Indiana Makes Top Six For 2017 Five-Star Shooting Guard

On Tuesday afternoon, there was a major development on the recruiting trail as elite 2017 prospect Hamidou Diallo narrowed his list to six schools and Indiana was fortunate enough to make the cut. However, the Hoosiers will have to compete against some college basketball royalty to ultimately land his commitment.

Along with Indiana, Diallo listed five other programs. These programs were Arizona, Kansas, Kentucky, Syracuse, and UConn. Currently, Kentucky is the favorite (77 percent of picks) on the Crystal Ball for 247Sports.

As mentioned, Diallo is a major prospect. He’s rated as a five-star recruit by 247Sports, the No. 10 player overall in the 2017 recruiting class, and the No. 1 shooting guard in the nation. Diallo is also listed at 6-foot-5 and 195 pounds. His athleticism is off the charts and he projects as a serious prospect for the 2018 NBA Draft and beyond.

With three commitments already in the fold for Indiana’s 2017 recruiting class, the addition of Diallo could put the final touches on an outstanding class. The depth options are already there, but the Hoosiers still need an elite addition to bring the class to that next level for 2017. Diallo would be that piece.

If he did join the roster, Diallo would be projected to battle for playing time behind players like James Blackmon and Robert Johnson as a freshman and then presumably grab a starting role if he was still with the program as a sophomore. That assumes a lot of things, but that’s at least how it looks on paper.

There’s no telling where Diallo will end up, but if Indiana can keep its momentum going on the recruiting trail, this could be the kind of commitment that reshapes the program for the next few years.