It was a single post on Twitter, with no words, with just a picture. It showed Brandon McCoy, the 6-foot-11 Cathedral Catholic High senior and one of the nation’s top prep basketball recruits, surrounded by university logos representing his five finalists.
Arizona, Michigan State, Oregon, UNLV … and San Diego State.
The Aztecs have a definite need for a big next season, and he wouldn’t have to go far, living in San Diego for the last few years after moving from Chicago. What isn’t known is how serious a contender they are, whether the five-star recruit is genuinely considering SDSU or whether he’s just being nice to the hometown school (as has become customary for other big-time recruits).
McCoy and his guardian, AAU coach Shaun “Ice” Manning, were on their way to Michigan State for the weekend and unavailable for comment.
Michigan State is the fourth of five allowed official visits for McCoy, timed so he can see a home basketball game and the Spartans football game against Ohio State. He’s already been to Arizona, Oregon and UNLV. He has attended games at Viejas Arena but not taken – or scheduled – an official overnight visit there.
UNLV is considered an outsider, but the other three all make sense. Arizona also landed 7-0 DeAndre Ayton, McCoy’s teammate with the Nike-sponsored club Cal Supreme. McCoy is a clearly a Nike guy, and Oregon is the land of Phil Knight. And McCoy is originally from the Midwest, Michigan State’s recruiting turf.
The “crystal ball” prediction feature from recruiting service 247 Sports currently gives Oregon the edge at 43 percent, followed by Arizona (29 percent), Michigan State (21 percent) and UNLV (seven percent). SDSU has no votes from its panel of “experts.”
McCoy is rated as high as No. 6 in the class of 2017 by ESPN. Scout.com and 247 Sports both have him No. 8. Rivals has him No. 11. Regardless, he would represent the highest-rated freshman recruit in SDSU history and likely thefirst McDonald’s all-American, as McCoy is widely expected to be, to pick the Aztecs out of high school. (Evan Burns was a McDonald’s all-American, but signed with UCLA before coming to SDSU.)
The November window to sign a letter of intent closed Wednesday, meaning McCoy must wait until April. He’ll probably make an oral commitment far earlier, unless he is waiting to see if a Duke or Kentucky enter the fray.
Shrigley named captain
SDSU began the season with two captains: senior Dakarai Allen and junior Trey Kell. Now it has a third: fifth-year senior Matt Shrigley.
“It maybe should have been done before the season, to be honest with you,” Coach Steve Fisher said. “The way he has approached everything this season, the way he came back after he got hurt, the willingness to do whatever he could to help the team and play on one leg or be a cheerleader, how good he’s been in the locker room – all those things are why I did it. He deserves it.”
Injury update
SDSU is getting healthier, with the return of Shrigley and Valentine Izundu to practice after sitting out Wednesday’s 81-58 victory against San Diego Christian. Both are expected to play in Monday’s key game against No. 25 Cal in Sacramento.
Malik Pope, though, remains questionable. He made it through practice Thursday but succumbed to an ice bag on his left knee after about 90 minutes Friday.
Cal update
The Bears aren’t much healthier, playing without star forward Ivan Rabb and two other starters in Wednesday’s come-from-behind overtime victory against UC Irvine to extend their home win streak to 21 games.
Rabb injured his toe in a preseason closed-door scrimmage against Saint Mary’s. Senior wing Jabari Bird (back) and Columbia transfer Grant Mullins (neck) were game-time scratches.
“We don’t want to make excuses,” Cal coach Cuonzo Martin, whose team trailed by 13 in the second half but got 38 points from 5-11 guard Charlie Moore, a school record for a freshman. “We have key guys out, that’s part of the game. We have 13 scholarship players. You have to make it work.”
That said, Martin indicated all three should be available Monday in Sacramento. “Unless something happens in practice,” he said, “I’d like to think so.”
Transfer updates
A pair of former SDSU players are both getting minutes at their new destinations. Canadian point guard Kevin Zabo, who left after 2014-15 and attended Indiana Hills JC in Iowa, is averaging 3.5 points and 3.5 rebounds off the bench for 2-0 Kent State. Parker U’u, a walk-on wing at SDSU, is starting and averaging 11.5 points in two games for Division II San Francisco State (which plays in the same conference at UCSD and Cal State San Marcos).
mark.zeigler@sduniontribune.com; Twitter: @sdutzeigler
