
Originally Posted by
Hooray4Daye&Gray
Speaking of detective work, I figured I'd kill a few hours putting this together, haha:
If you guys aren't following caldwell on Twitter yet, you're missing out.
His most recent clue regarding the mystery transfer was that an upcoming commit by a 2020 top 25 player will have an impact.
There's only a handful of guys that have yet to commit, and fewer yet are bigs. Remember, the mystery transfer is a 4/5.
It sounds like Makur Maker is going pro, so we're down to Ziaire Williams and Greg Brown.
Ziaire's final 7 are: Arizona, Duke, UNC, Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and USC
Greg's final 5 are: Texas, Memphis, Auburn, Kentucky and Michigan (He is announcing on April 24)
I'm guessing the mystery transfer plays PF/C for one of those 12 teams.
Then I remove guys that Caldwell already said it wasn't (from the giant list posted): EJ Montgomery, Matthew Hurt, N'Faly Dante, Will Baker, Onyeka Okongwu, Jordan Brown, Zeke Nnaji, Isaiah Mobley, Armando Bacot, CJ Walker.
I mentioned Kamaka Hepa right away, before Caldwell said he wasn't named yet, so he should be out.
Here are the remaining PF/C's ranked in the top 70 from 247 (sounds like he should be top 50 but there was a little back and forth on that) that play for those teams and haven't already gone pro:
2017:
Nick Richards, Kentucky - Probably too highly ranked, was 18
Cody Riley, UCLA - Matches the barely top 50 criteria well, and is listed as a PF but is only 6-7. I also think Ziaire picking UCLA would be an upset but who knows. Also, I don't know that he has "NBA written all over him"
Jericho Sims, Texas - This seems possible, given that a lot of people think Greg Brown will pick Texas. Sims is from Minnesota, where we seem to have a lot of connections to lately.
Ira Lee, Arizona - Similar to Sims, he fell outside of the top 50 on 247 that I am looking at (60), but the lower number (no idea what it means) is 41. Sims' lower number was 36.
Jalen Hill, UCLA - Doesn't quite fit the criteria as he was ranked 65 with a "lower number" of 73, but he was the 2nd leading scorer for UCLA last year.
2018:
Francis Okoro, Oregon - Nobody really fits the criteria from 2018. Okoro was ranked 56.# Not sure about the NBA certainty, either.
Brandon Johns, Michigan - Not sure about the criteria either, he was ranked 70.
2019:
Kai Jones, Texas - Just on the edge of top 50, so it meets that criteria. And again, It seems likely that the new hint is in regards to Greg Brown committing, as Ziaire's commitment date still hasn't been set.
DJ Jeffries, Memphis - 6'7" but listed as a PF. Was ranked 52 and I'd be surprised if Greg Brown picks Memphis.
Kahlil Whitney and Keion Brooks, both from Kentucky, are 6'6" and 6'7" SFs that were both ranked in the top 20. Thinking it's probably not either of them as they wouldn't play any minutes at Center.
Final guess:
The Texas angle makes the most sense. Kai being the most likely as he's a PF/C, but we obviously were connected to Hepa previously, and Sims has the MN connection.
Riley and Hill are intriguing but I'd be more surprised by those 2. I'd be surprised if Ziaire picks UCLA, and these are the two guys that were suspended for the season after shoplifting in China with LiAngelo Ball.