Today in the Morning Rumble, a former Johnnie takes a visit, Davon Dillard de-commits from California and Kyle Washington is headed to Cincy.
Former St. John's shot blocker, Chris Obekpa, is currently on a visit at Minnesota until Saturday, according to Adam Zagoria of SNY. In addition to the Gophers, the big man has received interest from Arizona State, North Carolina State and Alabama. Several other schools are also expected to be in the mix so a decision on his next stop is not imminent.
Obekpa, who led the country in blocked shots during his freshman season, will have to sit out the 2015-16 before having one year of eligibility remaining in 2016-17.
6'5" 2015 small forward Davon Dillard de-committed from California earlier this week and will transfer to play for Travis Ford at Oklahoma State. Dillard, who played at Our Savior New American in high school, is a 4-star recruit that received offers from Creighton, Indiana, Pittsburgh and Purdue, in addition to Cal and Oklahoma State.
The forward is an athletic freak with the ability to rock the rim in transition and the skills to put on a highlight reel. He is a raw player that has a strong opportunity to compete for minutes off the bench in Stillwater in 2015-16.
On to the transfer market, where Kyle Washington committed to Cincinnati over two Big East schools, Providence and Marquette. Washington will have two years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the upcoming season.
The 6'9" forward is a rock solid paint producer, who rips down rebounds, scores around the rim and provides a defensive presence. He averaged 6.8 points per game, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks last season while playing a critical role for a talented Wolfpack team that made the Sweet 16.
The Wildcats won't appreciate this.
The Tigers have a plethora of talented players in 5-star recruit Blakeney, one of the best players in the 2015 class Ben Simmons, 4-star guard Brandon Sampson and returnees Keith Hornsby, Josh Gray and Tim Quarterman. But that doesn't mean that the team will be successful on the national scale.
Head coach Johnny Jones had a talented team last year with pros Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin, but they were never consistent and never put all the pieces together to reach their potential. He may have more talent this year, but Jones has to find a way to put this group of players in the best situations to be successful.
The expectations were already sky high and Blakeney's comments don't help their case. It doesn't help them beat Kentucky and it certainly doesn't help them solve their front court issues.
If you want some entertainment, watch 6'10" 2016 power forward Harry Giles play. The Winston-Salem, NC native is currently playing on the USA U19 team in Greece and he unleashed a highlight reel dunk.
The U19 team, made up of talented college and high school players, is already in the quarterfinals and will play Italy Friday.