Editor's note: Every week in "Starting 5," we'll roll out five stories, themes and nuggets from the basketball recruiting world to set the table with the stories that need to be told and give you a leg up on the watercooler conversations around the office.
This week we handicap the race for ESPN 60 No. 13 prospect Theo Pinson, who will choose between UNC, Duke, Georgetown, Indiana and Louisville Wednesday; use a different approach to rank the top five players at each position in the 2014 class; and highlight the continued emergence of center Myles Turner.
1. Pinson picking proper program pre-summer
Theo Pinson is ready.
One of the top perimeter prospects in the Class of 2014 will announce his college choice Wednesday. It's not a far drive, so count me in as a spectator. The way it looks to me, here are the tiers of the recruitment:
Tier 1 (You Pick 'em)
Indiana (recruited him hardest) -- 50 percent
UNC (leveraging guards, in-state school) -- 40 percent
How we set the odds: North Carolina intends to land more wings and is likely leveraging Rashad Vaughn and Devin Booker to an in-state kid. Meanwhile, IU watched the last nine games Pinson played beginning with his last two high school games and two open weekends in April. It's home state versus a program that has been all in for a long time.
IU and UNC share plenty of common recruiting bonds. North Carolina has the most impact wins (Sean May, Tyler Zeller, Eric Montross, etc.) but Indiana owns the recent victory with Cody Zeller plus two pseudo tangles for Noah Vonleh and Troy Williams (UNC didn't push too hard in either loss).
Tier 2 (long shots; they're not expecting phone to ring)
Remaining Field
Duke (Devils invested in other wings),
Louisville (never visited there)
Georgetown (never been mentioned as a leader) -- 10 percent
Pinson played last weekend in Miami at adidas Nations but phoned his five finalists on Saturday, letting them know of his midweek plan. The teams recruiting Pinson weren't quite expecting the news.
"My parents told me to pray about it and keep praying," Pinson said. "Something told me the time is now. I can focus on basketball, developing my game and being an impact [player] as a freshman. You make the decision and start working. Academic-wise, you can worry about that one school."
We're at the point of the calendar where schools are formulating their plan of attack for the summer. Some kids have realized they are in competition for scholarships and there is a finite amount of spots. Being able to pick the school you want is a big deal. "All the teams that are recruiting me right now, they need guards," Pinson said. "They offered a lot of guards in my class. You don't want to look back and say that the scholarship is gone. That's one thing that played a part in it; just going ahead and making a decision where you want to go and stop trying to wait it out."
Like most Top 25 players, Pinson seeks a place where he'll matter. "The thing is, all of them have been doing a great job. That's the hard part about this whole situation. You have to look at more than who is going the most. You have to look at the roster situation and where you can be an impact player."
2. The Fives: PG, Guards, Forwards, Posts
What happens to the Class of 2014 if we toss out the traditional way we look at positions and freshen up the perspective? College basketball these days seems to revolve around four perimeter players and a big guy, so why not look at the game through this lens. If you toss out the five position designations, here's what the class looks like to me.
Point Guards
1. Tyus Jones (best PG regardless of class)
2. Emmanuel Mudiay
3. Joel Berry
4. Josh Perkins
5. Jordan McLaughlin
Summary: The most movement in this list is likely to occur between spots 3 and 5 as Perkins has created a big old head of spring steam.
Guards
1. JaQuan Lyle (been on fire lately)
2. Rashad Vaughn
3. Dion Wiley
4. Brandone Francis
5. Theo Pinson
Summary: There isn't a firm grip on the No. 1 spot, and there's a line forming behind No. 5 that gets deeper by the weekend.
Forwards
1. Justin Jackson (keeps opening eyes with skill level)
2. Kevon Looney
3. Justise Winslow
4. Chris McCullough
5. Stanley Johnson
Summary: This is the strongest position nationally because it's able to draw upon former small forwards and 4-men that are of the hybrid variety.
Posts
1. Jahlil Okafor (still has the hammer)
2. Trey Lyles
3. Cliff Alexander
4. Karl Towns
5. Myles Turner
Summary: If Alexander is able to generate consistent offense, he could go from third to first by summer's end. Then there's our wild card, Mr. Myles Turner.
Five who could track down their bigger-named peers
1. Kameron Chatman, forward (buy stock now; equal parts player/prospect)
2. Craig Victor, forward
3. Chris Chiozza, point guard
4. Caleb Martin, forward
5. Devin Robinson, guard
Summary: There are a dozen guys we could name here. Chatman's inclusion could catch some by surprise, but this kid has a monster ceiling and, frankly, I love his game.
3. Looking ahead to Myles Turner
The priority this upcoming weekend is to spend time watching center Myles Turner (Euless, Texas/Euless). He'll be a name to follow at the Under Armour event in Duncanville, Texas, after exploding during April. He's the guy you want your school to be involved with by the end of the summer if you need a big. He's been semi-late to the party due to a broken ankle that shelved him last summer. Even then, he was more of a role player whereas now he's a key contributor for Texas Select.
The big man indicated he's interested in picking a team that can develop him. "I can't just single colleges out but definitely Kansas, they have a great reputation with big men," Turner said of which schools do the top job getting guys ready for the next level. "Texas has a great foundation as far as players going to the NBA; schools like that."
In addition to Texas and Kansas, others heavily invested in his recruitment are Creighton, Oklahoma State, Kansas State, UCLA and Texas A&M. Note to fan bases nationally: We expect the list of admirers to continue growing.
Turner in his own words
"[Kevin] Durant is my role model; how he's such a great basketball player and such a great person.
"I've met a few expectations but I have a lot more work to do."
4. Who gets the points?
There are key figures at the point guard position still on the board. Tyus Jones and Emmanuel Mudiay are position influencers at the highest level. One of them changes the outlook of your team, within your league and at the national level. There's already been a good run on the position from coast to coast.
Teams that have landed significant pledges at this point include North Carolina (Joel Berry), Florida (Chris Chiozza), Wake Forest (Shelton Mitchell), California (Ahmaad Rorie), Louisville (Quentin Snider), Arizona (Parker Jackson-Cartwright), Arizona State (Tra Holder), Georgetown (Tre Campbell), Maryland (Romelo Trimble), Xavier (Edmond Sumner), VCU (Jonathan Williams), Arkansas (Anton Beard) and Iowa State (Clayton Custer).
We know Duke (Jones), Kentucky (Mudiay), Syracuse (Kaleb Joseph), Kansas (Jones), Michigan State (Jones) and Ohio State (Jones) would like to sign a point guard. With so many already off the board there's urgency to address the position. Five very good floor generals, including Chiozza, who was the most recent to pop, have come off the board in the past month. Who's next?
5. Freshman Orientation: De'Aaron Fox
The Houston Hoops travel team is flush with talent, especially on the perimeter. The Hoops have a guy committed to North Carolina, another who is a borderline Top 10 player and another wing who is a top-50 kid. Basically, there are not many minutes to be had on the squad, especially if you're a freshman. Then again, 6-foot-2 guard De'Aaron Fox (Cypress, Texas/Cypress Lakes) isn't your regular freshman. He scored 22 points a game last season. The lefty, at this stage, looks to be more scorer than point guard, but it's so early and he's yet to define his game. What we know is that he's got range and boundless energy, and when the Hoops call his number to come off the bench, he's no normal role player.