2/10 Big Ten Morning Power Bar: Targets Spurn Big Ten Schools

Every week, BTPowerhouse’s Big Ten Morning Power Bar details what’s going on across the league on the recruiting trail.

This week was a disappointing end to the pursuit of three Big Ten targets in the 2018 class. We’ll detail that and also look at new offers out from Ohio State, Rutgers, and Illinois.

-Three Targets Turn Down Big Ten Schools

First up was the conclusion to the eventful recruitment of Tyger Campbell. The top-80 point guard had offers from three Big Ten schools (Purdue, Maryland, and Wisconsin). The Boilers and Terrapins made Campbell’s top four a few weeks ago, but in the end, Campbell chose UCLA.

For Purdue, this most likely means the Boilermakers will look to the graduate transfer market to fill their last 2018 need.

The need is less immediate for Maryland as they have Anthony Cowan for another two years. The Terps were selling Campbell on an ability to handle the ball and play off Cowan, but that would appear to be more of a luxury than a need.

The disappointing news continued with rising senior Xavier Pinson committing to Missouri over Wisconsin. The Chicago-area point guard blew up during his senior season, and Wisconsin thought they could get him to fill a need in their 2018 class. That wasn’t meant to be, and Pinson is off to Columbia, MO under Cuonzo Martin.

A final disappointment came in the recruitment of Ochai Agbaji. We talked about Agbaji last week and mentioned that Kansas was stalking around. Well, they offered last weekend and he quickly committed to the Jayhawks. Ohio State, Wisconsin, and Nebraska all offered the athletic wing. Tough for a Kansas City kid to turn down an opportunity like that.

-Buckeyes Offer Two New Targets

Turning to some potentially more positive news, Ohio State continued in their offer frenzy by sending out two new offers this week.

First up was 2019 top-100 guard Anthony Harris Jr. The 6-foot-3 combo guard visited Ohio State’s victory over Illinois on February 4th and an offer soon followed. Harris Jr. currently boasts offers from Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, UCF, George Mason and Old Dominion. Bigger fish like Villanova and Duke have shown some interest. If those schools and others stay away, one would think the Buckeyes might have a shot here. Take a look at some of his highlights below.

(courtesy of Rivals)

The other offer this week went out to shooting guard David Johnson. The one-time Louisville commit is ranked no. 90 in the 2019 class (Rivals) and has offers from fellow Ohio schools Xavier and Cincinnati. We’ll keep an eye on this one as well. In the meantime, take a look at some highlights.

(courtesty of KySports.tv)

-Rutgers Latest To Offer New York Scorer

Last week we told you about 2019 guard Joe Girard. Michigan offered last week and Penn State was the other Big Ten school in on the 6-foot-1 guard.

Rutgers was the latest Big Ten team to jump into the fray with an offer this week. Girard is one of the most prolific scorers in the country with his scoring averages near 50 points per game.

We’ll track Girard’s recruitment as he eventually whittles down his list. Check out some highlights of him in action.

(courtesy of New Recruit Media LLC Nix)

-Illinois Extends Offer To 2020 Power Forward

Our final update this week comes courtesy of the Fighting Illini. Brad Underwood’s coaching staff extended an offer this week to 2020 power forward Shon Robinson.

Robinson is a 6-foot-8 big man from just outside Chicago. According to 247Sports, Robinson has offers from Arizona State, DePaul, Florida State, and New Mexico amongst others.

Not much video exists of Robinson yet, but judging from the offer list so far, he clearly is thought of highly. We’ll track and see how important the offer is from the home state Illini to his recruitment.

Overall

Join us next week for more Big Ten recruiting updates. We’ll try to have some better news to share.