NCAA Basketball Recruiting: Examining class of 2020 F Cliff Omoruyi final 3 options
Consensus 4-star NCAA Basketball center Cliff Omoruyi will make his decision at the end of the month, but where will he end up?
2020 four-star NCAA Basketball prospect Cliff Omoruyi announced that he would make his college decision on March 29 via his Instagram and Twitter accounts, per Adam Zagoria of ZAGSBLOG. Omoruyi is down to Arizona State, Auburn and Rutgers. He has taken official recruiting trips to all three schools, with Rutgers being the most recent as it took place during the weekend of Feb. 29.
The journey to the New Brunswick (NJ) campus was unusual, per Bobby Deren of 247Sports, as the 6-10 center arrived on Friday only to leave on Saturday as Roselle Catholic (NJ) had a game scheduled against The Patrick School. Several Rutgers players, including Geo Baker and Ron Harper Jr., as well as head coach Steve Pikiell attended that game to watch Omoruyi.
Omoruyi took his official to Arizona State on Feb. 20 while he made the trek to Auburn was last fall (Sept. 13). The Nigerian native averaged15 points, 11 rebounds, and seven blocks this past season. He is physically impressive and very strong. While the big man is limited offensively, he attacks the rim fiercely, where he finishes well. Omoruyi is also a strong rebounder and outstanding shot-blocker.
Before getting down to the final three schools, Omoruyi had previously slashed his contenders down to five with Kentucky and UConn being the schools not making the finalist list. He is ranked among the top 50 players in the 2020 class with 247Sports Composite listing him at No. 41 and 247Sports putting him at No. 43. Meanwhile, ESPN has Omoruyi at No. 49, and Rivals lists him at No. 36.
Here is a look at the finalist list
Arizona State: The Sun Devils are considered the overwhelming favorites for Omoruyi’s services by prognosticators from Rivals and 247Sports as they made a significant impression on him. ASU had a fantastic season as they finished with a 20-11 record and third in the Pac-12 with 11-7. The Sun Devils are expected to return their top four players from this past season — Remy Martin, Alonzo Verge Jr., Rob Edwards, and Romello White. Arizona State, which is also reportedly in the mix for Joshua Christopher, has one scholarship remaining as they already commit three-star Marcus Bagley.
Rutgers: The Scarlet Knights desperately want him, and he is a Jersey kid sort to speak. Rutgers went 20-11 this past season, marking their first winning season since 2006-06 and their first 20 win campaign since 2003-04. Their 11 Big Ten victories are the Scarlet Knights most in nearly three decades when they were members of the Big East. Rutgers returns Harper and Baker as well as Myles Johnson, although they must replace both of their starting frontcourt players — Akwasi Yeboah and Shazville Carter. The Knights have signed three players in their recruiting class and have no more scholarships currently available.
Auburn: Bruce Pearl has Auburn rolling as the Tigers have won 25 games in each of the last three years and reached the Final Four in 2019. The Tigers are coming off a 25-6 record, which includes a second-place finish in SEC at 12-6. The Tigers are slated to lose five valuable seniors, although at least freshman Isaac Okoro is slated to return. Okoro had an outstanding first season finishing second on the team in scoring and tied for second in rebounding. Auburn currently has the 18th best 2020 recruiting class coming in according to 247Sports, led by five-star point guard Sharife Cooper. They are slated to have two more scholarships remaining for the upcoming campaign.
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Prediction: All three schools could useOmoruyi. My gut says Rutgers, and I believe it is between them and Arizona State as both schools have two of the best engineering schools in the nation. But I’m going with Arizona State as I believe it is a better situation for him in terms of athletically and academically.