NCAA Basketball: Analyzing finalists for top-60 forward Trey Kaufman
Indiana State Sycamores
With the Sycamore coaching staff also recruiting a pair of current high school teammates, Kaufman has shown a real interest in the mid-major program as well. Besides being another local option, Indiana State is a pretty good team in their own right, placing third in the Missouri Valley Conference last season.
Kaufman wouldn’t be the first top-100 commit for the league, with top-50 point guard and reigning Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year AJ Green (Northern Iowa) joining a couple of years ago. But it’s hard to imagine Indiana State beating out the power conference opponents on this list, regardless of who else would be on the roster.
North Carolina Tar Heels
Coming off a disastrous season, head coach Roy Williams brought in the No. 2 recruiting class for next season, featuring five-star big men Day’Ron Sharpe and Walker Kessler, Including returning All-ACC forward Garrison Brooks and Armando Bacot, you have arguably the best depth of bigs in all of NCAA Basketball.
As good as Kaufman is, he’d still have a tough time finding minutes early on, even if some of these guys depart next year. UNC already has four-star forward Dontrez Styles committed and they’ll be in play for other top prospects as well. As great a program and Coach Williams’ elite history of development is, there may be better options that can check all the boxes for this recruit in question.