Oak Hill Academy big man McCormack on KU’s campus for unofficial visit

David McCormack, a bruising 6-foot-10, 260-pound senior power forward from Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va., arrived in Lawrence on Monday night for an unofficial recruiting visit to Kansas .

McCormack, the No. 35-ranked player in the recruiting class of 2018 by Rivals.com, has reportedly already made unofficial visits to Duke, Virginia, North Carolina State and Oklahoma State. He also is considering Kentucky, UCLA, Texas, Louisville, Georgetown, Maryland and others.

“I want to make sure the college program fits me and the coaching style fits me,” McCormack, who averaged 10.6 points and 8.6 rebounds as a junior at Oak Hill and 14.8 points (on 60 percent shooting) and 9.8 rebounds for Team Loaded AAU on the adidas circuit this past summer, said in an interview with USA Today.

“Playing back to the basket — that’s my bread-and-butter — but I also need to work on my face-up game, the midrange shot, the pick-and-pop and stuff like that to help my game,” he added.

McCormack, who played in the same frontcourt as 6-10, 240-pound KU freshman Billy Preston last season at Oak Hill, dropped 40 pounds a year ago.

“Through all the work and determination, I changed my game,” McCormack told USA Today. “I made sure I dropped the weight. I played hard. I made sure I revolutionized my game.”

The Norfolk, Va., native attracted the attention of major-college recruiters as the weight came off.

“People were telling me during our season how good he looked,” Oak Hill coach Steve Smith told USA Today. “Everybody who sees him now wants to recruit him, and that wasn’t the thing before. Now, he probably has 25-30 offers. We saw him every day and we knew he was losing weight, but we didn’t notice. Other people would come in who hadn’t seen him and go, ‘Oh, my gosh.’ They didn’t know how disciplined he was. Now, he’s shown he’s that type of player who wants to be good.

“He’ll do what you ask him to do,” Smith added. “He has a great attitude and he’s a great student. He’s a big guy and there’s not many 5-men who want to play down low. Dave knows what he is and goes to work.”

McCormack told Kentucky.com that his game “is always developing. But I’m still strong and demanding.”

His buddy, Los Angeles native Preston, averaged 15.3 points and 10.4 boards a game his senior season at Oak Hill Academy.

“That’s definitely something we talked about before he left (Oak Hill),” McCormack told The Star this summer at the NBA Players Association Camp in Virginia, referring to possibly teaming with Preston at KU.

McCormack also has ties to Oklahoma State. He is friends with first-year assistant coach David Kontaxis, a former James Madison assistant who has worked seven years with AAU programs in the Washington, D.C. area, including McCormack’s Team Loaded. It is believed McCormack will take some official visits before choosing a school.

Chicago native to visit Wake, USC

KU recruiting target Ayo Dosunmu, a 6-4 senior point guard from Chicago’s Morgan Park High School, has set official visits to USC and Wake Forest, ESPN.com reported on Monday.

Dosunmu, who is a good friend of KU sophomore/former Morgan Park lead guard Charlie Moore, will visit former KU player and assistant coach Danny Manning’s Wake Forest program on Sept. 29-Oct. 1 and Andy Enfield’s USC program on Sept. 15-17.

Dosunmu recently narrowed his list of schools to KU, USC, Wake Forest, Illinois, Xavier, Connecticut, Creighton, North Carolina State, Oklahoma State, Memphis and New Mexico.

He’s the No. 21 ranked player in the recruiting class of 2018 by Rivals.com.

“Coach Manning … him knowing the game and being in the NBA and having a ton of resources,” Dosunmu told Scout.com, when asked about his interest in Wake Forest. “They have a lot of pieces. I think it’d be a good fit for me to come in right away, play good minutes and I think he can get me to the next level.”

Dosunmu averaged 23.0 points per game in 16 AAU games for Chicago’s Mac Irvin Fire this summer. He had a 42-point outburst in a game in Las Vegas.

“A tough as nails, slashing guard with tremendous size, Dosunmu was the headliner for the highly-lauded Mac Irvin Fire program this summer. Dosunmu finished top-5 on Nike’s EYBL circuit in both points and free throws made,” wrote Corey Evans of Rivals.com.

“Dosunmu still has to weigh making another cut to his list against just setting his other visits. While a college commitment could occur this fall, no timetable has been set for his decision,” Evans added.

Robinson to shun G-League?

Seven-foot former Western Kentucky signee Mitchell Robinson, who recently visited KU, LSU and New Orleans after being released from his letter-of-intent at WKU, would never consider playing in the NBA’s G-League this season in advance of the 2018 NBA Draft, wrote Chris Reichert of 2Ways10Days.com.

He pointed out that while the 19-year-old Robinson meets the G-League’s minimum age limit of 18, he would earn just $26,000 for the entire season.

Plus …

“Playing a full, 50-game season in the G-League could expose players and open them up for a deeper look into their upside, ultimately causing them to fall on draft boards,” wrote Reichert.

“If Robinson were to sign with the G-League, he would definitely be the No. 1 pick in their draft and play 30-plus minutes every single night. If he did somehow sign with the league and dominated, people would say, ‘Well, it’s just the G League.’ The upside for him in this could be great in terms of his personal development of skill, his knowledge of NBA playbooks and terminology and his confidence to play against NBA-caliber players, but the potentially damning perceptions and scrutiny heavily outweigh the positives.

“Even if he could earn $100,000 for a season in the G-League, it might not be worth the increased exposure of his adolescent game. Big men typically take longer to mature and develop than guards, so why risk millions of dollars in potentially lost salary by lowering your draft stock?” Reichert added.

Quiet of late on Twitter, Robinson as of Monday night had not yet responded to Jon Rothstein’s report that he might merely practice on his own all season while waiting for the 2018 NBA Draft.

This story was originally published August 21, 2017 at 8:30 PM with the headline "Oak Hill Academy big man McCormack on KU’s campus for unofficial visit."