top-10 team with legitimate Final Four aspirations.
It’s expected that some key players from this year’s roster will be gone – junior Jordan Nwora and five-star freshman Samuell Williamson – so lead roles will be available on the perimeter. Mack has also developed a number of players with similar size and skills (namely Nwora and Xavier’s Trevon Bluiett) and turned them into NBA prospects.
Louisville is the only school on this list that has a blueprint they can show Scrubb, but that blueprint will look at lot worse if the Cardinals underachieve this year. They’re a program with a bunch of momentum and are pitching Scrubb on the opportunity to be a key player who can help return his hometown team to the top of the college basketball mountain.
A school of Louisville’s pedigree will always have appeal, but that appeal will be much stronger if the Cards have a good season. He is set to unofficially visit the school again on August 1st.
Memphis Tigers
Speaking of programs with momentum, no one enters the 2019-20 season with more of it than Memphis. However, unlike Louisville, their season is going to be seen as either a huge success or a failure with no in between.
Head coach Penny Hardaway has brought in the nation’s top recruiting class, headlined by five-star prospects James Wiseman and Precious Achiuwa. He’s proven he can attract high-level talent and prefers to have big guards, and Scrubb fits the mold to a tee.
The Tigers are another team that will be ranked in the top 10 in the preseason, but Hardaway doesn’t have Mack’s resume to fall back on. He’s still in his first tenure as a collegiate head coach and this coming season, with this recruiting class, will be viewed as an indictment – positively or negatively – on his ability to do the job.
If Memphis has a successful season, they’ll continue to be the “hot” program in the eyes of recruits, giving Hardaway the tools to turn them into a national power. Scrubb would likely be part of another high-level recruiting class
If Memphis has a down season, everything around this program will shift. And, if Hardaway isn’t able to win with a roster full of NBA talent, there will be questions about this ability to develop that talent – something that is important to Scrubb with his eyes on the NBA.
No matter what happens, Wiseman and Achiuwa (and potentially a couple of others) will likely leave for the NBA. They’ll have a void Scrubb could fill. However, unlike Louisville, Memphis’ departures are expected to mostly be in the frontcourt, meaning he may not have as big of a role. His willingness to accept a potentially lesser role may depend on the direction of the program under Hardaway.
Scrubb has the size, shooting, and skills to make an immediate impact no matter where he ends up. That said, all three of these schools currently have different situations to offer the coveted JUCO prospect.