NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Offers rolling in for 2021 center Frank Anselem

Four-star big man Frank Anselem continues to see offers from high major programs roll in as he picked up his fourth NCAA Basketball scholarship overture this month recently.

Consensus top-85 2021 center Frank Anselem picked up an offer from the Kansas Jayhawks on Oct. 22, via Stockrisers’ Jake Weingarten. It is the fourth high-major overture that the 6-10 big man has received in October and  the15th since the beginning of June. He holds 25 NCAA Basketball offers overall.

Oregon, Arizona, and Arizona State are the other schools that have offered the Prolific Prep product (Napa, CA) this month. Rutgers, USC, New Mexico, Arkansas, Georgia, Alabama, DePaul, Nebraska, LSU, Georgia Tech, and TCU are among his other offers.

Anselem is a four-star prospect. He is ranked as the No. 43 prospect in the class of 2021 by ESPN, which is the highest among the four major recruiting systems and is slated at No. 81 by Rivals — which is the lowest among the ratings. Meanwhile, 247Sports has him situated at No. 51 in their rankings, and 247Sports Composite has him at No. 60.

The athletic Suwanee (GA) native’s offense is still developing, but he is already outstanding around the rim. Anselem also can run the floor and rebounds his area well. However, protecting the rim and swatting away shots is what he does best.

Kansas has a commitment from 2020 6-10 center Getthro Muscadin (Haiti), although the Jayhawks could use to add at least one more big to recruiting class as they will lose Mitch Lightfoot and Udoka Azubuike to graduation this year. As it stands now, junior Silvio De Sousa and sophomore David McCormick, along with Muscadin, are the only frontcourt players that the team has in the fold next year.  The Jayhawks do have 11 open offers to players in the 2020 class, including to power forwards Dawson Garcia (Prior Lake, MN), JT Thor (Anchorage, AK), and junior college prospect, Marial Mading (Chipola College). KU is projected to have at least two more scholarships available to use

Anselem has taken a couple of official visits already with trips to Nebraska (Sept. 27) and LSU (Oct. 11). He told Evan Daniels of 247Sports that he might take one more visit, possibly to UCLA, USC, or Gonzaga, before the high school season.  Anselem, who may reclassify to 2020, also said that Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee was recruiting him extremely hard.

Update: Weingarten tweeted that Arizona State sent an assistant coach to watch Anselem and Jaden Jones on Tuesday.

D’Andre Davis becomes Louisville’s first 2020 high school 2020 commit

The Louisville Cardinals picked up their first commitment from the class of 2020 when top-125 wing D’Andre Davis gave his pledge to coach Chris Mack on Oct. 20.  Davis’ decision comes after taking an official visit to Louisville.

“I committed to Louisville because of their togetherness,” Davis told 247Sports’ Evan Daniels. “With them, you hear the word family a lot, and that’s something that means a lot to me. I’m a family person, and I’ve grown up with a family where family is of utmost importance.”

The 6-5 four-star small forward chose the Cardinals primarily over Purdue and Xavier. He previously committed to Nebraska when Tim Miles was still the head coach but reopened his recruiting on Oct. 13.

Davis is ranked No. 96 prospect in the class by 2020 by both 247Sports and ESPN. Meanwhile, Rivals has the Indianapolis (IN) native at No. 110, and 247Sports lists him at No. 121 in their rankings.

Davis is the second player, joining top JUCO prospect Jay Scrubb (John A. Lincoln College), and first high school player from the class to commit to Louisville. The Cards are expected to have two more scholarships available for next year. They currently have open offers to just five players.

AJ Griffin has pleasant visit at Duke

Top-10 prospect AJ Griffin spoke to Adam Zagoria of ZAGSBLOG (via text) about his weekend visit to Duke for “Countdown to Craziness.”

"“The Duke visit was great,I connected really good with everyone and [the] atmosphere of the Countdown to Craziness was unbelievable.”"

Griffin was not the only prospect at the event as he was joined there by big men Hunter Dickinson (2020) and Paola Banchero (2021). The 6-7 small forward holds 19 offers with Duke, Kentucky, and Villanova appearing to be out on the forefront in his recruitment.

Other recruiting news

• 2020 Santa Monica College guard J.J. Watson committed to Alcorn State on Oct. 21. The 6-3 combo guard will have two years of eligibility left starting next year.
• 2020 6-9 center Owen Spencer (Cincinnati, OH) verbally committed to The Citadel on Oct. 20. Spencer is the Bulldogs first commitment for next season. The Citadel is expected to have two more scholarships available in 2020.
• 2021 6-2 point guard Sam Klores (Bronx, NY) committed to Brown on Oct. 20. He is the Bears’ first commitment for that year.
• Auburn offered five-star 2022 6-3 shooting guard Dillon Hunter (Westlake, GA) on Oct. 22. Hunter, who is a consensus top-35 player in his class, also holds offers from Alabama along with Wake Forest, Georgia, Florida State, and Georgia.
• Oregon sent an assistant coach out to watch 2020 top-75 point guard Jalen Terry (Flint, MI) on Oct. 22. Terry has heard from several schools — including DePaul, Mizzou, TCU, Iowa State, Florida State, Maryland, Ole Miss, Providence, LSU, and Louisville — since de-committing from Michigan State on Oct. 14.
• An Auburn assistant coach showed up at Prolific Prep Academy (Napa, CA) to watch five-star 2020 wing Jalen Green and 2021 6-7 small forward Jaden Jones.
• Gonzaga sent assistant coach Roger Powell to the International Sports Academy at Andrews Osborne to see 6-11center Charles Bediako (St. Catherine’s, ON) on Oct. 21. The consensus top-55 prospect holds 12 offers, including Xavier, USC, Florida, Alabama, Maryland, Illinois, and Ohio State.
• JUCO prospect Kailex Stephens trimmed his college list down to Jacksonville State, Indiana State, Coastal Carolina, and Troy on Oct. 21. The 6-7 forward is currently playing at Tallahassee (FL) CC. Stephens spent the 2018-19 campaign at D-II Francis Marion, where he averaged 13.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 40.5% from the field and 30.1% from beyond the arc.
• 2020 6-1 point guard Kadarius Johnson (Decatur, GA) committed to Georgia on Oct. 21. Johnson also held recent offers from Buffalo, Jacksonville State, Missouri State, and Kennesaw State. With his commitment, Georgia now has two pledges from the class of 2020 and is slated to have 14 players on scholarship for the 2020-21 campaign, which is one more than the NCAA limit. Four-star forward Joshua Taylor (Norcross, GA) committed to the Bulldogs on Sept. 25.
• Consensus five-star 2022 6-8 forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield received a visit from Kentucky coach John Calipari. The Clarksville (TN) native, who is currently enrolled at IMG Academy, recently reclassified to 2021. He is ranked No. 6 by 247Sports and No. 9 by 247Sports Composite. The 16-year-old took a visit to Ole Miss (Oct. 5) and one set up for Memphis on Nov. 8.

• Assistants from Notre Dame and Michigan State were in FT. Wayne (IN) to see 2021 6-9  four-star power forward Caleb Furst. Furst is a consensus top-40 prospect in the class.