The weekend has come and passed with former Wisconsin sharp shooter Connor Essegian on campus but no commitment.
Unbeknownst to me, Essegian quickly departed College Park and made a trip down to Columbia, South Carolina where he visited the Gamecocks. Current Cocks head coach Lamont Paris was a long-time assistant at Wisconsin and also did a good job of helping former (now current, again) Ohio State point guard Meechie Johnson resurrect his career.
Here's the bottom line with Essegian from what I have been able to gather, he grew up a Michigan fan and had early interest in playing for the Wolverines. But at this time, Dusty May is in excellent shape with a number of top guards in the portal, including the top overall player and his former star at FAU, Johnell Davis. May has reached out to Essegian, but I dont' think the interest is as strong on Michigan's end as it was on his. As for the South Carolina visit, it makes sense given Paris' ties to Wisconsin and the fact it is an Under Armour school.
Moving forward, Michigan could still bring him in for a visit at some point and I am also hearing there are plans to possibly visit Indiana at some point this week. Beyond that, I don't know of any other schools he has interest in or is planning on visiting. I did like Maryland's chances as from what I could gather Maryland took the place of Michigan, but I was also unaware of the Carolina visit. I still think this could be an instance where we see a commitment in the coming few days, but I don't know this to be certain.
Looking ahead, the Terps will host South Florida guard Selton Miguel beginning today. Miguel was a major reason for South Florida winning their first conference regular-season title this year and was 2nd team All-AAC as well as 6th man of the year. He began his career at Kansas State before transferring to South Florida, so he has P6 experience. His three-point shooting percentage has increased every year and he shot 39% from beyond the arc this past season. He's got good size for a guard and is a solid perimeter defender. The connection here is fellow Angolan and former Terp Bruno Fernando who is close to Miguel.
Tomorrow the Terps will host UC San Diego guard Bryce Pope, who is coming off of an unofficial visit to USC last Friday. The Terps were one of the first schools to get heavily involved with Pope and will have a chance to roll out the red carpet this week. But unfortunately, while the Terps were able to make quick work of Gillespie and Rice, it seems the rest of these visitors are likely going to finish out their visits before making a decision. Pope is scheduled to visit Stanford and Florida State following this week's visit to Maryland and more schools continue to reach out. Obviously they will look to blow him away and close the deal on campus, but it seems very possible it could be a week or two before a decision comes.
The thing that makes all of this tricky is that many of these players have agents urging them to take visits and pick the best offer and many are hearing from and high on the same group of schools. So it could be that one school is higher on a player than another or that the player might be higher on a school than the coaches recruiting them. And for some it might simply be a matter of first to commit gets the spot. With Selton Miguel, he's been in talks with Michigan and USC, Pope has been in talks with USC, Essegian has been in talks with Michigan and Indiana and then all of these schools have guys high on their boards they hope to land that might take away a spot for one of these players visiting Maryland. It is basically like free agency now. This is also why landing Gillespie and Rice early on was so huge.
I will say this though, based on some things I've heard with regards to where some players stand with some of Maryland's competition for these three, this could be one of those times where the first two to commit are on board and the third is left on the outside looking in.
I hate to handicap at this point, but if I had to, as of right now I actually think Miguel might be the most likely to commit first and a toss up between the other two.
Unbeknownst to me, Essegian quickly departed College Park and made a trip down to Columbia, South Carolina where he visited the Gamecocks. Current Cocks head coach Lamont Paris was a long-time assistant at Wisconsin and also did a good job of helping former (now current, again) Ohio State point guard Meechie Johnson resurrect his career.
Here's the bottom line with Essegian from what I have been able to gather, he grew up a Michigan fan and had early interest in playing for the Wolverines. But at this time, Dusty May is in excellent shape with a number of top guards in the portal, including the top overall player and his former star at FAU, Johnell Davis. May has reached out to Essegian, but I dont' think the interest is as strong on Michigan's end as it was on his. As for the South Carolina visit, it makes sense given Paris' ties to Wisconsin and the fact it is an Under Armour school.
Moving forward, Michigan could still bring him in for a visit at some point and I am also hearing there are plans to possibly visit Indiana at some point this week. Beyond that, I don't know of any other schools he has interest in or is planning on visiting. I did like Maryland's chances as from what I could gather Maryland took the place of Michigan, but I was also unaware of the Carolina visit. I still think this could be an instance where we see a commitment in the coming few days, but I don't know this to be certain.
Looking ahead, the Terps will host South Florida guard Selton Miguel beginning today. Miguel was a major reason for South Florida winning their first conference regular-season title this year and was 2nd team All-AAC as well as 6th man of the year. He began his career at Kansas State before transferring to South Florida, so he has P6 experience. His three-point shooting percentage has increased every year and he shot 39% from beyond the arc this past season. He's got good size for a guard and is a solid perimeter defender. The connection here is fellow Angolan and former Terp Bruno Fernando who is close to Miguel.
Tomorrow the Terps will host UC San Diego guard Bryce Pope, who is coming off of an unofficial visit to USC last Friday. The Terps were one of the first schools to get heavily involved with Pope and will have a chance to roll out the red carpet this week. But unfortunately, while the Terps were able to make quick work of Gillespie and Rice, it seems the rest of these visitors are likely going to finish out their visits before making a decision. Pope is scheduled to visit Stanford and Florida State following this week's visit to Maryland and more schools continue to reach out. Obviously they will look to blow him away and close the deal on campus, but it seems very possible it could be a week or two before a decision comes.
The thing that makes all of this tricky is that many of these players have agents urging them to take visits and pick the best offer and many are hearing from and high on the same group of schools. So it could be that one school is higher on a player than another or that the player might be higher on a school than the coaches recruiting them. And for some it might simply be a matter of first to commit gets the spot. With Selton Miguel, he's been in talks with Michigan and USC, Pope has been in talks with USC, Essegian has been in talks with Michigan and Indiana and then all of these schools have guys high on their boards they hope to land that might take away a spot for one of these players visiting Maryland. It is basically like free agency now. This is also why landing Gillespie and Rice early on was so huge.
I will say this though, based on some things I've heard with regards to where some players stand with some of Maryland's competition for these three, this could be one of those times where the first two to commit are on board and the third is left on the outside looking in.
I hate to handicap at this point, but if I had to, as of right now I actually think Miguel might be the most likely to commit first and a toss up between the other two.
