Baylor Bears men’s basketball coach Scott Drew is on a role lately. Fresh off taking last year’s squad on a program defining Final Four run, Drew has hit recruiting gold for the the next few seasons by getting commits from a number of top tier recruits. The fruits of all the hard work on the recruiting trail begins this season, when the 6‘10, multi-talented freshman Perry Jones, who is the highest rated recruit(#7 by ESPN) to ever commit to the program, begins his Baylor career as arguably the most NBA ready prospect among all incoming freshmen. Drew also got the jump on other top programs like Kentucky, Texas, and Georgetown by locking up the 7 foot man-child Isaiah Austin early. He is the #4 overall prospect in the 2012 Class, who many say already has the physique and skill set of an NBA player as an incoming HS junior.
But the biggest coup for Drew may be his recent double commitments of Class of 2011 HS teammates Quincy Miller and Deuce Bello, who star at Westchester Country Day School in Chicago, Illinois. The dynamic duo announced their college plans live on ESPNU’s Recruiting Insider show on Thursday. The commitments of these two impact players should help ease the impending loss of senior leader and top scorer LaceDarius Dunn after this season due to graduation.
Getting a commit from Miller, the #4 overall player in the 2011 Class, is especially big since he draws constant comparisons to current NBA superstar Kevin Durant because of his lanky 6’10 frame and extremely high upside as an instant impact player. In fact, a number of recruiting sources even consider Miller the top prospect in the entire class. Miller, who has long been considered one of the top still unsigned ’11 prospects, chose Baylor over Louisville, Kentucky, Oklahoma, and Duke.
He was considered an early, early Kentucky lean until coach Calipari decided to focus on nabbing Anthony Davis, who is next year’s most intriguing prospect at PF since he grew more than 6 inches from his sophomore to junior campaigns in high school. Miller apparently took the Calipari slight personally, as he then seemed to lean towards Kentucky’s in-state rival Louisville, and was even seen in attendance at UK football games, throwing up the middle finger to Wildcat players. Then Miller reportedly soured on Louisville over concerns of coach Rick Pitino holding back Miller’s chances of becoming a one-and-done player. In the end, Baylor gets an immediate impact player that has potential to be an NBA lottery pick in 2012.
Check out Quincy Miller’s 2010 Summer Mixtape:
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Although not rated as high as his HS teammate Miller, no one can deny that Deuce Bello (#50 by ESPN) is arguably the most exciting player in the 2011 Class. His resume of sky-walking dunks is continually growing as he has showed out at a number of AAU and elite level events this past Summer. The 6’3 guard originally helped make a name for himself back in February when he pulled off a 2 footed Eastbay dunk in live game action. He would go on to earn co-MVP honors at the Pangos All American Camp, and was the unanimous winner of the Elite Boost Mobile Dunk Contest.
Because of all of his high flying exploits, many have deemed Bello the best dunker in all of the high school ranks. According to college scouts, his all-around play as an electrifying back-court player has greatly improved from sophomore to junior season as he has shot up ranking boards and currently is rated as high as the #14 prospect by some sources. Look for Bello to also make an immediate splash upon arriving on the Baylor campus next Summer.
Check out Deuce Bello’s amazing 2010 Summer mixtape:
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Be sure to check out where Baylor ranks in our 2010-2011 Early NCAA Team Rankings.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
