KU, four other schools make cut for elite junior point guard Brandon Williams

Brandon Williams, one of the top point guards in the high school recruiting Class of 2018, on Saturday listed Kansas as one of his five finalists.

Williams, a 6-foot-2, 180-pound junior from Crespi Carmelite High in Encino, Calif. who is ranked No. 16 nationally by ESPN.com and No. 40 by Rivals.com, reported on Twitter a list of KU, UCLA, USC, Arizona and Gonzaga.

Williams made an unofficial visit to KU for the 2016 Late Night in the Phog. He visited UCLA last week.

“Williams is one of the more promising point guard prospects in his class out west,” reads ESPN.com’s scouting report. “He is a rangy point guard prospect that possesses a nice combination of facilitating and scoring. He has long arms, ideal speed and quickness and he is explosive in transition. He loves to attack going right and he is getting more consistent finishing through contact. He can spot up and knock down jump shots to three-point range with consistency. He has good instincts and he moxie as well.

“Williams needs to continue to get stronger attacking against pressure. He has a tendency to favor his right hand and now must get more comfortable attacking with his left. In addition, he needs to continue to polish his point guard skills,” the ESPN scouting report read.

Williamson vs. Langford part one

KU coach Bill Self attended the matchup of the AAU season thus far: Zion Williamson’s South Carolina Supreme team versus Romeo Langford’s Twenty Two Vision squad on Friday at an Adidas event in Fort Worth, Texas.

Langford, a 6-4 junior combo guard from New Albany (Ind.) High ranked No. 3 by Rivals.com, scored 28 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished four assists in leading his team to victory. Williamson, a 6-7 junior forward from Spartanburg (S.C.) Day School ranked No. 2 nationally, scored 26 points and grabbed seven boards.

Other college head coaches on hand according to Zagsblog.com: Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, Indiana’s Archie Miller, South Carolina’s Frank Martin and Arkansas’ Mike Anderson plus assistants from Kentucky, Clemson, Vanderbilt, North Carolina, Louisville and several other programs.

“The atmosphere was second to none,” Williamson told Rivals.com after Friday’s game. He held in-home visits last week with KU coach Self as well as coaches from Duke, Clemson, South Carolina and North Carolina. Langford held an in-home with coaches from Kentucky last week. KU is also on his list of schools.

Quickley has KU in final seven

Immanuel Quickley, a 6-4 junior point guard from John Carroll High in Bel Air, Md., who is ranked No. 15 in the Class of 2018 by Rivals.com, has a final seven of KU, Duke, Kentucky, Maryland, Miami, Providence and Virginia. KU’s coaches recently had an in-home visit with Quickley, who scored 22 points in Team BBC’s win over Quintin Grimes’ Basketball University team Friday at the Adidas event in Texas.

KU is also recruiting Grimes, a 6-5 junior combo guard from College Park High School in The Woodlands, Texas, ranked No. 12 in the Class of 2018. Grimes had six points, six boards and three assists in Friday’s loss to Quickley’s team.

“I don’t think distance is going to matter. It’s about the right fit,” Quickley said of his college choice to Rivals.com.

KU coach Self was at Friday’s game as well as coaches from Duke, Texas A&M, LSU, Texas, Marquette, California, Baylor, Connecticut, Oklahoma, Xavier, Kentucky, Miami, Maryland and Wake Forest.　　　

Robinson-Earl impresses

Bishop Miege sophomore forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl has played well in front of a batch of college coaches at this weekend’s Under Armour AAU event in New York.

“The best word to describe the way Robinson-Earl plays is active. He’s always involved in plays on both ends of the court,” Dan McDonald of Rivals.com writes of Robinson-Earl, who is ranked No. 17 in the Class of 2019 by Rivals.com. “He started off a little slow offensively (in first game), but he didn’t let his defense slip as he did a great job protecting the rim. In the second half, his offense picked up and he also dished out a few assists.”

Robinson-Earl has scholarship offers from KU, Missouri, Oklahoma, Iowa, Creighton, Wake Forest and Kansas State. He’s also heard from coaches from North Carolina, Notre Dame and others. Robinson-Earl recently told The Star he’d make an unofficial visit to Missouri on Monday.

No. 1 player may reclassify

Canadian sensation R.J. Barrett, the No. 1 player in the recruiting Class of 2019, is considering reclassifying to the Class of 2018 which would make him a senior next school year, he told Zagsblog.com.

“I will sit down sometime in August with my dad and discuss the possibilities of re-classifying to the senior class,” Barrett, a 6-foot-6 wing from Montverde (Fla.) Academy told ESPN as reported by Zagsblog.com. “I understand that it’s a big jump but I am open to the possibilities both academically and athletically.”

Barrett — his recruitment figures to be as hyped as that of fellow Canadian phenom Andrew Wiggins who ultimately chose Kansas — has a list of KU, Kentucky, Arizona, Texas, Michigan, USC, Virginia Tech, Virginia, Villanova and others.

His dad, Rowan Barrett, is the head of Canada Basketball and is in charge of Canada’s national teams.

“We believe after this spring and summer we’ll open it up and start to look seriously at some of these schools and start to make some determinations about shortening the list and starting to make visits and doing that,” Rowan Barrett told Zagsblog.com.

KU is also recruiting Canadian forward Simisola Shittu, a 6-9 junior at Vermont Academy in Saxton River Vt., who also has heard from Arizona, UCLA, Louisville, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, Cal, Providence, UConn, Memphis, Oregon, Michigan and Notre Dame. Shittu is ranked No. 10 in the Class of 2018 by Rivals.com.

KU ‘loves’ Quinerly’s game

Jahvon Quinerly, a 6-foot junior point guard from Hudson Catholic in Hackensack, N.J., has received scholarship offers from KU, Arizona, Villanova, Virginia, Maryland, Seton Hall, Notre Dame, Stanford and Cal.

“The head coach (Bill Self) is going to check me out in Indiana (at upcoming Under Armour event),” Quinerly told Zagsblog.com. “But (KU assistant) coach (Norm) Roberts told me to keep playing. He loves my game. He just said he’ll be at every game watching me and Bill Self will be at the next session.”

Brown discusses how he’d ‘fit’

KU is recruiting Moses Brown, a 7-foot, 225-pound junior center from Archbishop Molloy in Queens, N.Y. Rivals.com’s No. 6-rated player in the Class of 2018 is considering KU, Georgetown, Seton Hall, Louisville, Kentucky, Duke, Arizona, Maryland, UConn, St. John’s and others.

“He (KU assistant Roberts) talked about their play style, how would I fit in over there, how I would fit into their offense and defense,” Brown told Zagsblog.com from the Under Armour event in New York.

Brooks chooses Carolina

Former Mississippip State commit Garrison Brooks, a 6-9 senior forward from Auburn (Ala.) High School ranked No. 120 in the Class of 2017 by Rivals.com, has committed to North Carolina. KU reportedly was on Brooks’ list of schools with Auburn, Georgia and LSU.

Dotson recruitment ‘open’

Devon Dotson, a 6-1 junior point guard from Providence Day in Charlotte, N.C., who is ranked No. 37 in the Class of 2018 by Rivals.com, is being recruited by KU, North Carolina, Florida, Maryland, Louisville, Creighton, Georgia, Virginia Tech and others.

“His recruitment seems to be pretty open at this point. How schools prioritize him going forward will play a big part in where he ends up,” writes Dan McDonald of Rivals.com.

This story was originally published April 22, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "KU, four other schools make cut for elite junior point guard Brandon Williams."